Food Hacks: Christmas Dinner Time Savers

Christmas Dinner. The Big One. One of the most important meals of the year. It can feel like a huge amount of pressure – especially if you’ve never done it before, you’re not a confident cook, or you’re catering for a lot more guests than you’re used too. To take the pressure off a little, here are my Christmas Dinner Time Savers meaning you can spend more time with the ones you love on Christmas morning and less time stressing in the kitchen

Recipe: Chocolate and Bailey’s Mousse, the perfect Christmas Day Dessert

1. Cook The Meat Ahead of Time

There are so many advantages to cooking the Christmas meat – whether it’s turkey, beef or something else – ahead of time. No getting up at 6 am to get the turkey in the oven. No mad panic about whether or not it’s cooked all the way through. It’s also much easier to make sure everything else is ready at the same time if there’s no carving the bird to worry about and I know very few people who do actually carve their meat at the table in front their guests.

Once the bird or joint of meat is cooked on Christmas eve, allow time for it rest and cool a little before carving. This also the perfect opportunity to use the bones to make stock for gravy. Layer the meat in a large ovenproof dish, cover with gravy and allow to cool. Place in the fridge over-night and reheat on Christmas morning. Personally, I’d pop in the oven at the same time as the roast potatoes to give it plenty of time to warm through.

Ensure the meat is piping hot before serving.

2. Prepare the vegetables in advance

One thing I don’t want to be spending Christmas Morning doing is peeling vegetables. This can be done a day or two in advance with no adverse effect on the vegetables or how they taste. Prep carrots, parsnips, sprouts and cabbage and keep in bowls or pans covered with water. Once peeled, potatoes will last a few days in a large pan or bucket covered with water and topped with a slice of bread which will stop them going black. Prepped vegetables are best kept somewhere cool such as outbuilding, garage or shed or in the fridge if you have space.

3.Christmas Dinner Time Savers: Plan ahead

To take the above idea one step further, you could try cooking the majority of vegetables beforehand and just reheating them on Christmas day – either in boiling water or in the microwave or roasted in the oven.

Parboiling and freezing ahead of time is also an option, and works very well with hardy vegetables such as parsnips and carrots. Defrost the night before and reheat using your preferred method or cook from frozen by dropping in boiling water.

You could also make gravy, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings and bread sauce in the weeks before Christmas so they are all ready for the big day.

4. Buy Everything Pre-Prepared

An alternative to having to prepare everything yourself is to buy everything already done. This is a great option for those wanting to spend less time cooking and more time enjoying the festivities. While it is a slightly more expensive option, if it makes you Christmas more enjoyable, then why not!

Image Credit: Thrifty Lesley

5. Make Your Appliances Work For You

Christmas dinner involves a lot of different elements and pulling all of these together at the same time can be tricky. However, there are ways to make life easier, but utilising everything you have. If you don’t have a slow cooker or microwave then you could ask if any of your guests have one that you could borrow.

• Use your slow cooker – either to keep gravy warm, warm through vegetables such as red-cabbage or even to keep the meat hot. If you have a three-pot slow cooker you could do all three!
• There is nothing wrong with using the microwave to reheat anything that needs reheating – from vegetables to gravy, bread sauce to stuffing balls it ‘s a quick and easy way to get things nice and hot.
• Try roasting vegetables for ease instead of boiling and needing lots of pots on the go – a large roasting tray could be used for carrots, parsnips and sprouts. Another tray for potatoes and meat and gravy in the slow cooker – that’s everything getting hot and minimal washing up too.

6.Lay The Table on Christmas Eve

If your main dining room table won’t be used during Christmas morning then it’s worth laying it up on Christmas Eve, as it’s one less job to do on Christmas morning. Typically we do make a bit more effort with things like tables clothes, candles, glasses and crackers plus don’t forget to add the condiments and napkins (if using) too.

7. Keep it Simple

The fewer items that you need to cook and prepare the less time you’ll need in the kitchen. While it’s lovely to serve Christmas dinner with 10 different vegetables, it isn’t really nessercary. Keeping things simple will help keep things calmer and running more smoothly.

If you choose to serve a starter, something like prawn cocktail is perfect as it can be put together a few hours in advance and requires no cooking. This is why a pate is also a great option and you’ll almost always see these two on Christmas menus at pubs and restaurants because of the ease of plating. A seafood platter or antipasto platter that everyone helps themselves to is another easy way to provide a starter with minimum effort needed.

If you’re looking to reduce the plastic in your kitchen this Christmas take a look at this post from Midlands Traveller