stress-free Christmas cooking companion

Recipes, time plans and get-ahead tips

Gather the people you love around the table to enjoy the ultimate festive dinner. One you'll enjoy making and feel proud to serve. It will be more delicious and a fraction of the price of going out or buying ready made.

Most of the elements of this Christmas dinner can prepped ahead and frozen so you can enjoy Christmas day as much as everyone else.

You'll get my time plan, prep-ahead guide, shopping guide and all the recipes you need to make this your best Christmas dinner yet.

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“I don't think I'll every go out for a roast again! This is much better and not stressful. The roast potatoes are the best I've ever had and my kids now eat the brussels and carrots all the time as I make them with all sorts of meals. The Christmas time plan was a game changer and I love the extra Christmas recipes. I'd recommend this to everyone." - Angela

“Thank you so much! I'd never made Christmas dinner before but following your guide made it so easy. I think my mother in law was mad she enjoyed it so much and that I was so calm!” - Claire

enjoy cooking this christmas

Invite friends over for a festive dinner party or for cocktails and canapes - all prepped ahead so you can sparkle instead of sweat.

Get most of the Christmas dinner prepped in small chunks ahead of time so you can enjoy the big day.

Shop sensibly, waste nothing and know exactly what to do with any leftovers.

Have everything you need in one place so you're not frantically googling turkey cooking times, potato quantities or all the other things you panic about.

Use the same time plan I use every year so you can enjoy the best bits of Christmas and the days around.

Save money and packaging by making things yourself, with the confidence they will taste way better than anything you can buy.

“I've resented making Christmas dinner for years and was tempted to just buy everything ready done. But I'm so glad I bought this instead. It was the best Christmas dinner I've ever had and I made it! I reckon I saved a fortune - not just because I made everything in the run up from scratch, but also because we used the leftovers to make lovely meals after. I know what I could freeze and what to add to make things taste fresh and exciting.” - Simon

Your complete guide includes

Part 1 – A stress free Christmas or New Year’s dinner party…

This menu works just as well for a buffet, a casual dinner party or a Christmas Eve dinner. Everything can be prepped ahead, and most of it can be frozen.

You’ll get all these recipes, a detailed time plan and my entertaining tips...

Welcome cocktail

Parmesan and sesame biscuits with almost instant apricot and thyme chutney.

Baked ham with a Christmassy glaze.

Winter salad of massaged kale, carrots, clementines, toasty nuts and goats cheese.

Winter slaw.

Herb Hassleback potatoes.

Fruit and almond tart with clementine cream.

Part 2 – Party food and edible gifts…

Enjoy your drinks party with this make-ahead spread. And give your friends and family something deliciously home made. You’ll get all these detailed recipes:

Two make ahead cocktails

Five gutsy canapés or starter: Gougères, Pigs in blankets wreath, Scandi smoked trout wreath, Middle Eastern vegetarian bites, Spicy Nudja and honey crostini.

Two edible gifts: Thai tomato chilli jam. Chocolate coated salty pretzels

Part 3 – The big day – how to enjoy Christmas day without spending hours in the kitchen​…

You’ll get all these detailed tried and tested recipes, including details of what can be prepped ahead and frozen; tips on where to buy the best ingredients and what equipment to use.

You’ll also get a detailed plan for what you can get done between now and Christmas Day to make the day a breeze. Plus, you get my detailed time plan for Christmas Day. These recipes will also work brilliantly for Thanksgiving or Sunday roasts throughout the year.

Buying, cooking and serving the perfect turkey – what size to order, timings, temperatures, carving and seasoning.

Make-ahead and freeze gravy.

Crunchy bay and honey parsnips.

Sage, date and barley stuffing.

Potato and celeriac purée.

Roast Brussels with pancetta, Marsala and chestnuts.

Bread sauce.

Cranberry and orange sauce.

The best crunchy roast potatoes.

Carrot mash.

Part 4 – Lovely leftovers…

Learn exactly how to safely save and use leftovers and how to use them as a blank canvas to create all sorts of delicious meals to reawaken a jaded palate after Christmas.

Find out exactly what can be frozen, how long things can stay in the fridge and how to safely re-heat things.

You’ll get all these recipes – which can also easily be made from scratch throughout the year without leftovers – as well as some other simple ideas to use your leftovers.

Smoked salmon or trout pâté, crisp capers, speedy pickled radish and rye toasts.

Indian potato cakes with chutney, salad and the best coronation turkey.

Thai turkey and greens fried brown rice.

Panettone and chocolate ice cream layer cake.

The best 3 turkey sandwiches.

“I wish I'd bought this when my kids were younger, I feel like I spent so much of their early Christmas days in a bad mood in the kitchen. Following your guide made it all feel a bit too easy! And the flavours were amazing. I never thought I'd turn out something as delicious as I did, and actually enjoy Christmas Day."

meal plan

Hey, I'm Gemma

Hi I’m Gemma but all my friends call me Gem.

I’ve spent 10 years teaching thousands of busy people to become confident, organised and creative home cooks.

You can now buy my stress-free Christmas cooking guide, containing all my recipes, time plans and tips.

I cover everything from the Christmas Day dinner, cocktails and party food, a dinner party menu and what to do with leftovers.

All my recipes are written for any level of cook and my years of teaching, answering all sorts of questions, means I explain everything so you can confidently recreate everything yourself.

I’ve spent years creating and testing these 36 recipes and writing the detailed handouts, prep-ahead guides and time plans.

All the recipes have had the ultimate test of being cooked live and served in my classes. So, you can confidently cook up a storm without stressing out.

Questions?

The guide will be emailed to you using the email address you use when you buy it, within an hour of you buying it.

Please check your spam/junk folders as it may go in there.

The email will include a link to access the guide from a members only website. When you sign up you will be asked to set up a username and password to access this site.

The guide comes in 4x PDFs that you can download and print or read online. You will have lifetime access to the materials so you can refer back to them year after year.

Please let me know why this hasn't worked for you so that I can keep on improving what I do.

This product is non refundable.

You'll get the guide via email within an hour of you making the payment.

The guide includes details of substitutions where possible. There are lots of vegetarian recipes included.

Of course! My sign up process is in GB£ but you can choose your currency as part of the process.

There is an option to download a US or UK version of the guide once you get onto the download page. The US version has American measurements, oven temperatures and ingredient names.

How lovely. I'd love that. 

When you sign up you'll get a confirmation email from me. Just reply to that and let me know who the gift is for, what their email address is and when it is ok for me to contact them and I will set them up to receive the materials.