Easy Christmas Day Meal Shopping & Cooking

The holidays always come quicker than we anticipate, especially if you are the one cooking the meal on Christmas Day!

Here are some tips to help you plan your Christmas Day meal shopping and cooking so you can enjoy other Christmas activities.

1.  Get Organized
Getting Organized  is a problem for most people because they don’t know where to begin.  The preparation for a holiday meal actually begins weeks before the actual day.  Immediately after Thanksgiving, begin making your list of holiday dishes that you will prepare for Christmas Day dinner.  Go through your pantry to see what you need.  Recipes that call for lesser used ingredients should be first on the list, so you can begin finding those items immediately.

2.  Start Shopping
Most family meals require the same types of foods each year.  Keeping your kitchen stocked with commonly used staples means not having to run to the store at the last minute.  Buy these items for a start: all-purpose flour, sugar, milk, eggs, pasta noodles, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Around Thanksgiving you’ll find that sweet potatoes, white potatoes and onions generally go on sale. These can be bought for a low price and they will keep until Christmas.  You can also buy meats and freeze them several weeks ahead of time.

3.  Cook some dishes ahead of time.
When your Christmas meal shopping is accomplished early, that leaves you with extra time leading up to Christmas Day.  Use that time to prepare desserts and side dishes.  Many cakes and pies can be baked, cooled and frozen.  Do as much of the prep work for cooking as you can in the two or three days before the meal.  If you are making a casserole, cook the rice and refrigerate it until you are ready to put it all together.

4.  Buy fresh vegetables a week ahead of time.
The store will be pandemonium as you get closer to Christmas.  Clean and chop vegetables and freeze them. Do the same with any fruits that you will need to use for meals. A day or so before, let them thaw in the fridge.

5.  Assign stations on Christmas Eve night.
Let everyone know what they will be doing to help prepare the meal.  These tasks can include cooking the turkey, slicing the cake, setting the table or cooking the vegetables.

With these simple 5 steps, there is no need to stress out over the Christmas Day meal.  You might even have time left over now to tackle a last minute shopping spree for the person on your list that you forget every year!

Chele Neisler is your host for Moms Love Shopping. As a mother of three boys, Chele is happy to have Moms Love Shopping as an outlet and a connection to other women. Spending every moment with all males isn’t easy! Hosting the show also allows her the chance to return to her two first loves, shopping and chatting.