Christmas Day Lunch - any helpful hints and tips....

[tintinthegingertomcat]

Thought I would start a thread for us to give hints and tips to help ease the stress of the best meal of the year.

1. On the 23rd December I always prepare my chestnuts for the stuffing. Place in a tin foil container and keep in the fridge

2. On Christmas Eve I always sit down at the table, with the telly on in the background and prepare all the veg - place in air tight container or even food bags and place in the fridge - I always do this on christmas eve as there is usually just me in the house so no distractions. The potatoes will also be par boiled, cooled and bagged up. All this done at my leisure be it over an hour or even the whole day.

3. Just for the christmas lunch I use disposible foil containers for everything going in the oven. Less washing up.

4. I try and plan ahead how to use the leftover chicken for boxing day - normally just a simple curry with really very little to do. Just this once I will use ready prepared rice that just needs microwaving.

If you have any other hints and tips please add to this thread so that we can all refer back to it.

27th December is party time so most of the stuff will have been purchased well in advance - many of which just need defrosting - nothing too stressful

[ilove2patch]

Have a big glass of sherry!

[captainbovine]

this year on the 22nd I shall be preparing the cook a bit early, I can't wrap him up and place him in the fridge as I shall be needing him to drive me to hospital on the 23rd.

I have the table set ready, so no problems there.

Don't forget to place whatever you will be drinking with your dinner, wether it be alcofrolic or not, into the fridge on Christmas morning to give it time to chill well.

And don't leave that one parsnip that only you like in the oven again like I did last year.

Happy chomping!! xx

[****merlin*****]

25th december 6.30pm phone chinese

7pm eat said chinese

8pm load dishwasher with plates, throw out containers

job done

no one in our house would eat turkey/traditional christmas dinner

and even though i cooke from scratch every night i have never spent 2/3 days preparing one meal

[chips-and-brown-gravy]

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@****merlin***** wrote:

and even though i cooke from scratch every night i have never spent 2/3 days preparing one meal

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Me neither. Veg and the accompaniments don't take long to prepare - 1/2 hour, and that's 1/2 an hour of peace and quiet. It's little more trouble than a normal roast.

My best tip is if you are cooking a Christmas Pudding, do it in the microwave, takes 2 -3  minutes and saves hob space and steaming up the kitchen.

[ed_blackadder_1]

Doesn't take me long either, We have traditional Christmas Dinner of either Turkey or Goose, so that goes in the oven for however long it takes,  Ham for Boxing day tea goes into cookpot and does its own thing. Veg are easy, get OH and son to do it, they get worked hard over Christmas, veg prep and washing up we usually have seven here, but this year it is only the 3 of us.  So there is no more preparation than the usual Sunday lunch.  Christmas pud goes in the microwave. 

Above all relax, don't panic, so it's an hour late who cares it's Christmas.

[1311rose]

If you have a slow cooker use it for steaming up your Christmas Pudding - saves a pot and you don't need to worry about topping up the pot with water.

I am a great believer in doing everything from scratch but there is one exception - buy your turkey gravy from M&S.  All you need to do is heat it up and it is just as good (if not better) than gravy you make yourself.

[chips-and-brown-gravy]

The only 'convenience' for Christmas Dinner for me is Paxo sage & onion stuffing - beacuse I love it, and I'm the only one who eats it, apart from that everyting from scratch, including home-made pud with lots of cherries, figs and apricots added to the usual stuff.  I must confess though I very rarely eat it on Christmas day.

I would try the M&S Gravy, but my nearest M&S is about a 60 mile round trip, I was there at the weekend (waste of time as they had virtually nothing on the shelves) and there is no way I'm going back before Christmas.

[bitsnknots]

On Christmas Eve, we cook the turkey, make the stuffing and the trifle.  On Christmas Day, my mum cooks the lunch and she does 6 meals even though there are only two of us.  Two are for Christmas Day, two for Boxing Day and two for the day after.  I do the tea on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the day after.

[chickengrandma-2008]

We're going to son's again this Christmas and he does everything, I don't know how.  Last year he did the whole dinner and tea, home made stuffing, home made pudding and home made bread, all on Christmas morning while looking after his two little girls.  When We go to daughter's or stay here I cook the turkey on Christmas eve and make the gravy from the juices and the water I simmer the giblets in.  The giblets are then Lottie's Christmas dinner for a good few days. 

[millielilac]

Have never in my life stressed out over Xmas Lunch .....in reality it is just a Sunday roast with a few extras ....and with more guests ...

I also use foil containers for convenience on Xmas day , saves on some of the washing up as I don't usually put roasting tins in the dishwasher.

[guardpig]

I do all the prep I can Xmas eve 'cos there's never any peace and quiet at ours on the day.  This year daughter is having Xmas at hers which will be a logistical nightmare as she needs loads of our chairs, crockery, pans etc providing, the very chairs ours and hers friends will need to sit on at ours Christmas eve tea time, and expects me to cook it anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Best thing i do is cook Xmas dinner, finish the trifle afterwards and then go on strike for a couple of days.

[welsh.goddess]

the bigest tip I can think of is don't stress - it's just a glorified roast.

Do as much prep the day before as you can, and try to enjoy the day

And guess what, if you end up eating a little later than you originally planned - it doesn't matter

[mikelayuk]

"me too" for cooking the turkey on Christmas eve. No time pressure, and roast potatoes etc. cook so much better when the oven's not crammed to capacity.

The bacon's not quite the same, so we do "pigs in blankets".

Oh, and we have a Christmas special treat of goose fat to roast the potatoes in.

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@bitsnknots wrote:

On Christmas Eve, we cook the turkey, make the stuffing and the trifle.  On Christmas Day, my mum cooks the lunch and she does 6 meals even though there are only two of us.  Two are for Christmas Day, two for Boxing Day and two for the day after.  I do the tea on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the day after.

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