PREPARING Christmas dinner can be a nerve-shredding flurry of peeling mountains of veg, basting the turkey and cooking the sprouts to crunchy perfection.
But there’s a simple way to get a head start on all that prep to make Christmas morning a breeze – and all you need is a bit of spare room in your freezer drawers, plus a few plastic bags according to one mum.
Each year Kate Hall, from Orpington, Kent, beats the kitchen chaos of cooking for her family of four on Christmas morning – by roasting up the family feast in October and freezing the lot ready for the big day.
She began her Christmas countdown this week with a delivery of fresh vegetables, plus a simple frozen turkey crown which she plans to cook on the day.
“I tend to go for variety in my Christmas dinner – so rather than having stacks of meat with a massive turkey, I do a small joint and have loads of veggies, plus pigs in blankets and roast potatoes to bulk it out,” says mum-of-two Kate, who has Ellie, six and three-year-old, Josh.
Kate, 36, who is married to Matt, 39, a quantity surveyor, peels and blanches vegetables in boiling water, then lays them out on a tray to freeze in individual pieces before bagging them up and storing them for the 25th.
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On the day itself, she cooks her veg straight from frozen, tipping it on to a warm tray and before popping it in the oven.
She’ll cook the turkey joint at the same time, having followed the instructions to thaw it out first, usually the day before.
“I’m not afraid of bringing the air fryer into play if I need to free up oven space,” Kate says.
“If you can roast it, chances are you can air-fry it, too, and these little gadgets use a fraction of the electricity an oven uses. I’ll probably do the roast potatoes in mine.”
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Besides a stress-free Christmas morning – leaving more time to enjoy a glass or two of fizz – Kate reckons there’s another good reason to start making the most of your freezer with her whole dinner coming in at just £15.
“The average family wastes something like £700 a year buying food and then just throwing it in the bin because they haven’t got around to eating it,” she explains.
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“Food prices have gone up 10 per cent, so if you’re still in the habit of throwing food away, there are substantial savings to be had.
“You can also make things easier on your pocket in the run up to Christmas by getting bits here and there.
“Sort your potatoes out this week and get them in the freezer. Next week do your carrots, and so on.
“Not only do you spread the cost, but you spread the workload, too.
“Another good tip is that if you’ve got excess vegetables that are in danger of ending up in the bin, get them in the freezer now, and by the time Xmas comes around it’ll feel like you’ve got yourself a free dinner.”
The cost of Kate’s Christmas dinner
- Instant gravy – 15p
- Rosemary – 24p
- Garlic – 18p
- Rock salt – 6p
- Sunflower oil – 21p
- Honey – 11p
- Stuffing mix – £1.32
- Sprouts – 45p
- Parsnips – 60p
- Carrots – 24p
- Potatoes – 60p
- Green beans – 77p
- Broccoli – 17p
- Cauliflower -12p
- Cheese sauce (homemade) – 91p
- Pigs in blankets x 12 – £3
- Turkey breast joint – £6.50
TOTAL: £15.63*
*Prices calculated by the amount used in the dinner rather than price per unit.
Frozen food expert Kate says more and more people are catching on to the idea to save both time and cash.
Though she admits pals were initially bemused by her devotion to the kitchen freezer she says they too are now committed converts – and even tap her up for advice.
“I think some of them were a bit confused or hesitant when I first started my freezer journey,” explains Kate.
“They were probably thinking, ‘good for you’, but I don't think they could ever see themselves doing it – whereas now they’ll message me and ask for advice about using ingredients from their freezers.
“And as bills are rising, more and more people are starting to open their minds to it.”
Kate says most of her friends have been converted by following the ideas on her Instagram and Facebook pages, The Full Freezer, where she shares some surprising home freezer tips.
She freezes left-over wine in ice cube trays to add to stocks and sauces.
Spare eggs nearing their use-by date are whisked up and frozen in a ziplock bag.
Half used tins of coconut milk or kidney beans are decanted and filed away in her jumbo freezer, labelled and dated to avoid those annoying ‘mystery packet’ moments.
Even sandwiches for the kids’ packed lunches get the freezer treatment.
Kate’s fascination with frozen food started back in October 2018 when she was on maternity leave with baby son, Josh, who is now three.
What started as a hobby quickly became a vital way to save money after she was made redundant from a publishing job during the Covid pandemic.
Sharing her ideas for slashing food waste through social media has won her a legion of followers – as well as partnership deals with the likes of Birds Eye.
This year, Kate has partnered up with social enterprise Free My Meal to share tips and advice on how people can prepare Christmas dinner in advance.
“We’re also showing how, if they’ve got spare capacity, they can cook and freeze an Xmas meal for someone else, too,” she says.
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“I think there’s probably quite a lot of people who think food from the freezer isn’t going to taste as good – until they give it a chance and realise you can rarely tell the difference.
“The reality is, there’s not much you can’t freeze – Christmas dinner included!”
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