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Catering A Successful Christmas Dinner

Preparing Christmas dinner for a group of people can be time consuming. With everything that goes into the Christmas season, adding dinner to the list can be daunting. This year, consider having your Christmas dinner catered.

To many, catering Christmas dinner can seem like a frou-frou thing to do. You’d expect that at a high society Christmas dinner but not for a down home family gathering. Actually, more and more people are opting for this type of holiday meal.

Catering a Christmas dinner meal saves time. That is probably the number one reason to have the Christmas meal catered. Hours are spent in the kitchen fixing food and washing dishes. By the time the guests arrive to eat, you are too pooped out to participate.

The Christmas dinner is about fellowship. It is hard to carry on a conversation if you are asleep. With a catered dinner, the caterers do the majority of the work while, you are allowed to play host or hostess and interact with the family.

Catering a Christmas dinner includes food and service. Caterers come in and set up the food station and bring already prepared food. If you’d like, they will also serve the food to the guests and replenish food that is running low. Afterwards, they are responsible for clean up.

When dealing with a caterer for Christmas dinner, contact them well in advance of the occasion. Caterers book up fast with private parties and corporate affairs. Discuss a budget with them. While you want the convenience of not cooking you don’t want to go broke trying to do it. Choose a caterer with the most services included in the price of the meal.

Stick with a simple menu. Adding several side dishes and meats will jack up the price. Choose one or two meats and maybe three side dishes. Chicken is one of the cheapest meats to serve. Desserts can be brought by the Christmas dinner guests.

Remember that caterers will be watching the clock. They get paid for the amount of hours they are there. So, serve dinner first and then everyone can lounge and talk over dessert since you provided that yourself. The caterers can clean up, wrap up any extra food, and clear out in a matter of a couple of hours. The rest of the Christmas evening can be enjoyed by you and your family alone.

Some catered Christmas dinners just involve the food. In that case, the price will be cheaper and you can set up the eating area any way that you want. The food arrives a few hours before dinner and you didn’t have to lift a finger.

Catering a Christmas dinner is a great way to save time on cooking. The family gets a great meal for Christmas without the hassle and stress of preparing it.

Christmas Dinner Leftovers

One of the best parts of Christmas dinner is the leftovers. The food always seen to taste better the second or third time you eat it. Here are uses and guidelines for handling Christmas dinner leftovers.

1.      Clean out the refrigerator prior to dinner. You’ll need room for those platters and bowls of leftovers. Anything that can be removed should be removed to make room for the remnants of the Christmas dinner.  

2.      Buy plastic storage bags and containers. Storing food in the original pot or dish is not a good idea. For one, it takes up extra space. Secondly, it leaves too much dead space for liquid to collect. Food keeps better and longer in containers where the leftovers are packed tightly.

3.      Never pack up warm foods. Wait until the meats and side dishes are completely cool before placing them containers to go in the refrigerator. This is another reason why it is better to serve food in bowls on the Christmas dinner table or have everyone heat their own plates at dinner time.

4.      Slice any meat off of the bone before storing. It is easier to handle and produces less mess. The turkey carcass and the ham bone can be frozen for later use in soups and stews. Turkey legs and thigh meat can be sliced off the bone and diced up for turkey salad. Add a little chopped celery, seasonings, and mayonnaise for a lunch treat on bread or crackers.

5.      Create a casserole dish with leftover Christmas dinner rice. Whether it is white rice or wild rice, add some chopped chicken or turkey, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and some shredded cheese. Bake at 325 degrees for about twenty minutes or until soup is bubbly and you have dinner for the next night.

6.      Buy sectioned plate containers and fix meals. This avoids people dipping into leftover bowls over and over. Label each container with the type of food inside. If someone wants turkey and potatoes, they can grab that plate and heat it up without bothering any other leftovers.

7.      Avoid wrapping any leftovers in aluminum foil. Foil is good for cooking but for Christmas dinner leftovers, it will begin to break down as it is opened and reopened by hungry people. If you must wrap something in foil, purchase heavy duty foil for that purpose.

Leftovers are great. They can be used for soups, sandwiches, dips, and more throughout the Christmas holiday. Remember that leftovers in the refrigerator should not be eaten after the fourth day. If you want to keep something longer, freeze it. These are only a few of the ideas and tips that can be used when working with Christmas dinner leftovers.

Planning a Family Christmas Dinner

It is one of the two times a year that families are guaranteed to get together for a meal. Christmas dinner with family is a big deal in most households. But, this year, plan ahead so that more time is actually spent with the family and not slaving over a hot stove.

Planning saves not only time but money when it comes to having a family gathering. At Christmas, most families are filled with good cheer and a longing to reconnect. Let the family Christmas dinner be the culmination of that celebration.

Here are a few tips to help that dinner turn out to be a delight instead of a disaster.

1.      Find out who is coming. We are talking about family so most people will probably attend. But, there will be the person who has to work or is out of town and can’t make it because of the weather (it does snow in a few places around Christmas!).

2.      Ask everyone to bring something. Obviously if they are traveling by plane that will be difficult, but for family members who are driving in or live nearby, it is okay to ask them to bring a vegetable dish or a dessert to the Christmas dinner. The others can pitch in on the preparations when they arrive.

3.      Make side dishes in advance of the Christmas dinner. We all like to sit and smell the delightful flavors wafting from the kitchen but that’s impractical when serving dinner to a sizable group. Before you know it, the entire house would be overheated and there would be dishes piled up in the sink for someone to wash. Fix and freeze as many side dishes as you can. A few hours before the meal, take them out and warm them up.

4.      Cook the turkey early. Turkey is the main course at most traditional Christmas dinners. Roasting the turkey early leaves plenty of room in the stove to fix smaller dishes together. It takes several hours for a turkey to cool completely, so by dinnertime, it will still be warm enough to serve without reheating the entire bird.

5.      Serve dinner buffet style. Let everyone serve themselves. Have a communal blessing over the food and then whoever is hungry can eat. It is not the sit down at the table dinner we all envision from our youth, but it is more practical. Some people like to eat early and some will be watching sports on television.

Planning a Christmas dinner for the family is about the fellowship as much as it is about the meal. Use the above tips to share the cooking and spend more time reminiscing with family and friends.