The holidays always come quicker than we anticipated. Family members roll into town and the festivities begin. If you are the one cooking the meal on Christmas Day, you probably felt the stress level rise as everyone walked in your door. Here are some tips to help you plan and enjoy Christmas.
Cooking probably falls to you on any normal day, but the holidays are anything but normal. You’ll need help and that requires that some things are in place before you can do that. Keep reading to find help for your harried soul.
1. Get Organized – This is a toughie for most people because they don’t know where to begin. The preparation for a holiday meal actually begins weeks before. Right after Thanksgiving, begin making your list of holiday dishes you will prepare for Christmas Day dinner. Go through your cabinets to see what you need. Recipes that call for lesser used items are tops on the list, so you can begin finding those things.
2. Start Shopping – Most family meals require the same types of foods each year. Keeping your kitchen stocked with commonly used staples means not having to run to the store at the last minute. Buy these items for a start: all-purpose flour, sugar, milk, eggs, pasta noodles, baking soda, baking powder, salt. You can even buy meats and freeze them several weeks ahead of time. Around Thanksgiving, sweet potatoes, white potatoes and onions generally go on sale. These can be bought for a low price and they will keep until Christmas.
3. Cook some dishes ahead of time. If you get your Christmas shopping out of the way early, that leaves you with a lot of time leading up to Christmas Day. Use that time to prepare desserts and side dishes. Cakes can be made, cooled and frozen. Do as much of the prep work for cooking as you can in the two or three days before the meal. If you are making a casserole, cook the rice and refrigerate it until you are ready to put it all together.
4. Buy fresh vegetables a week ahead of time. The store will be pandemonium as you get closer to Christmas. Clean, chop them up and freeze them. Do the same with any fruits that you need to use for meals. A day or so before, let them thaw in the fridge.
5. Assign stations on Christmas Eve night. Let everyone know what they will be doing to help prepare the meal. That person is then responsible for cooking the turkey, slicing the cake, setting the table or cooking the vegetables.
There is no need to stress out over the Christmas Day meal. Get yourself going with these five tips so the work is easy to manage.
