Preparing your Kitchen for the Holidays

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Holiday cooking for a large family doesn’t have to be burdensome. Today we will share our best tips for making it easier, so that you can enjoy your holidays as stress free as possible.

Plan your menu well in advance – some people have key things they like to make every year, so build your menu around those and then fill in the blanks with different dishes. This will help you with the next tip!

Get organized – well before the holidays start, take a few hours and organize your kitchen. Take stock of everything you have, making note of any utensils or ingredients you may be missing. Make a big shopping trip and get all the essentials so that you can relax and focus on your main dishes without missing a beat.

Prepare as much as you can in advance – Shop early and freeze the things that can be frozen. This will avoid the last minute “Oh no, I totally forgot to buy dried onions!” freak out because you will have already handled this in the weeks before.

Make it a potluck – you aren’t alone in this! Make it fun and have everyone bring a covered dish. Just make sure to coordinate it in advance so that you don’t get duplicate dishes. This will allow you to focus on the big stuff, like the ham/turkey, without worrying so much about all of the other little stuff.

Buy precut produce – this is a game changer. Cutting up produce takes a lot of time (and patience). Spend that time

Get everyone involved – if you can’t find things pre cut, or just prefer to cut your own produce, get the entire family involved in prep. Two people working on something doubles your speed and makes like so much easier.