We are fully in the holiday season, how are all of you doing? I know for us we can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year! We know while it is an exciting and great time of year it can also be quite stressful, so hopefully these tips on a stress-free holiday meal can help out a bit. These tips have helped us over the years not only in business, but also in our personal lives, so let’s dive in.
Accept Help
Holiday meals are usually made for some pretty large groups, so depending on how big your family is or how many will be coming to your house to eat, you will want to ask for help with the planning and cooking. This may mean a potluck style meal where others bring items, or they come and help you cook. Either is a great option, the important thing is that you don’t try to do everything yourself. Why, because it puts more on you and this creates additional stress of having to take care of everything.
Stick with What you Already Know
This is not the time to try something out for the first time. This could be new ingredients, recipes, or techniques. The holiday season is already busy with parties, events, visitors and shopping. There is no reason to add on to that stress by trying to learn something brand new. Save that for when you have time to practice for next year.
Use the K.I.S.S Method
When planning out your menu, it’s a great idea to keep the KISS method in mind. Keep it super simple. This goes along with the previous tip of sticking to what you know. Simple does not mean boring or bad, it just has less steps and is easier to make great. There is less room for mistakes and more space for success.
Shop Early
Shopping gets busier and crazier as it gets closer to Christmas. Shopping early allows for less possibility of having items out of stock, which means you will not have to spend as much time going to multiple stores. We also recommend setting up your grocery deliveries early as well.
Prioritize Family Favorite Items
Think about your holiday meals, are there certain items that come to mind? Most families have staple items that are always on their list. Make sure these items are at the top. Family and friends will not miss new or different items, but they will miss those favorite priority items.
We hope these tips find you well in this post and can’t wait to share more tips for the season! To listen to the full episode on the podcast check it out linked below and please subscribe to 100% Fresh with Two Chef Mission wherever you listen. Remember to have tons of fun while cooking this holiday season, we know from experience that it makes it all more enjoyable, especially if you have friends and family helping.
If you haven’t joined our Facebook group Meal Planning for Busy Parents yet, please check it out HERE. That is where you can find our community and easily chat with us. We also go live every Friday to answer your questions and talk about all kinds of cooking and meal planning topics. We’ll see you in the next post!
