Christmas dinner: the countdown
Work back from the time you want to eat, not forward from today. One oven means everything is a queue, and the queue is the entire plan.
26 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Order the turkey, if you want anything other than frozenButchers take orders through November and sell out by the second week of December.
- Work out the timeline backwards from your sit-down timeStart from when you want to eat and work back through resting, roasting and the sides. Write it down — nobody holds this in their head on the day.
- Ask who's coming and what they don't eatAsk now, not on the 24th, when there's no time left to change the plan.
- Book anything that needs pre-ordering — a rolled joint, a goose, a proper pudding
- Buy crackers and anything else that vanishes off the shelves closer to the day
- Make the Christmas pudding, if not boughtTraditionally made weeks ahead, then wrapped and left to mature in a cool cupboard.
- Make and freeze the cranberry sauce
- Write the shopping list split by what needs to be fresh and what keeps
- The week before: collect or take delivery of the turkey
- Make the stuffing and freeze it
- Par-boil and part-roast the potatoes, then freeze them
- Check there's a tray, dish and hob ring for everything that needs one at onceThis is the point people discover they own one roasting tin and four things that need one.
- Roasting tin big enough for the bird
- A dish for the potatoes
- A saucepan for each vegetable and the bread sauce
- Fridge space cleared for the raw bird itself
- Defrost the turkey in the fridge, allowing a day for every 5kgGet the exact timing off the packet, then add a day's margin on top.
- The night before: lay the table, including serving spoons
- The night before: prep vegetables and put them in water
- The night before: make the bread sauce base
- The last ninety minutes, in orderWritten down and stuck to the fridge, since this is the part with no room left for improvising.
- Turkey out of the oven and resting, covered in foil
- Potatoes and pigs in blankets in while the bird rests
- Gravy made from the resting juices
- Serving dishes warmed
- Someone given the washing-up rota, before the first plate is dirty
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- How far ahead can Christmas dinner actually be prepped?
- Most of it. Stuffing, cranberry sauce and par-boiled potatoes can be made and frozen weeks out. Only the bird itself, and its gravy, really need the day.
- What's the trick to only having one oven?
- A running order stuck to the fridge, worked out backwards from the bird's resting time. Resting isn't optional — it's also the only spare oven space you get.
- How long does a turkey take to defrost?
- Roughly a day in the fridge for every 5kg. A frozen bird on the 24th is not a cooked one on the 25th — check the weight and count backwards from there.