Preparing large holiday meals for a crowd is time consuming and a lot of work, too. If you prepare some parts of your meal ahead of time, you will find that pulling it all together becomes a lot faster and easier. Don’t spend the day of the big holiday gathering slaving in the kitchen-smart cooks prepare ahead of time!
Your Freezer Is Your Friend
By preparing side dishes that freeze well ahead of time and stashing them in the freezer, you can break up the cooking over a number of days. Potatoes, vegetables, and other side dishes are freezer friendly, and all you will have to do is pull them out and heat them up when you are ready for them. Desserts can be frozen as well and thawed when needed-cakes freeze very well and thaw nicely, saving you the work of preparing that delicious dessert at the last minute.
Slow Cooker Meals
Today’s slow cookers can be used to make just about anything. You can prepare the meal ahead of time and just turn the slow cooker on in the morning. Come meal time, you will have hot food ready to go, and you won’t have spent a minute in the kitchen. You can create an entire meal using slow cookers, saving you a lot of hassle.
Christmas Morning Quickies
Creating a breakfast casserole that you can simply throw in the oven on the big morning will prevent making a mess of the kitchen to go along with the wrapping paper mess everywhere else. There is a wide range of different breakfast casseroles you can make.
Another quick Christmas morning idea-try an overnight cinnamon roll recipe. Make the dough the day before and let the rolls rise overnight in the fridge. Come Christmas morning, pop them in the oven for a delicious treat with no effort at all.
The more you can prepare ahead of time, the more time you can spend enjoying the holiday with family and friends. With all of the make-ahead recipes out there, you can have just about everything ready to go before the big day arrives, and be in and out of the kitchen quickly, ready to sit down and enjoy a meal with your loved ones.