Best Way To Start Meal Planning For Christmas

Meal planning for Christmas is the next most important thing on people's agenda at the moment, and if you are a very disorganized person who needs meal planning for Christmas, then you have come to the right place. Making an entire meal for your hosts during a festive season can turn out to be stressful and confusing if you don't plan it accordingly.

In this article, we will help you create a Christmas planning checklist so that you don't feel out of sorts in any place throughout this beautiful day.

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Where To Start Your Meal Planning For Christmas?

A good Christmas dinner is a planned one (Image via Pexels/picjumbo.com)

The first thing to start with is to get your hand on a notebook and begin writing down the lists of guests, and then the timing of dinner, along with the theme if you have any.

Before deciding on the ingredients for your food, make sure that none of the guests have an allergy or sensitivity to those foods. Further, no one likes dirty sinks and grumpy faces, so be sure to tend to these factors as well.

After you have listed all of them down, it's time to decide the menu, and here comes the big part.

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Christmas Dinner On A Budget

The budget is always an essential element (Image via Pexels/Nicole Michalou)

If the meal planning for Christmas is on a set budget, then you must pick those things from the shelves carefully. To have a very basic structured plan, just list down all the very basic things that you must need for a traditional Christmas dinner. After you have fixed them and calculated the prices, start adding or subtracting things out as per the money left to spend.

Now, after you have fixed the basic things for the dinner, it's time to list out the menu accordingly. The menu is supposed to vary according to your living habits, your traditions, and the geographical space in which you live. But the very basic meal planning for Christmas can involve:

• 1 salad
• 1 soup
• 1 pasta
• 1 main dish (preferably turkey or chicken)
• 2 vegetable side dishes
• 1-2 different desserts

Here, you are good to go. You have the most simple and budget-friendly meal planning for Christmas. Now you can add up to it, with the preferences of you and the likings of your guests.

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Things To Take Note Of

Engaging the guests makes it more fun (Image via Pexels/ Nicole Michalou)

Now that you have the menu to look forward to and cook, but there are also some things that you must keep notice of before the dinner. Have a plan in your mind, of when to serve the dinner, and the chronology according to which the foods will be served so that the guests can have the most out of it.

Also before starting to cook the meals, list down how much time each meal will take to make, and keep 10-15 minutes extra in case.

Look for what are the dishes that could be cooked outside of the oven, and which foods stay hot comparatively for a longer time than the others. If you don't have enough utensils or any cooking materials, make sure to ask for them from your friends earlier to avoid the late rush.

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Since you will be having a lot of work on that particular day, try to do all the shopping beforehand, as most of the shops will be filled with people. Also, check if some things can be prepared the day before so they are already prepared when you need them. For example, you can cut all the vegetables for dishes and fruits for desserts beforehand, and keep them in the refrigerator.

Try to make most of the decorations, and especially set up the table the day before, so that the house is not filled with rush and crowd. Finally, when your guests arrive, try to appoint them with little work like opening the door, refilling the drinks, and helping you ring the dishes, so that they don't feel awkward or disconnected.

So, here you go, you have the most simple meal planning for Christmas, that will not only make your guests happy but also give you time to enjoy this beautiful festival.