Is is just me or is everything crazy busy already this year?! Tonight I went for my normal weekly food shop and everything was so busy!!
It has made me so grateful that almost everything is in, prepped and ready to go. All thats left is the last minute fresh produce, which I’ll grab on Saturday… and only because I’ll be stuck near a supermarket anyway!
So I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to share what I’ve done already to make the day easier!
October
Dinner prep starts early in our household, and the first step is to audit the cupboards, fridge and freezer and start clearing though anything coming close to its date or anything bulky. I tend to do this quarterly or monthly when I can to prevent food waste (of course the fridge I ideally like to do weekly).
I like to have at least 1 drawer or shelf to use for freezing Christmas food which saves the “can I eat this?!” question, that my husband will inevitably have.
Next I make the menu and share it with family and write my shopping lists… one for now, and one for closer to the day.
November
Once I’ve made enough space, I buy all of the table sauces and anything frozen we might use. I also do the pigs in blankets and bacon lattice on foil trays and freeze ready to go in the oven as they are.
We buy a fresh turkey crown and gammon and freeze those too.
Early December
I make a quick cross check against my shopping list for anything I can buy before the main madness starts. Usually this is things we would use up if we had too early like stuffing mix, gravy etc.
I check my freezer for anything we might run low on, like raw dog food, and stock up on this now.
With a Week to go
I hold off until the cheap 15p veg deals start to buy the veg. In previous years I’ve bought it early, blanched and frozen it but it just doesn’t taste the same. One thing I do like prepping early is the potatoes for roasties – these can be parboiled bashed and frozen, but again from experience if I did them too early we’d just use them for a quick dinner option, haha! I find doing my shop very early or very late in the day saves a lot of stress. I’ve even been known to visit 24hr supermarkets in the middle of the night, if I can’t sleep!
December 23rd – Defrost Day
On the 23rd, we defrost anything we’ve frozen in the fridge ready to cook on Christmas eve, cross checking with my shopping list we have everything we need just in case.
I also use today as an opportunity to get my glasswear in the wash for a freshen up… because who uses all 12 flutes regularly!
December 24th – Christmas Eve
On Christmas eve morning, I prep all the veg and soak them in water ready for Christmas day.
I make my yorkshie pudding mix, I know its controversial but you can’t have a proper dinner without yorkshires!
I get out all my appliances and cooking utensils ready for the big day
I set up the slowcooker with the gammon to cook overnight.
The prawns come out to defrost overnight for the prawn cocktail.
I wash all of the dishes, put them away and make sure the dishwasher is on before bed.
Oh, and don’t forget to set the table!!
December 25th – Christmas Day
After presents and breakfast on Christmas morning, I stick the triple slow cooker on to warm.
I cook my pigs in blankets early and sit in my triple slowcooker on warm until dinnertime.
The gravy goes into the triple slowcooker on warm so its another job out of the way.
The turkey comes out of the fridge and into a disposible tray to come to room temperature before going into the over. The gammon also goes into a disposible tray and is glazed ready to go on. Once carved, both meats can go back into their trays for serving. I time my meats to come out 30 mins before I intend to serve to give me time to put the yorkshires in and the veggies on to steam. When I put the meat in, I also put my roasties in because they ALWAYS take longer than you expect them to.
While the meat is cooking, I prep and serve my starters so we can enjoy them together before the final rush of cooking, and stick the potatoes on to boil for the mash.
After starters are cleaned up, the meat comes out to rest, covered in foil and a towel. The veggies go on to steam, warm or boil (depending what we’re having) and the parsnips go into the airfryer.
And thats a wrap!
I’ll post my final timing sheets as an imagine closer to the day, but that is a wrap!