Whether its Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s, having everyone over for a holiday meal can be a daunting task. Below are some tips that you can use to help your holiday meal be a success and be less stressful.
Don’t Turn Down Help
When you have people over for a holiday, the one thing that you want to do is accept help in any way that you can. Let family and friends bring things and don’t be afraid to delegate the different meal parts that may make you feel stressed.
Cook Ahead
One of the most stressful parts of any meal is that last-minute rush. That’s why it’s a good idea to make as much ahead as you possibly can. Look for things that you can make ahead. Even if the whole dish can’t be made ahead, you can look for different ways that you can break things down into smaller pieces.
Don’t Try New Recipes
When you are having people over for a traditional holiday meal, you don’t want to try something new. You won’t know if people are going to like it and then people are going to be left going home hungry.
Get a Head Start on Non-Food Preparation
It isn’t just your food that you have to prepare. The chances are that you are going to pull out the serving dishes that need washing, additional silverware, or ensuring that you have ample napkins. This should all be done a week before. Double checking your utensils and serving plates and ironing the tablecloth is all things you can do way ahead of time.
Think About Cooking the Star the Day Prior
Whether you are having turkey, ham, a roast or something else, it’s a good idea to cook it a day ahead of time. This way, if you are cooking something huge like a turkey you know that it will be done and that you don’t have to get up early to cook it. If you’re not worried about bringing it out and showing everyone how beautiful it looks before its carved, you can even carve it the day before too and put it into your crockpot to keep it warm. The advantage of this is that you’ll then be able to use its bones for making a delicious stock that you can make into gravy. You also can use the stock in your crockpot for reheating the turkey.
Don’t Forget the Wine
Have some wine chilling in your refrigerator or even some sangria in a pitcher. If people have drinks, they’re not going to care if they have to wait for dinner. Make sure that you have something for the kids, too. Sparkling cider can make them feel grown up.
Don’t go Nuts Over Appetizers
There’s going to be plenty of food. You want people to be able to enjoy the main meal. So something small like crackers and cheese or fresh veggies will be fine.
These are seven tips that you can use for cooking any holiday meal. They’ll help you with having a good holiday meal and make sure that everyone has what they need without making yourself crazy.