Christmas Meal Plan – Do You Have One Yet?
December 8, 2009 by Hillbilly Housewife
Filed under Christmas, Frugal Living, Homemaking
We have just a few more short weeks until Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I much rather spend the majority of my time during the holidays with my family than slaving over a hot stove in the kitchen.
I recently interviewed my good friend Christine – aka “The Menu Mom” about family meal planning and one of the topics that came up was making a Christmas meal plan.
We both tend to plan our big holiday meals ahead of time. This allows us to shop before the grocery stores get too crowded. It also allows for quite a lot of prepping and cooking to be done ahead of time. Here are a few examples.
- Prepare some side dish casseroles the week before and freeze them. On Christmas just thaw and reheat.
- Make your rolls ahead of time and flash freeze them. Pull them out and bake them right before you are ready to eat.
- Make your pies a week or two ahead of time. You can completely bake most of them and just pull them out of the freezer the night before and allow them to thaw.
- With vegetables do all your cleaning and chopping the night before, then store them in a zip-lock bag in the fridge.
As you are making your meal plan for the holidays, include as many dishes that you can prepare ahead of time as possible.
Of course another option is to ask your guests to bring a side dish. This way you only need to worry about a few essentials including the holiday ham or turkey.
I’m sure by now you are starting to think about holiday meal planning. Are you going to give it a try this year? What ideas are you getting? Please share them in a comment below.
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I have made a plan/menu! My mom had a stroke last January so Xmas is very touchy situation this year. My dad was very noncommital about Xmas seeing how mom is living in the Alternate Level of Care ward until we can find nursing home space for her. My dad and I don’t get along but in order to make a nice Xmas for mom my eldest dd (24 yrs old)and I have created a Google document with the menu and shared access to it so that other family members can view and contribute ideas. We’re cooking everything pretty much ahead of time…appetizers, veggies, rolls, cookies and freezing except for the potatoes, turkeys (2 small ones) and the trifle which will be made day of and make the 10 minute road trip to my parents house which is wheelchair accessible. Xmas eve we will take out the vegetable dishes to thaw in the cold fruit cellar, pepare the dressing and make the sponge cake for the trifle. This will leave us lots of time away from the kitchen for socializing Xmas day.