Surviving Christmas Dinner: Tips Wanted

YoungBaker

Me and my wife are having Christmas dinner for her family for the first time this year. There will be 11 of us.

Have started looking into and considering what we are gonna buy, turkey size etc.

As we have never done it before and its our first christmas as a married couple in our new home - we are very new to this and need any tips :-) othet than having a bottle of wine handy!

Thanks

whitewing

If there is a particularly good tradition of Christmas dinner in your families, you could get quantities and timings from the people who usually cook it. (The advantage to this if it goes a bit wrong, it has probably gone wrong for them in the past in the same way so they will know how to recover it).

Combine a bit of tradition from both sides of the family and put your own twist on it too.

Laurajo_2

Firstly, try not to get stressed about it!

Are you used to cooking for eleven? First thing will be to work out how much of everything you need. It sounds silly but there is nothing worse than coming to plate up and thinking 'well, it looked a lot more in the pan....'

Cook as much as you can in advance....all veg chopped, peeled and parboiled where necessary on Christmas Eve - keep it in a pan of cold water. Roast potatoes, I believe can be cooked and frozen in advance and then shoved in the oven for half an hour on the day. Work out how much space you have in your oven, too.

Have a rough schedule of what needs to go in when - it's so easy to forget to put the pigs in blankets or stuffing balls in. Write it on paper and pin it up where you can see it.

savingmonkey

Buy pre-prepared veg or prepare it the night before/morning before people arrive and stick it in a pan of cold water. Accept any offers of help e.g. if someone offers to make/bring a Christmas pudding say yes - you don't have to do everything! Write a time plan saying what time you need to start cooking everything.

Sezzagirl

Lots of magazines at the moment have "HOwTo" guides to Christmas - a good place to start!


I think Strescos has one that's free

Sezzagirl

Get as much done before hand as you can


Also, to work out your timings, decide what time you want to eat, then work backwards and write ait all done


So, it could look a bit like this


2pm EAT!!
1.30pm Finish cooking veg
12.45 - Roast pots in


and so on and so on!


Write a list of everything you want to serve and whether you can put it all in dishes for people to serve them selves (beg, borrow and charity shop dishes if you need to) or whether it will be easier to dish up for everyone. If you're putting everything in dishes, write on your list which dis for which food, ie, carrots - blue and white bowl. Then you'll know that you have enough bowls. Beg or borrow a hot tray if you can


Just remember, everyone is there to celebrate Christmas with you not judge your masterchef skills and, whatever time you plan to eat, expect to be at least half and hour late!


Have fun!

sethsgran

Trim sprouts the day before and place in a plastic bag, fasten tight to keep as much air out as possible then cook as normal the next day.

CupOfChai

Definitely do the Big Peel the day before! Gather everyone capable of helping and give them each a knife!

Abbymoo

Much as I'll get slated I'm a big advocate of cheating. Aunt Bessie's stuff is a godsend. Christmas is about EVERYONE enjoying themselves, I don't see why I should be stuck in the kitchen up to my elbows in potato peel while OH is playing with his new toys.

antw23uk

If someone asks if they can help .. say YES and give them a job.

Arwen

I am an advocate of cheating too, and preparing as much as possible in advance the night before. Turkey size-if you are buying fresh, then ask the butcher. If you are buying frozen from a supermarket, it usually gives you an indication on the outside of how many it will feed. However if it says 11, I would get one that says 14 on it, as you can use the leftovers.

One tip I have found to ease the stress-where possible, put the Christmas dinner on serve yourself dishes on the table. It's easier for you, and then people can take as much or as little as they want.