As the song goes, it’s a wonderful time of the year... and those who celebrate are probably thinking of their Christmas menu already.
If you’re not, you should be by now as planning is everything!
Here are some practical steps to help you work out a stress-free affair on that day. In fact, it makes sense to apply these tips to any other party you’re planning to have, be it on New Year’s Eve or for any of the major festivals. Putting in a little bit more thought and getting organised goes a long way in making you the ultimate host.
1.Check your equipment
Before you even start, look into what’s available in your kitchen first. Do you have enough plates and cutlery for your guests?
Are there sufficient serving dishes for your food?
If you’re planning to roast a turkey, is your oven big enough?
What about wine glasses, or drinking cups or maybe, do you need to get extra paper plates and cups?
Get things in order first.
2.Plan your menu ahead
“He’s making a list, checking it twice..
.” This doesn’t just apply to Santa Claus! Since it’s going to be a bigger-than-usual gathering, you’ll be having your hands full preparing so much food.
Write your menu out on a piece of paper and stick it on your cupboard or message board – somewhere in plain sight. List down the ingredients you need for each dish as well.
This will give you a clearer picture of what you have and what else you need to buy.
Then you can tick off the ingredients and the dish itself when you’re done. There’s immense satisfaction when you see the list all ticked off at the end!
3.Think beyond the oven
If you are going to have a turkey, make sure your other dishes won’t also need to go in the oven as roasting will take quite a few hours.
Otherwise, if you’re baking chicken, plan your cooking time so that you can bake other dishes before that.
Items like cooked vegetables or a pie can easily be kept warm or reheated just before dinner.
Vary cooking styles for your other dishes so that you can utilise the stove top, the slow cooker or pressure cooker.
4.Cook ahead
Make some of the dishes the day before.
Some things taste even better when the flavours have had time to meld with the ingredients when kept overnight.
Do as much as you can in advance, such as peel the potatoes, carrots and prep the other ingredients. On the actual day, this helps you cut down on cooking time so you can rest a bit, and spend more time with guests as you won’t be so exhausted! It’ll also mean less of a mess to clean up after dinner.
5.Cook all-in-one dish
If it’s too mind-numbing to think about cooking so many dishes at one go for so many people, try doing an all-in-one dish such as a stew or a roast with sides instead.
Make an all-in-one dish with meat and veggies. — Filepic
It’s a lot less work, you can prepare this well ahead and it’s still a home-cooked meal made with love!
6.Make sauces earlier
If you’re having dishes that require sauces to be poured over, you can easily make these days earlier and freeze them.
It doesn’t take away from the taste, and it saves you time so that you can concentrate on other tasks.
7.Wash as you work
Not everyone has a dishwasher at home.
But even if you do, it helps to wash your prepping plates as you go along rather than piling everything into the sink and washing a mountain at the end.
Wash as you work along the way.
Otherwise, being stuck at the sink and cleaning up can be a real downer after all the celebration.
8.Share the tasks
If you’ve got kids or other family members at home, rope them in to help out.
You could even invite some friends who would be coming over for dinner, to come over earlier and help out if they could – a prepping pre-party of sorts!
Young family cooking food in kitchen. Happy young girl with her mother mixing batter in the bowl.
And there’s no rule that says you have to cook everything yourself. It’s fine to ask guests to bring a dish to add to the merriment and lighten your load.
9.Buy food back
One of the best ways to lighten your work, offer a variety and add to the menu, is to buy ready-made dishes.
It could be pre-cooked roast lamb or turkey, or if you’re going Asian, there’s plenty of choices out there that you could buy back, be it a curry, satay, fried rice or even deep-fried calamari!
As long as there’s enough food to go around and everyone’s happy, you’ve done a great job!
