How to make a small Christmas dinner that isnt sad?

[soupyspoon]

Every year we eat less and less, OH's appetite is now minuscule and Ive had WLS so the amount of food that goes to waste is criminal

This year we thought we did well buying less than last year but still have got tons left over that will go to waste, OH doesnt eat left overs. He thinks he can eat way more than he can, buys too much, cooks too much. Over and over again, never learns, wont listen

Its really hard to find a nice chicken or turkey thing (preferably chicken as not keen on turkey) that is small but not looking like its destined for an old peoples home (which is probably where we're destined for soon!!)

So are there any ready meal type things that are really just for a small number, our guests also dont eat that much any more and I cant fob them off with left overs the way I used to be able to!! Or not a ready meal as such but a small package that I can just cook up, this would be for 4 people or sometimes a few more but ideally I could do it in portions for the fuss pots.

The freezer is groaning!

We don't bother with a Christmas dinner as such anymore. I do fruit and cheese platter with (somewhat) fancy crackers. Then we can all eat what we want and put the rest away for later (cheese is never really leftovers imo!)
We have salads and so on with something hot later on, not a roast, but could you get some fillets instead?
Merry Christmas 🎄

Leftovers - make Boxing Day pie, can be eaten for days or frozen; freeze portions of dinner for you. His loss if he won’t eat them 🤷🏻‍♀️

There are loads of options in the supermarket before Christmas. Joints (?) of meat in foil trays that serve 2-4.

Hey, check out this product https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/320400735/?icid=ghsandapp_ghs_pdp_share

Things like this ^

My family is a mix of meat eaters and veggies, and the meat eaters don't all like the same meat 🤣 so we buy a range of smaller bits like this.

We had salmon, new potatoes in a home-made herb butter, and a good mix of veg. A teeny home-made Christmas pudding - my insane husband likes it - that we ceremoniously set fire to, giggling like idiots, and more wine. The ‘more’ might explain the giggling, I couldn’t possibly comment.

Edited to add: I can’t see the need to cook a traditional British Christmas meal if there’s something that suits people better.

Not sure of your budget, but beef fillet? Morrisons butcher counter will cut the size you need, either as a whole joint or into steaks. I'd have dauphinoise potatoes with it.

Theres some nice ideas here which I could scale up or down depending on how many there are of us.

We would want a xmas dinner but due to my surgery there are things I dont eat, pastry for one and to be honest, the size of my portions would mean Im eating the left overs for months to come so am keen to avoid as much left overs as I can and he just wont obviously.

[[Hey, check out this product
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/266804039? Very young, very small chicken

Buy from the butcher:
Two chicken breasts
Two sausages
Four rashers of streaky bacon

Cut open the chicken breasts like a book
De-skin the sausages and wrap the chicken around them
Wrap two bacon rashers around each chicken breast
Pin closed with cocktail sticks
Roast in the oven
= Christmassy flavours, no leftovers

That looks nice, never had poussin, that might be on the list to try to test out for next year.

I'm usually on my own for Christmas, enjoy a roast meal but never make one because its too much for me.

What I do is order a Christmas lunch from a local hotel or pub, not cheap at about £20, always lovely quality. However, I do share some of it with my dog (hey, Christmas, right?!) and there's always enough left for another meal for me on Boxing Day. If it was just the two of you, you could probably get away with one between you.

I do something similar with haggis. It's called chicken balmoral

DMs local butcher sells chicken parcels (think Waitrose might do similar) which are basically a chicken thigh or breast stuffed with stuffing and wrapped in bacon. We eat one each but could be sliced to give a smaller portion. They don't look sad and are lovely to eat.

Three of us - we had ready made veggie pies from Aldi with roast potatoes and sprouts. I used a small bag of frozen roast potatoes and there were no left overs.