Christmas dinner in the caravan

Come on, it's Christmas.

What about some bacon ~ and brown sauce?

Your'e right, sprinkle liberally with 'hundreds and thousands'

I've done it a couple of times in the caravan.  I bought nice slices of cooked turkey off the bone but everything else was just as at home.

Being organised is important as space to work is tricky.  It was a bit like military manouvres.

We did roast potatoes, roast parsnips, creamed potatoes, carrots, sprouts, stuffing and gravy for main.  Christmas pudding and custard for dessert but no starter - except for sherry and then enjoyed a nice bottle of wine whilst cooking, followed by chilled
bubbly with the meal.  

My caravan oven is extremely efficient and I used disposable foil trays for some of the items so there was a bit less washing up.

Alternative - pop to Tesco and buy a Bird's Eye ready meal roast turkey dinner. 

Malcolm, I think I would get a small chicken cut it in half and roast it that way as it will cook quicker, put the potatoes in another tin for roasting, buy a bag of frozen stuffing/pigs in blanket from the shops, or you can get a tray with both in if you
look around. The veg on the hob and the pudding in the microwave, the custard if you want custard, could also be bought in a tub that you can pop in the microwave when the pudding comes out, or use Brandy cream instead no need to heat. For teatime sandwiches
from the left over chicken some sausage rolls and mince pies with rum butter. All easy do able especially with the rig you have.

Malcolm, have you thought of having a dressed pheasant for X-Mas dinner. They take a lot less time in the oven to cook than a chicken or turkey. Baste first in red wine over night and use the juice to make the gravy. You can cook the veg in the oven at the
same time.

Mrs K tells me that if she was cooking Christmas Dinner in the van, she would be making life as easy as possible, especially if only catering for 2.

Her suggestions......

Stuffed turkey breast roast, chilled or frozen roast potatoes, ready prepared vegetables  of your choice , little sausages, bacon rolls, ready made carton  or packet of  bread sauce, same for the gravy, and a jar of cranberry sauce.

Disposable foil dishes for oven.

Starter of your choice if you wish, we usually have prawns and/or smoked salmon, and a light dessert such as sherry trifle, cheesecake, or fruit salad, all  available ready prepared  from your favourite supermarket.

Wine of your choice with the meal, and biscuits  and cheese with coffee (much) later.

We were thinking of buying a frozen whole turkey from Tesco. Not sure how long to allow for defrost? Will a whole turkey fit in our caravan oven? Disposal oven trays seem like a good idea. Our caravan oven tray might be too small to fit a turkey. How long
cooking time for the turkey? I know roast potatoes are 45 minutes and roast parsnips 25 minutes.

We never have a whole turkey, even with the family here.  Everybody prefers the breast meat, so we find a ready stuffed (or unstuffed) breast joint or a crown is much better,

If you want leftovers for other meals, just get a larger joint or crown.  Most will say on them how many they will feed.

If doing a whole bird, only a small one would fit in the oven, but remember you also need space to cook the potatoes etc.

I would preferably go for a fresh joint or bird, the frozen ones need many hours to defrost.

Defrosting instructions and cooking instructions will be on the packaging.

I would try to avoid too many leftovers, they will take up a lot of fridge space.