Tips For Making Xmas Meals More Enjoyable

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 8:44 am

Everyone knows that Christmas is the one time of the year where everyone can let their hair down, forgot their worries and enjoy themselves. However, those who have tried to cook a Christmas meal for any more than 4 people will understand just how stressful preparing and serving the Christmas meal can be. Having to make sure portions are correct, everything finishes cooking at exactly the same time, and keeping it all warm are just some of the challenges. Lets take a look at some effective ways to reduce Xmas meal time stress.

Pre-Prepare Food. Not all the food has to be cooked at the same time you know, much of it can be sorted very early on. All the vegetables can be cooked hours in advance and then simply kept in cold water until you serve the food up. Place into hot water again for a couple of minutes and there are as good as fresh. All the sauces can be made early and just reheated with a bit of extra water when you need them. Unfortunately its very difficult to pre-cook the turkey as it tends to dry out and tastes better fresh, but you should now have time to cook this.

Get Table Sorted. This can be done at the very beginning of the day and saves a lot of hassle. You can lay all the place settings, cutlery and champagne flutes as long as you know how many people you are expecting. You can even place the crackers in position and add decorations such as poinsettias in glass vases. Doing it early means you don’t have to panic setting it all up just before serving.

Self Serve. By having dishes in the kitchen that people can serve themselves from, you can spare everyone (including yourself) a lot of hassle. This way you don’t have to lug heavy bowls and serving dishes back and forth, the dining table doesn’t get cluttered up, and people can have exactly what they want. It’s advisable to keep the wine glasses on the table however as trying to juggle food and drink never ends well.