Mother reveals how she cooks her Christmas dinner a month early

A mother has revealed how she finished cooking her Christmas dinner a month early – minus the turkey – to save her three hours in the kitchen on the big day.

Claire Gillies, 47, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, has been preparing her Christmas dinner ahead of time for the last 18 years.

She starts shopping for the meal in November, and preps and cooks it as she goes, before freezing it all in her chest freezer.

Claire has the meal frozen by December – a month early – before defrosting it on Christmas day and cooking it in an hour.

She cooks the meat fresh on the day, but said her hacks save her three hours in the kitchen.

Claire added that the food is enough to feed her family of six with leftovers for Boxing day – and she spends just £65.55 by cooking everything from scratch.

She splits the cost over six weeks, only spending £4.26 a week on the vegetables.

Claire said: ‘I used to be that mum stuck in the kitchen while everyone else was laughing and opening presents.

‘I thought, this is ridiculous, I’m missing the fun part of Christmas.

‘So, I started doing one thing a week, freezing it as I went, and honestly it changed everything.’

The mum-of-two preps a dish a week starting from the beginning of November.

She even makes her own mince pies and signature pigs in blankets stuffed with brie and cranberry sauce.

For her Christmas dinner she opts for turkey and ham – which she buys on her last Christmas shop, two weeks before the big day, and freezes with the rest of her dinner.

Claire said: ‘When you do one thing a week, it doesn’t feel like hard work.

‘And because you’re spreading the cost, you hardly notice it in your food shop.’

Claire, who lives with her 51-year-old husband Rob, 18-year-old daughter Evie and son Sam, 15, peels and part-boils her potatoes, carrots and parsnips before freezing them.

‘On Christmas morning, I just take them out of the freezer and roast them from frozen, and they’ll come out perfectly golden,’ she said.

Her sprouts get the VIP treatment too.

Claire, owner of Delicious and Real, which provides family meal-plans, and a part-time teacher, said: ‘I sit in front of the TV with a cup of tea and peel them. I stick them in the freezer, and then on the day I microwave them with butter and black pepper.

‘They don’t go soggy that way, and I can relax while I’m doing it.’

Claire even preps her gravy in advance.

She said: ‘I make it from scratch using all the veg peelings.

‘It splatters everywhere and is fiddly, so I’d rather do it weeks before than end up with gravy down my nice Christmas dress.’

She also makes her own cranberry sauce, a recipe that Claire completely swears by.

She said: ‘It’s honestly the best cranberry sauce you’ll ever taste!

‘It takes 15 minutes, freezes beautifully and makes brilliant little gifts too.’

Desserts are also of course prepped in advance for the big day.

‘I make my own mincemeat and fill the pastry cases, then freeze them on trays,’ said Claire.

‘If anyone pops round unexpectedly, I can whip out a few mince pies and bake them.

‘People think I’ve just made them fresh.

‘The only things I wash on the day are the oven tray. No pans, no mess, no piles of dishes, it’s bliss.’

She says the change has transformed her Christmas mornings.

Claire said: ‘I get to wake up, have a proper breakfast, open presents with everyone, then we all take the dog for a walk.

‘By the time we get back, I just put everything in the oven.

‘It’s so relaxed now, and I actually enjoy it much more.

‘Christmas should be about enjoying time together, not scrubbing pots and pans.

‘By getting it all done early, I can actually enjoy the day instead of stressing.’