Dreading the Cleanup? 5

Smart Kitchen Hacks

to Minimise Dishes After Christmas Dinner

Quick Summary

This short guide offers tips to reduce the hassle of Christmas clean-up by preparing ahead, cooking in one pan, and using kitchen equipment that will cut down on the number of dishes you have to wash while still delivering a delicious final product. The tips within this guide do not encourage you to take it easy but rather to be strategic. 

Deep Dive

The purpose of this article is to share ways to lessen the amount of time you spend cleaning up after Christmas dinner. Some of the things discussed in this article are cooking main dishes on a sheet pan, preparing side dishes in a slow cooker, using disposable sheet pan liners, preparing food in advance to allow time for preparation when the food is ready to be served, and better organisation of ingredients. The overall concept is to reduce the number of dirty dishes, preserve the flavour of your holiday meal, and create an enjoyable experience when hosting your holiday gatherings, rather than a stressful one.

Embrace the Sheet Pan for Your Main Course

The sheet pan is the ultimate tool for saving time and effort on Christmas Day. Sheet pans can roast an entire chicken, a turkey breast, lamb, and vegetables on a single large tray. By using a single large tray, you eliminate the need to manage multiple pots and pans while ensuring the foods roast together, allowing the flavours to marry and create a warm, inviting dining experience. Another great bonus of sheet pan cooking is that you can line the bottom of the tray with foil or parchment paper. 

Slow Cookers Are Your Cleanup Superpower

In Christmas kitchens, slow cookers are overlooked and are only deserving of some credit in most homes. They eliminate the need to leave the kitchen for sides like meat (e.g., rib-eye), vegetables (e.g., carrots), and drinks (e.g., mulled wine) in many recipes. The clean-up process is easy because there are no pots and pans involved, no extra utensils or bowls. Another plus is that a slow cooker serves these dishes as warmers.

Prep Ingredients Early and Use Reusable Containers

Another reason that most foods make their way into the Christmas kitchen is that they are all being chopped and prepared quickly—chopping boards on the counter, cutting boards on the stove, "whose knife did I use last?" messiness. Preparing herbs, vegetables and aromatics ahead of time is a great way to fix this problem. You will only need one cutting board and a knife. This will save you hours of cleanup and reduce your stress level by at least 50 per cent

Make Foil and Parchment Your Holiday Best Friends

If you do not already use parchment paper for the Christmas holiday, this holiday is an excellent opportunity to start. You should use parchment paper for everything: loaf pans and trays. While foil is excellent for roasting, parchment paper is wonderful for baking, and when used together, they allow you to avoid hours of soaking and scrubbing. Additionally, by lining your baking sheets with parchment paper, you will keep the oven cleaner.

Serve Smart—Go for Boards, Cast Iron, and “Straight-from-the-Pot” Moments

Don’t feel pressure to have a unique serving dish for each dish placed on a table—the whole setup of a special theme for each dish can be overwhelming and unnecessary. Instead, consider using large wooden boards to showcase your roasted meats/vegetables, and mixing bowls to serve your salad. Finally, dishes that come from an oven (casserole) can go directly to the dinner table. An excellent option for serving hot from the oven is a cast-iron skillet.

Bonus Hack: Create a Mini Wash Station While Cooking

This sounds like such a small thing, but this simple habit works miracles. Keep a bowl of warm, soapy water nearby and immediately submerge any utensils or mixing bowls in it to prevent them from drying out and becoming crusty before you can wash them thoroughly. Using this habit will help you eliminate the post-dinner mess in your sink, reducing your clean-up time from around 45 minutes to 10 minutes after dinner.

Why These Hacks Change Everything

The holiday season should feel like relaxing, warming up, and cooking a lot of delicious food, instead of feeling like you're battling dirty dishes! When you prepare your meals smartly, the kitchen can become a much better environment! All these tricks listed will help you really enjoy your time with family and friends, your holiday, and get through the meal without feeling like you have to wash all the dishes in a never-ending cycle.