MANY of us like the idea of getting as organised as possible for December 25 to avoid the stress of trying to prepare everything on the big day.
But one resourceful mum is already completely ready for Christmas months in advance – including having cooked her family’s dinner.
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38-year-old Kate Hall, founder of thefullfreezer.com, has had her festive feast prepped and stored in her freezer since mid-October.
Kate, who lives in Orpington, London with her husband Matt, 41, a quantity surveyor, and their two children, said: “I’m not super organised in other areas of my life, but I’m obsessed with freezing food. It really helps me keep on top of our food as a family.”
For the past few years, the savvy mum of Ellie, eight, and Josh, six, has got into the habit of getting Christmas dinner prepped and in the freezer more than two months ahead of the big day.
She said: “I always find November and December are ridiculously busy, so it’s great to have one less thing to think about.”
How Kate got into freezing Xmas dinner
Kate first started doing this back in 2020, during the pandemic and was worried that the big day would be “cancelled” due to covid.
She was also worried about not being able to get hold of certain ingredients at the last minute.
“By having it all in the freezer, we knew we wouldn’t be missing any family favourites. It would also give us complete flexibility about how much food we cooked on the day,” she explained.
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The freezer expert has now done this every year since – and December 25, 2024, is no different. Her Christmas countdown began in October.
“Around two weeks ago, I got a fresh delivery of vegetables,” said Kate. “Over the next few days, I got them ready for the freezer whilst doing other jobs in the kitchen.”
She parboiled her roast potatoes as normal, but instead of putting them into the oven, placed them on a lined tray, covered with a clean tea towel and let them cool.
Kate said: “They then went into the freezer, ready to roast straight from frozen later. I also blanched all the other veggies – including carrots, parsnips, fine green beans, broccoli, sprouts and cauliflower – in boiling water.”
After this, she laid them out on lined trays to cool – ready to freeze in individual pieces.
Kate added: “Once this was done, I bagged everything up and stored them away for the big day.”
Rather than have stacks of meat, the mum prefers to focus on having lots of vegetables – and a small joint.
She has already picked up a cook-from-frozen turkey crown from the supermarket.
“I’ve tucked this away in the freezer, along with pigs in blankets and stuffing balls,” said Kate
“I’ve even frozen my gravy and cranberry sauce flat, in freezer bags in usable quantities. That way, they can be quickly defrosted and reheated with no waste.”
Having everything prepared in advance helps take the chaos out of Christmas morning.
Kate said. “On December 25, I will cook my veg straight from frozen. I’ll simply put them on pre-heated trays and pop them in the oven.”
As many of us will know, finding enough space in the oven when cooking Christmas dinner can be tricky. But Kate has a solution to this.
“If I’m running out of room, I’ll make use of my air fryer too,” she said. “This can work well for the roast potatoes – and is a lot cheaper to run.”
The cost of cooking in advance
While air fryers use a similar amount of power as ovens, they reduce energy costs by cooking food more quickly.
Uswitch research from Christmas 2023 found that it takes 50 minutes to cook roast potatoes in an air fryer at 1.4kw which at current energy prices costs £0.29. This compares to one hour in the oven at 2kw, at a cost of £0.49, based on October’s price cap.
The findings also showed that it takes 15 minutes to cook parsnips in an air fryer at 1.4kw, costing £0.09. This compares to 30 minutes in the oven at 2kw, at a cost of £0.25.
The money-saving mum reckons the bill for her whole festive meal for a family of four comes in at less than £15.
The pros of being prepared
Kate said there are only upsides to getting her festive feast prepped and frozen weeks ahead of the big day.
“By getting organised in advance, I can wake up feeling a lot more relaxed on Christmas morning,” she said.
“This means I have a lot more time to be with my husband and my children – and to enjoy a glass of fizz.”
Another big benefit of all this is the fact it dramatically reduces food waste.
Kate said: “Many families essentially ‘throw away’ a few hundred pounds a year buying food at Christmas and then just chucking it in the bin if they cook too much, or don’t get around to eating it.”
As they aren’t having visitors on December 25, Kate is only cooking for four this year.
“My kids will barely touch the veggies, so using the freezer means I can buy the varieties of veg that my husband and I love,” she said.
“We can then just cook as much as we need – with some intentional leftovers planned in, of course.”
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“There really are some big savings to be had,” she added.
“My husband was pretty sceptical at first, but now he’s a complete convert. I know some people will hate the idea, but honestly, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
Kate’s top tips for getting ahead on Xmas dinner
Kate Shaw, author and founder of thefullfreezer.com:
Make sure you’ve got a bit of spare room in your freezer drawers, along with lots of suitable bags.
Think about staggering your purchases in the run-up to Christmas to help with spreading the cost – as well as the workload. This might mean buying, prepping and freezing carrots and parsnips one week, then potatoes the next week, and the turkey after that.
Look out for yellow-sticker offers, or freeze those veggies that would otherwise be heading into the bin. Even if you wait for the supermarket ‘pre-Christmas veg discounts’, it’s worth getting them into the freezer in the days before December 25, so you can put your feet up on the day itself.
For more tips on how to get started – along with tips on how you can prep and freeze a Christmas dinner for another family who could use a helping hand this year –check out my guide. This has been written in partnership with the charity, Free My Meal.
