Preparing your Christmas feast

Christmas time is typically the most joyous occasion of the year, but it can also be a stressful time if you’re playing dinner-host to friends and relatives. Preparing decorations, presents, and entertainment for your guests is enough to keep anyone occupied, so it’s important to avoid becoming overwhelmed by being organised in your kitchen, too.

In addition, a typical Christmas dinner is not something that can easily be prepared on the day. This is because most households don’t have the resources you’d find in a typical restaurant, so its less easy to spread all out your required tasks.

Thankfully, there are number of ways you can stay on top of your Christmas feast preparations, which will in turn make your holiday as stress-free as possible. 

Clean out your fridge and freezer

Before your head to the grocer, you should first clear out your fridge, freezer and pantry. Start by removing items that are spoilt and past their use-by date – put simply, you won’t need them anymore. For any produce you wish to keep, seal them tightly and store them in the corners out of the way. 

Having an organised system will not only allow you to be more efficient, but it will also promote airflow and more effective cooling, which can be restricted if your fridge/freezer is overcrowded. 

Plan accordingly

Once you made room in your stores, you’ll want to decide exactly what you’re cooking. In this regard, it’s often a good idea to first check with your guests and determine their preferences. 

This will deprive you of the opportunity to surprise them, but your time and effort could go to waste if you present something non-traditional that no one’s fond of, or fail to take into account someone’s allergies to certain foods.

Once you’ve made a decision, prepare a shopping list and stick to it. The reason for this is that shopping without a clear direction can lead to impulse buys, and this will be reflected in the rest of your preparations, too. 

Prepare what you can

Even if you don’t start cooking until Christday Day, it doesn’t mean you can’t make some initial preparations in advance. 

Start be sharpening all your kitchen knives, as blunt knives will burn up time and make your job more difficult. You can then peel, slice and portion your vegetables – carrots, parsnips, sprouts, potatoes, etc. – and place them in water or in the fridge overnight as required. 

Also keep in mind that a traditional turkey takes around ten to 12 hours to defrost, so make sure you’ve placed in the fridge the night before. 

Last-minute meals

If you’re reading this on Christmas Eve and suspect it’s too late, don’t panic just yet. Grocers know that not everyone has time to adequately prepare for Christmas dinners, which means they’ll stock pre-cooked and prepared items that you can utilise last-minute. 

Even if this pertains to you, it doesn’t mean you can’t add your own touch to the proceedings. For example, you could make up your own special glaze before placing your ham in the oven, or sauce to go on top of some pre-made pudding.