The Ultimate Christmas Dinner Preparation
10th Dec 2025
If there’s one secret to a stress-free Christmas dinner, it’s that a little planning goes a very long way. Between timing the turkey, juggling side dishes, and welcoming guests, Christmas Day can be wonderfully busy, but it doesn’t need to feel overwhelming. With a thoughtful timeline, a few smart shortcuts, and the help of Donald Russell’s expertly pre-prepared festive favourites, you can enjoy your Christmas dinner without sacrificing on flavour (or feeling stressed!).
Leading Up to Christmas: Planning Your Menu and Ordering in Advance
The best Christmas cooks don’t start on the 25th of December, they start a few days before with the preparation, and even weeks before with the menu planning and advance ordering. This is when quiet preparation pays off.
Choosing Your Centrepiece
Start with the centrepiece when planning your Christmas menu. Maybe you want to go traditional, with a British Free-range Bronze Turkey or a British Slow-cooked Turkey Crown in Gravy, depending on the size of your Christmas gathering and what you’d like to serve with it.
Of course, your Christmas roast doesn’t need to be turkey. Beef at Christmas is a favourite for many of us, and for good reason. At Donald Russell, you can choose from things like our Traditional Rump Roast for a classic, comforting centrepiece, or a magnificent 5-Bone Rib Roast for a true showstopper, which looks truly unforgettable on the table.
Continuing with the alternatives to a classic turkey roast, our Lamb choices are a sophisticated option, while our Pork Loin Roast or Pork Belly are perfect choices for a hearty meal.
Or, if you can’t pick just one, why not choose Lamb or Beef for Christmas Eve, Turkey for Christmas Dinner, and Pork or Game (such as venison or cockerel) for Boxing Day!
Sides and Trimmings
Once you’ve chosen your main, plan the sides you’ll serve alongside it. Start with your choice of potatoes, your various root vegetable dishes, seasonal greens (the question of Brussels sprouts!), and classic sides such as pigs in blankets, stuffing, and Yorkshire puddings.
To make life easier, our pre-prepared dishes can be cooked on the day to save you lots of preparation time. Choose from our range of sides:
Finish off your plate by smothering your meal in Beef Gravy or our Creamy Peppercorn Sauce.
Don’t Forget the Starters
Plan out if you’ll be serving starters or sharing nibbles! A cheese board with lots of picky bits is often an easy way to go, perfectly accompanied with a few choice canapés. We have a brilliant selection of Christmas Buffet and Party Food, all pre-prepared to make your life easier.
Or, opt for a sit-down style starter course, perhaps a starter with traditional Scottish Smoked Salmon or an impressive Scottish Creel Caught Lobster Tail dish.
Explore our selection of Starters here.
Christmas Eve: The Calm Before the Feast
Christmas Eve is the perfect moment to quietly prepare those smaller details that make Christmas Day feel effortless.
1. Prep your vegetables
Peel and chop potatoes, carrots, parsnips, or sprouts, and keep them in cold water overnight in the fridge.
Or you can simply rely on our pre-prepared sides, with the only prep required a matter of either cooking straight from frozen or defrosting (be sure to check packaging instructions for the best way to cook them( and popping straight into the oven when you need them.
2. Organise your starters
From a generous platter of Scottish Smoked Salmon to ChalkStream Hot Smoked Trout, seafood starters are simple, elegant, and require little more than a squeeze of lemon.
3. Prepare your stuffing and trimmings
Whether you use your own recipe or choose our pre-made options, Christmas Eve is the perfect time to get stuffing mixed, pigs in blankets prepped, and sauces organised.
4. Lay the table
Set out your cutlery, napkins, crackers, candles, and glasses. A beautifully prepared table not only saves time tomorrow but also fills the house with excitement.
Christmas Morning: Starting the Day in Style
While the kettle boils (or the fizz is popped!) and stockings are explored, this is when your main roast begins its journey.
1. Bring your turkey or roast to room temperature
You’ll have already defrosted your roast in the fridge, so now it’s simply a matter of bringing it up to room temperature and preparing the meat before roasting. Always ensure you let your meat rest out of the fridge before cooking, so that it cooks more evenly in the oven.
2. Follow your roasting timings
Our turkeys and roasts come with clear, chef-tested cooking instructions printed on the label and online. Be sure to take a look at our Turkey Roasting Guide for a detailed look at cooking the perfect Christmas turkey.
Make sure you know what you’re doing in advance so you’re not feeling overwhelmed on the day.
Top Tip: Know what you’re doing when, and assign different tasks to your friends and family so everyone can get involved!
3. Get on with simple preparation
Use this time to:
- Make your bread sauce or cranberry sauce (you can even make this much further in advance and freeze it for ease!)
- Assemble the dessert you’re serving later
- Peel and chop your vegetables and place them in roasting trays
- Plate up your cold sides and starters
And if you’ve chosen Donald Russell sides, then most just go straight into the oven, no peeling, chopping, or fussing required!
One Hour Before: Bringing It All Together
This is the moment your kitchen becomes its busiest, but also its most satisfying.
1. Check the roast and start the sides
With around an hour to go, begin:
- Roasting your potatoes or popping pre-prepared potatoes into the oven
- Roasting your parsnips, carrots, and pigs in blankets
- Giving your roast a final glaze
2. Starters and canapes
Seafood starters can be plated, garnished, and covered. If you’re serving canapés, such as smoked salmon blinis or hot-smoked trout with crème fraîche, now is the perfect time to assemble them.
3. Finishing touches!
Make sure you’ve got all of your sides ready. If you’re working with a smaller space or a smaller oven, it’s a good idea to cook some things in advance and then heat them up right at the end.
Serving the Feast: The Moment You’ve Been Preparing For
1. Rest the roast
Resting is essential for succulent, tender meat. Remove your turkey or roast from the oven, and let it sit for at least 30 minutes while you finish the gravy and sides.
2. Make the gravy
The roasting juices become the base of a rich, velvety gravy, or you can use one of our chef-prepared gravies to save even more time.
3. Plate the sides and warm your plates!
While the meat rests, your roast potatoes finish crisping and your vegetables caramelise beautifully. Plate up all of your sides.
Top tip: Warm your plates to ensure food stays hot for longer.
4. Carve, serve, admire
Transfer the roast to a carving board, slice across the grain, and place on a warm platter.
Surround it with your sides and trimmings, set everything on the table, and invite everyone to help themselves.
Spend Less Time in the Kitchen and More with the People You Love
Christmas should never be about stress. With a little preparation, and the help of Donald Russell’s expertly crafted roasts, pre-prepared vegetable dishes, starters, sides and trimmings, you can create a spectacular feast that feels truly effortless.
From perfectly cooked turkey to ready-to-heat sides and beautiful seafood starters, our Christmas range is designed to support you every step of the way. That means more time at the table, more laughter, and more memories made with the people who matter most.