We're making hosting a holiday celebration a little bit easier!
The holiday season is a time for joy and celebration, but let’s be honest, it can also get hectic in the kitchen! We talked amongst ourselves here at WOT and found that each of us had our own tips and tricks for keeping ourselves organized and making holiday cooking more seamless.
Keep scrolling for our tried-and-true tips and the things we have learned over the years to help make holiday cooking easier.
Pre-make your dishes: Streamline your holiday preparations by pre-making any dishes that can be made in advance. This not only saves you time on the day of your get-together, but also allows you to spend more time with your guests. Look at your recipes ahead of time and figure out which ones will store well in the fridge or freezer in advance. You would be surprised at how many dishes you can make ahead of time!
Prep ingredients in advance: For dishes that need to be made day-of, minimize last-minute stress by prepping all your ingredients beforehand. This not only expedites the cooking process but also ensures that you have everything at your fingertips when you need it.
Organize oven space: If you are cooking multiple dishes in the oven, keep things organized by using sticky notes. Make a sticky note for each item, noting the required cooking time and when it needs to come out, then set your alarm for the time each dish needs to come out. This way, if you need to move the dish to a different spot, you can easily move the sticky note along with it, so when an alarm goes off, you can reference the sticky note to confirm which dish it’s for.
Make batch cocktails and pre-prep garnishes: Considering offering a cocktail that can be made in a big batch — This will allow you to be present with your guests instead of stuck behind the bar. Pre-prepping garnishes for drinks is also a great way to let guests serve themselves.
Make a chronological checklist: This one may sound intuitive, but we can’t even count how many times over the years something has been forgotten. Making a checklist of all your to-do items in chronological order can be a meal saver — Take note of all the dishes you need to make, what has to get prepped when, and when to pull items out of the fridge. Having your own little step by step guide will ensure that silly little mistakes like forgetting to change the oven temperature or to pull something out of the freezer doesn’t happen.
Set your table early: Prepare your table earlier in the day, well before the cooking begins and guests arrive. This way, once your meal is ready, you can effortlessly transition to serving and enjoy a stress-free dining experience.
Hope this tips help with your holiday celebrations!
Have more tips for cooking a seamless holiday meal? Be sure and share it with us on the WOT Instagram or Facebook!
