The pressure of getting a turkey, gravy, roast potatoes and all the trimmings on the table on Christmas Day is enough to have most of us waking up in a sweat.
But according to seasoned cookbook author Jane Lovett, with enough planning the meal itself can be a cinch. “It’s important to try and make Christmas easy. It’s the host’s Christmas as well and it should be fun, hosting family and friends,” she says.
“I wouldn’t dream of entertaining people unless I’d done most of the preparation ahead of time. And people are always so surprised at what you can do in advance.
“You can buy Christmas cards and wrapping paper now, as well as crackers, napkins and candles. It spreads out the cost too.”
Here she shares the shortcuts behind her Christmas dinner – and the time-saving hacks she swears by.
What you can do now
Roast potatoes
The brilliant thing about roast potatoes is that you can cook them from frozen. And if they’re cooked from frozen, they weirdly take less time to cook. They’re also crispier than if they haven’t been frozen.
If you’re cooking roast potatoes between now and Christmas, just make some extra for Christmas Day. Parboil them for 15 minutes so they’re slightly falling apart with fluff round the edge.
Drain them, fluff them up, and tip them onto a tray in one layer, making sure they’re not squashed. Freeze them on a tray and once frozen, place back in the freezer in a polythene bag.
On Christmas Day, remove them from the freezer and cook them in oil in a roasting tin for about 45 minutes, turning once during cooking.
You can also prepare them two or three days before Christmas, up to the parboiling stage, and keep them in the fridge. Sometimes they go a little grey but that disappears when they’re cooked.
Parsnips
You can cook parsnips from frozen as well. Parboil them for two minutes then prepare them in the same way as potatoes.
Stuffing
Make your stuffing now and freeze it. I’m not sniffy about stuffing, I rather like Paxo.
Sausages and bacon rolls
Cook your chipolatas now and then place them in the freezer in a shallow oven-proof dish. Take them out to thaw on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day just reheat them and crisp them up in the top of a hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes. The same goes for pigs in blankets. Cook them in advance and put them in the freezer.
Bread sauce
You can freeze bread sauce three months in advance. Freeze it in the dish in which you’re going to serve it. But if you’re going to need the dish, line it with a bag or clingfilm, add the bread sauce, freeze it then pull that out of the bowl. So when you take it out of the freezer on Christmas Day, you can put it straight back in the bowl.
It might just need some milk stirring in after it defrosts. You can reheat it in the microwave or saucepan.
Red cabbage
Make it now and freeze it in the same way as the bread sauce.
Cranberry sauce
Put the cranberries in a pan with some sugar and flavourings – a bit of orange juice and some spices. They take about five minutes to turn into cranberry sauce and that lasts weeks in the fridge.
Carrots
Carrots freeze very well. You can also prepare them four days in advance: Cut them into shape and leave them in water.
On Christmas Day
Turkey
You can’t do the turkey in advance but you can finish roasting it two hours before you serve it up. I’d even say four hours. All meat needs to rest so that the juices are all drawn back into the flesh, or the meat will be grey and tough.
When it comes out of the oven, put it on the plate you’ll serve it on, and loosely cover it in tinfoil and bath towels – not tea towels, they’ve got to be heavy – and it will stay warm for four hours.
Gravy
The minute I take delivery of the turkey, I take the giblets out and cook them, making them into stock with bay leaves. That will keep in the fridge until you need it. I make gravy with the pre-prepared stock and juices from the turkey tin plus enough flour to soak up the fat.
Sprouts
You can prepare them in advance but they’re the only vegetable you’ll need to cook on the day, unless you’re serving peas. Buy them on the stem if you can because they’re much fresher. I slice a little bit off the bottom of the stalk then sit them in a bowl of water in a cold place to keep them fresh for longer.
Pre-prepared packet sprouts are cut off at the bottom so, when you cook them, the leaves fall off. If you need to take anything off a sprout, just take the finest little slice off the bottom. That way, all the layers and leaves are held together by the root, and they’ll cook evenly in a quarter of the time.
Once cooked, drain them under the cold tap. They’ll go brighter green in front of your eyes and it also stops them cooking without making them cold.
Jane shares her tried and tested Christmas dinner hacks
Ditch the starter: We would rather major on the roast
Dodge the sog: When you’re keeping food warm in the oven, keep the door ajar to let the steam out or your food will get soggy. So no lids on, either.
Buy potatoes by the sack: It’s cheaper and they’ll last for months. Always buy named potatoes like King Edward or Maris Piper. If they don’t have a name, they’re different varieties and won’t cook evenly. They need to be dark and cold but, if they’ve got sprouts coming out of them, just knock them off.
Get wise about water: Green vegetables that grow above the ground should be steamed or put straight into boiling water (plain or salted) to cook. Anything that grows below the ground (root veg, carrots, potatoes) are brought to the boil in cold salted water because they cook more evenly.
Don’t double up on dishes: I try to freeze food in the dish in which I will serve it. That’s nice and easy, and you’ve got no greasy tins to wash up on the day.
Fill your boot: I use the car as storage space because it’s rodent free and it’s cold.
The Get-Ahead Christmas Cook by Jane Lovett, £28 (Headline Home, £28) is out now