How Much Do You Prepare ?

[wendilla]

As only my daughter and I like swede I have cooked it and put in freezer . One job less on xmas day . What else do you prepare and put in freezer for xmas day .

[LyndaB]

I have mashed carrots and swedes together and put them in the freezer - along with 72 (yes, 72) pigs in blankets, three dozen mince pies, sprouts, the water that the veg was cooked is in there too (for the gravy), as are 18 sausage rolls, 18 cheese and spinach pinwheels, and 18 home made stuffing balls. The only thing I have to do on the Big Day is the turkey and potatoes. Easy peasy.

[ummmm]

Nothing.

[Retrochic]

Red cabbage with apple -I cook batches when the red cabbage is ready in the garden and box it up in the freezer for the winter months -it actually improves in flavour in the freezer. I also have ready cubed swede in the freezer. I make the bread sauces and stuffing a couple of days in advance. We have confit of goose for Yule so that's cooked at least two days in advance and flashed in the oven before serving. The staff have very little to do on the day lol! ;-)

[ducksie]

How do you reheat them on Christmas day? I love the smell of cooking on the day, it's a good idea, but I think I'd prefer my dinner freshly cooked rather than out of freezer. I prep all my veg the night before and put everything on slow cook before going to Church and different things Christmas morning

[janbee]

Nothing, I eat out.

[woofgang]

nothing. I thaw the turkey and thats it

[LyndaB]

My dinner WILL be freshly cooked - it's only the veg and side dishes that I have prepared in advance. Everything will be lifted out of the freezer the night before and either warmed up in a pan on the stove or perhaps microwaved, apart from the stuffing and sausages which will be cooked alongside the roast potatoes while the turkey is resting. I too love the smell of roast Christmas dinner so wouldn't do that in advance. However, I get very little time off at Christmas and don't want to spend the entire day cooking

[Dizmo]

I have no need to freeze anything, the beans are in a tin and the bread (for toast) can be bought 4-8 days in advance.

[DTCwordfan]

Nowt - having said that, the Christmas Cake. And the turkey has to be plucked and gutted.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't. Were I in charge of Xmas dinner it'd likely be a lot better than most years. And I suspect I would do very little in advance save for, perhaps, preparng the veg the previous night ready to put on. Can't think of much I'd want pre-prepared in the freezer. Traditionally, in our family, lunch is late on Xmas, and so folk wait until it is done, supping their favourite tipple or drinking coffee/tea, amusing themselves with their Xmas gifts or watching the TV. That said by brother's woman did the honours last year, and did very well indeed.

[wendilla]

I do prefer my main veg freshly cooked but was just looking for a few ideas for something different and time saving . I saw a super recipe on TV am yesterday Brussels cut in quarter and fried with bacon . Might do a small dish of that .

[Retrochic]

Why do people use the analogy 'beans on toast' when they want to get a point over that they are not celebrating the holiday season? Anyway Dizmo I thought you were having soup at the 'soup kitchen' you are going to volunteer for. ps you will probably get a dinner dizmo as all the soup kitchens I know serve a xmas dinner

[Old_Geezer]

Or even better, throw the brussels away at the start (saves time at the end) and have a disk of bacon ready for everyone !

[B00]

Never understand the prepare beforehand malarky. Surely a Christmas dinner is just a glorified Sunday roast? You don't prepare that in advance do you so why do it on Christmas day?

As it is I normally echo Woofy in just thawing out the turkey prior to THE day. This year we're not even doing that as we're going to our friends (yes we do have them!) for the day and they're doing the lot....score!

[gness]

Hope you tried Kylesmum's singing swede method, Wendi.....fantastic...so I shall do loads of that and freeze it and maybe some colcannon.
Aldi has some lovely Christmassy bits so I shall fill the freezer with those then when the daughter and chap arrive I sit back and let them get on with it... they love cooking so they can shop and raid the freezer while I relax.....in charge of the bottle opener.....

Enjoy your day, Wendi....x

[Dizmo]

Retrochic: I am going to be having beans on toast. I don't go full out and Christmas like everyone else and I will say again, as I have done before, that I might not like Christmas but I didn't use the saying 'beans on toast' to mean anything else other than the fact I will be having beans on toast.

Yes, my mother and I are going to be volunteering in a soup kitchen and I won't be eating there. The idea is that I'm going to help the homeless, not fill my face with what essentially is 'free food'.

[wendilla]

Gness did not see that have you got the recipe

[scorpiojo]

Just search singing swede

[wendilla]

Just googled sing swede

[wendilla]

Yes just googled singing swede thanks .