Christmas Dinner tips and tricks: share them with Aunt Bessie's - chance to win £300

[AnnMumsnet]

The team at Aunt Bessie's would love to know all about your Christmas Dinner tips and tricks - what makes your festive roast dinner go down well with your family? Do you prepare in advance? What really makes it special in your household? What's the main dish - do you have a turkey or goose? Or something else? What about vegetarian dishes? What about accompaniments like bread sauce, cranberry sauce and stuffing - do you make your own following family recipes, buy it in or something else?

Aunt Bessie's say "Christmas Dinner is about more than just great food – it’s about gathering the family around the table and enjoying the moments that we have together. So we’d love to hear how you make the most of this time by telling us your quick tips and tricks that make room for the important things."

Add your tips for the best Christmas Dinner below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one person will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions Apply

Prep the night before and buy a Waitrose cook in the bag Turkey !!! Easy peasy!!!!

I write quite a detailed timetable for the Christmas dinner, and try to keep to it!

I like to make the veg interesting so do things like fennel bake with parmesan, sprout puree, courgette fritters.

I buy pre prepared items such as pigs in blankets, devils on horseback.

I add wine or port to the gravy to zap it up a bit.

But my main tip would be to enjoy the day, it's not a competition!

As much pre prep as possible. So all veggies etc peeled and chopped in zip loc bags as possible.
Ham in the slow cooker.
And a written plan with the timing of when everything is to go in the oven. Keeps me in track.
And enjoy the adrenaline with a nice g & t 😁

Ham cooked in slow cooker on Christmas Eve & finished in oven with a honey mustard glaze-yum! Same Eve prep veg & lay out all the dishes they are going in in oven & times-preferably with post its to make sure nowt is forgotten! Then on the day it's easier-I'll put some wee roasties for the Cubs in the actifry to give the others plenty of room on the oven

We do lots in advance so there’s less to do on Christmas Day.

Try not to stress, it is meant to be enjoyable time and it is ok if it isn’t perfect.

I make the stuffing and Yorkshire puddings beforehand and freeze them, did this at weekend. I make the Marie Rose sauce a few days before.
Christmas Eve I prepare all veg apart from the parsnips and keep them in zip lock bags. Same goes for the sliced salad for our prawn cocktail starter.

Xmas morning I literally have to season the turkey, stuff it with tangerines and an onion and peal the potato's and the rest is good to go. The gravy I use the giblets and the turkey neck and I cheat with a bit of granules and I add rosemary too. Pudding is usually shop bought :)

We have a massive family. Me and my mum chop parsnips, par cook them and then dust them in Parmesan, then freeze them.
We pre- make as much as we can and I save freezer space for months. And we make everything we can from scratch.
Then, the day before, we ask all the family to peel potatoes, and we all muck in laying the table and decorating. Oh, and I have already made and started dosing the Christmas puddings- mine often fall apart, but they taste amazing and they make a massive fire!! I once signed my fringe!
But we ask everyone to bring cheese, so we have about 20, and my dad buys really nice port. I'm excited, even thinking about it!!

Everyone in the house has a part to play in making the dinner. Someone (usually 2 people) peels veg, someone else takes charge of the meat, another makes stuffing and gravy, and someone else is in charge of pudding.

I prep veg the day before and leave in bowls of water in the fridge with a squeeze of lemon. Saves a fair amount of time on the day.

I also prepare my sage and thyme stuffing a day in advance so it can go straight in the oven.

Cranberry sauce is made a week before and frozen into portions (cranberries, sugar, orange zest and a dash of port).

A couple of changes for this year.

1. We have bought frozen roasties.
2. Cooking the chicken and turkey crown before everything else and leaving to rest while everything else is being down.
3. We are using disposable oven trays for the meat this year, I hate waste normally but if it means less scrubbing and more family time I don't mind it for a one-off.

I use aunt Bessie’s roast potatoes but roast them in goose fat and use those throw away trays. I also use aunt Bessie’s frozen parsnips on Christmas day, it saves so much time of peeling.

When thinking about steaming your veg a couple of days before measure a couple of centimeters of water in the bottom of a pan and bring to the boil. When cooled put it in a container and freeze it to heat up again on the big day.

I use frozen veg, roasties, Yorkshire puddings and a turkey breast in a foil tray. I have no intention of spending the day cooking. We never eat the Christmas pudding on the day. It's often still in the cupboard months later.

My best tip is to use foil trays in the oven so less washing up! We make Yorkshire puddings and stuffing in them.
I'm a veggie and my favourite meat substitute is Linda McCartneys' sausage roll. Baked in a foil tray of course!

I buy pre prepped vegetables to save time!

Prep all the veg the day before and leave it in cold water overnight. Then just chuck everything in the oven, and away you go!

I have no idea why people get so stressed about this meal - it's only a roast dinner!

My top tip would be to share out the cooking!
This year for example my sister is hosting so she'll do the main course (turkey), I'll do a starter (probably soup) and my mum will do dessert (Christmas Cake).
I'll be able to make my soup on advanced then just warm up on the day, obviously the dessert will be made (well) in advance too.

Never have turkey on Christmas Day. We always have a leg of lamb but since we like most of the turkey dinner trimmings like, cranberry sauce and pigs in blankets , we still do those.

I try to not get stressed about cooking Christmas dinner, I see it as just an extra special Sunday roast dinner for a few more people (at least that's what I tell myself).

I think the most difficult thing to get right on Christmas Day is the timings of everything. Making sure each component is ready at the precise right time can be hard in a small kitchen and if you only have 1 oven. Preparation is key, know your timings for each item you are cooking and think about space saving ways to cook for instance using a steamer for diffident veg at the same time as you can boil potatoes in the bottom whilst steaming the veg on top. Wash pots and pans as you go along to keep the work space as clear as possible (I enrol someone else to help with that) and if you have the room o n your table put everything on plates and bowls to let people help themselves rather than trying to dish up for everyone in limited kitchen space.

Most importantly, don't get too precious about it. Christmas Day is meant to be enjoyed so just do the best you can, the most important thing is the sharing together.

Buy one of those large 40-50l plastic storage boxes with a lid. cover with a blanket to shield from any possible sun, and put a brick on top to stop foxes, and hey ho you have a spare fridge just outside your back door or your balcony. Keep all the spare milk/juice/veg/booze in it and use your fridge for fish, meat, cheeze etc. We use this box to chill our champagne overnight as well. Its colder than the fridge!

I often do the roast potatoes the week before and freeze them. Saves oven space on the day. Same for parsnips. I make the red cabbage ahead and freeze as well as cheesey leeks, Yorkshire puds, anything else I can really.

If you roast your own potatoes, parboil them on Christmas Eve then roll them in melted butter or goose fat. Put them in the fridge if it's not too full or wrap them and put them somewhere cool. On the day just put them in the oven. Prep the other vegetables or better still find someone else to do it. I guess Aunt Bessie won't thank me but that's my tip!

I like to fry my sprouts, it’s quicker and tastier.

We try to do as much in advance as possible eg gravy, red cabbage, carrot and swede mash, nut roast for the veggies etc the day before. That means that on the day itself there’s far less to do and we can relax with a glass of something sparkly whilst the kids set the table.

It's all about the roasties!

Parboil and fluff like delia taught me, into some hot oil and bake on the top shelf, as high as the shelves go.

Turn after every 20 mins until golden brown all over then serve and enjoy crispy outside and fluffy insides!

A generous supply of wine covers a multitude of sins!