Christmas is a time for giving and receiving, family love and general indulgent happiness for all. However, the people responsible for preparing the Christmas meal often do not get a chance to feel the festive joy and sometimes stress levels can go through the roof. 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.
Prepare Food Early. You’d be amazed at just how much of the food can be prepared well before the meal, without compromising on quality. 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. If you have a microwave you can make your sauces up early doors and then just heat them up again with a bit of added water when you need them. This docent work so well for the other items of the meal like the meat and potatoes…these are best fresh.
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.Getting all this sorted as early as possible just gives you less to think about later.
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 dont have to lug heavy bowls and serving dishes back and forth, the dining table doesnt get cluttered up, and people can have exactly what they want. Its advisable to keep the wine glasses on the table however as trying to juggle food and drink never ends well.