A WOMAN has revealed that she has already cooked most of her Christmas dinner.
Claire, a family meal planning expert, who often shares her tips and tricks for ‘fuss-free dinners’ online, has explained that she has made homemade cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, carrots, parsnips and brussel sprouts, in preparation for December 25th.
The foodie explained that doing so will give her more time to drink champagne, eat canapés and enjoy Christmas morning with her loved ones.
But not everyone was keen on Claire’s meal prep plan – as trolls thought her dinner would taste ‘weird and slushy’.
Sharing her simple recipes on social media, in one clip, Claire explained how she gets her pigs in blankets prepared for December 25th.
She said: “Pigs in blankets – probably the easiest of my Christmas meal prep recipes.
“You simply take your favourite sausages and wrap them in your favourite bacon.
“You get to control the type, quality and cost of the ingredients you use.
“Once wrapped, I freeze them in their original trays, separated with greaseproof paper and wrapped in foil.
“On Christmas Eve, I pop them in the fridge to defrost and then on Christmas Day, all I’ve got to do is put them in the oven for 20 minutes while the Turkey is resting.”
Then, in another clip, Claire demonstrated how she makes her parsnips and carrots ahead of the big day.
She said: “Why not get all the Christmas peeling and chopping out of the way now?
“It’s one of the most time consuming parts of Christmas dinner and leads to multiple pans to wash up afterwards.
“For my carrots and parsnips, I’ve peeled, chopped and parboiled them.
“I then arrange them on a tray and freeze.
“Once frozen, I transferred them to freezer bags.
“On Christmas Day, you can cook them from frozen in hot oil.
“I like to add some honey and herbs to mine.”
She then explained: “This is the secret to spending Christmas sipping champagne and eating canapés instead of chopping, peeling and boiling!
“My freezer is already bursting with delicious sides for the big day.
“A little prep now means that you can spread the cost of Christmas dinner and save yourself time and effort over the festive period.”
On the big day, when it comes to your carrots and parsnips, all you’ll need to do, according to Claire is: “Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the butter and honey on a large baking tray or in a roasting tin and heat in the oven for five minutes.
“Tip the frozen veg into the tray and baste in the honey and butter.
“Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.”
Claire’s TikTok clip, which she posted under the username @deliciousandreal, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly amassed 73,700 views in just 15 hours.
But social media users were left divided – while some thought it was a great idea to prepare food before the big day, others weren’t so keen.
One user wrote: “We cook the turkey and prep everything [on] Christmas eve. I actually quite enjoy it.”
A second chimed in: “I do this every year, also pre-made and freeze, cheese sauce, stuffing balls and gravy. It’s a game changer.”
Whilst someone else shared: “I’ve been doing this for years along with anything else I can prep! It saves so much time [on] Christmas Day.”
However, at the same time, another person said: “Will they not taste weird [and] slushy…”
Claire then replied: “Not at all. You cook from frozen in hot oil and they taste the same as if they hadn’t been frozen.”
Meanwhile, one user added: “I just buy them frozen, get yourself a life.”
Whilst another claimed: “Carrots don’t freeze well.”
In response, Claire replied: “If you just parboil they are fine.”
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