Start Prepping Those Christmas Meals

 

I know we just got over Thanksgiving right, and now I'm talking about Christmas 🎄? 

Well, if you're like me, you have alot of meals coming up. Church Christmas dinners, family Christmas dinners (maybe more than one), work Christmas dinners or lunches, school parties and dinners, you see where I'm going?

If you have so much to do, why wait until the last minute? Before I finally adopted the motto, "Work smarter not harder", I used to stand in the kitchen the last couple of days before Christmas and absolutely wear myself out to where I was so exhausted, stressed,  overwhelmed, and irritable. I couldn't even enjoy the holidays. I said, "Enough is Enough". 

I came up with a game plan. I would start right after Thanksgiving and plan meals and prepare them. That meant planning,  shopping then precooking and baking them. I would add a dish or two while I was already making meals for every day anyway. I'm already in the kitchen, stove is already on, why not? 

I would make a dish or two every night or every other day. Then I would wrap them up tightly and put them in the freezer. Every day I would chip away at the Christmas meals I had planned. When it came time for a particular meal that I had made for a particular event, I would grab them out of the freezer the night before and place them in the refrigerator to thaw. Right before the event, I would place them into the oven to warm up. When they were done, I would place them in my insulated casserole or pie carriers and walk out the door. 

When preparing to do this. Keep the lists of the recipes or dishes you are going to make for each event. Like,  green bean casserole and Mac and cheese.....Grandma's Christmas dinner. After you prepare the dish, and wrap it up, write on the aluminum foil or saran wrap what it is and whose even it goes to. That way it will be easier to grab and go if they are grouped together. 

I did dishes and desserts this way. I can't tell you how many years this saved my sanity. Sometimes I would start this process right after Halloween to get ready for Thanksgiving.  Sometimes I would plan my Thanksgiving meal and double a dish and put one back for a Christmas meal. The earlier you start, the better. Because who doesn't already have other things to think about and prepare for Christmas? There is the decorating, Christmas gifts, etc. 

We even start Christmas shopping early, like in September and October early. To be honest, I worked in retail for years, and the same sales they ran for Black Friday deals were the same ones they ran throughout the whole year. 🙃 Yep,  that's right. 

Start implementing some of these ideas to get you ready for next year and have a game plan in place. Starting in January, pick up a gift here and there for someone on your list.

Watch for those sales....oh Debbie would like this sweater,  and it's on sale, I'll go get it now.....see?

Put it up somewhere with their name on it. Go-ahead and wrap it if you want to. Little by little you could already have your shopping done. 

Now you can sit back and enjoy the Holidays Stress-free. 

If you would like more ideas to prepare for the Holidays so they can be stress free...catch these videos:

Don't forget about traveling with kids for the holidays. You want to keep your sanity there too. I got you covered:

Now that we have a game plan, let's get busy my friends. Let's get back to enjoying our Holidays with our loved ones. 

Don't forget to check out my video of my latest Dollar Tree Christmas Goodies I found at Dollar Tree. I got some new things for myself. I've got decorating to do. 

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Have a Blessed Day

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home