Christmas Cooking – 6 Simple Tips to Help You Create A Sumptuous but Stress-Free Christmas Dinner
Sometimes it feels like stress is the definition of Christmas. You spend the days and weeks leading up to it running around like a headless chicken.
By the time the big day arrives, you’re thoroughly exhausted and don’t enjoy it as much as you’d hoped. Imagine if stress in the kitchen could be eliminated? Though this sounds impossible, it’s doable with a few small changes.
Related: 5 WAYS TO MANAGE THE HOLIDAY STRESS
Tips to Prepare a Stress-Free Christmas Meal
Upgrade Your Cookware
If you’re still messing around with cookware that should have been thrown out a long time ago, then choose Christmas as the time to upgrade. You may be surprised at how this simple upgrade can enhance your meals and reduce stress.
Take induction cookware, for example. It offers faster heat, easy cleanup, and precise temperature control. These are all recipes for success when you’re under pressure and trying to feed all your guests.
Create a Meal Plan
You probably have a lot of great ideas in your head, including recipes passed down from one generation to the next.
However, when they are all just floating around in your memory, they can lead to feelings of overwhelm.
Get all those recipes out on paper by creating a meal plan. Don’t forget to include ingredients you need to buy, timeframes, extra cookware and crockery you might need for the occasion, and a budget to bring it all together.
Meal plans can also be an excellent way to ensure you serve healthier options on Christmas day.
Order Online
With millions of cases of COVID-19 around the world, Christmas preparations just got more stressful. Fortunately, there’s a way to both ease your stress and take care of your family’s Christmas dinner.
Create a list of everything you need to keep your family fed and watered on the day and in the days after.
Order your groceries online, and wait for them to arrive. It’s that simple. Just be sure to get your orders in early as grocery booking slots are bound to fill up fast.
Keep it Low Key
You may have been used to extravagant Christmas affairs with dozens of people visiting your home, but why not reduce your stress and keep it low key this year?
Aside from the CDC’s recommendation of small gatherings to reduce the spread of COVID-19, it can be a weight off your mind knowing you’ve got fewer people to cater for once Christmas arrives.
Create Simple Dishes
It can be tempting to experiment with scrumptious holiday dishes that everyone loves.
While there is nothing wrong with doing so, a typically stressful time of year may not be the best time for you to be treating your kitchen like a test lab. Stick with dishes you know like the back of your hand to avoid any potential disasters that may tip you over the edge.
Establish a Timeline
One of the most frustrating things about cooking various dishes for a lavish feast is how they all cook at different times. For example, you couldn’t start cooking potatoes while you throw the turkey in the oven.
Create a timeline for when you will begin to cook and in what order you will prepare everything. With a little pre-planning, your kitchen can run like a stress-free production line.
You may be used to stress at Christmas time, but did you know you can avoid much of it? Plan ahead, buy as much as you can online, and consider upgrading your cookware. You can then sit back, relax, and enjoy the festive season.
