We know that Halloween has only just passed, and it’s still early November, but it’s time to start thinking about Christmas. You’ve still got a month and a half until the big day, but with presents to buy, food to sort out, and decorations to put up, these next seven weeks can whizz by before you know it.
Christmas brings about varying degrees of stress depending on how much you put on your plate around the holiday season. If you stay at home and don’t do any cooking yourself, then your Christmas is likely a breeze. However, if you have multiple family members to visit and it’s your job to prepare the perfect Christmas dinner, then panic might already be setting in.
One of the biggest causes of Christmas stress is the dinner. Many of us put a lot of effort into the meal, and it’s often said that Christmas can be ruined by a dinner that falls short.
But if you’re also in charge of entertaining guests on Christmas Day, you don’t want to spend all your time in the kitchen. That’s why there are plenty of time-saving tips out there to help you slash your kitchen time on the big day.
While it’s common knowledge that vegetables can be peeled and chopped the day before and stuffing balls can be made ahead of time – did you know you can prepare your potatoes in advance too? In fact, you can do it this week.
In a video on Instagram, a meal planner named Claire claimed that you can prepare your roast potatoes for Christmas dinner in early November, as you’ll be able to store the spuds in the freezer.
Claire’s trick involves doing everything except roasting the potatoes ahead of time, so they have been peeled, chopped, parboiled, and seasoned for over a month before they are needed.
She said: “No peeling, chopping, or parboiling on Christmas Day, because you got all that done in November.
“Once your potatoes are prepped, parboil them for eight minutes and then let them steam in a colander. Give them a shake to roughen up the edges, and add some seasoning and then your oil of choice. Tip them onto a baking tray and arrange them so they are not touching. Pop them in the freezer until frozen, and then transfer them into a food-safe bag and pop them back into the freezer until Christmas.”
The potatoes can be cooked in the oven from frozen on Christmas Day, so you can completely forget about them until it’s time to cook them – saving you heaps of time in the kitchen.
Commenters on the video were blown away by the idea of preparing potatoes a month in advance. Many said they would be trying it out themselves this year to help cut down on the Christmas Day stress.
One person said: “I’ve done these and it’s such a relief knowing that it’s done!”
Another added: “Great idea, I’m going to do this!”
How to cook the prepped potatoes from frozen
In the caption of her video, Claire shared the following advice for cooking the prepared spuds:
- When you are ready to cook the potatoes, heat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4).
- Put your fat of choice into a roasting tray and pop it in the oven – once sizzling, carefully add the frozen potatoes, making sure you baste them in the hot fat.
- Roast for 25 minutes.
- Remove the tray and increase the temperature to 200°C (gas mark 6).
- Turn over the potatoes and return to the oven for 40 minutes.