Tips for hosting dinners!

I thought that through trial and error, we've all come up with shortcuts to make our lives easier with dinners. I thought it would be good to share. I've done 2 holiday dinners, so here's what I have learned.

1-KISS-eggplant rollatini, while delicious, is a PITA to make when you have 7 other things to make.

2-Ziplock bags are my friend, as are glass bowls. So much easier to to transfer things.

3-Plan, plan, plan. I had a stack of papers together with my shopping list, my menu, my cleaning list, my to do list for the day before and the day of and my ideas list. Helped a lot.

4-I chopped a lot of veggies on Monday to make things on Tuesday. Helped big time. I chopped salad ingredients on Monday, put in bags so that Tuesday, they all went in the bowl. This way, the tomatoes which were chopped the day of, didn't soak up everything and the bag saved so much space in my frig.
For soup, I chopped up everything Monday, put in a bag in the order of cooking, such as potatoes on the bottom and onions on top, so that Tuesday, am, I cooked the soup and it was sooooo easy.

4-The crockpot was a great warmer. Made my potatoes the night before and and warmed them up in there and they were delicious.

5-Use the dishwasher. I made sure that when I cleaned up the night before, I did a load of dishes AND emptied the DW. That way, day of, everything could go right in.

6-Dessert-paper plates. Sounds tacky, but at this point, I had help myself and this was just easier.


Next year-set the table the night before(no more ironing the table cloth an hour before). Also, no crazy desserts. I spent too much time making something that was too pretty to eat, although it tasted great. Next time, again, KISS.


Okay, , who else wants to share?

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

Great idea!!

1. Write up a time line the day before so you know exactly when everything needs to start cooking.

2. Set out pots, pans & service ware the day before so you know where everything is going when you are ready to cook or put out on the table.

3. This is totally lazy but for bigger gatherings, I use boil in bag veggies. They can all go in one big pot and cook at the same time - referring to the time schedule in item 1.

Message edited 12/30/2007 3:26:45 PM.

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

Definitely setting out the serving platters and LABELING them the night before. Noting like realizig that you put the fish on the big platter that the meat was suposed to go on
Also, all the serving pieces! I have had to improvise too many times to count

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

I'm bumping because it's that time of the year and I know people are hosting for the first time.

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

Set the table the night before. Takes away some of the to-dos the next day.

I always have a timeline that helps me to keep track of everything.

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

Just be careful... you aren't supposed to use the crock pot as a warming device.

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

-Go over your items that go in more than one dish (like cheese... do you have enough for all three dishes?)

-Use throw away containers for chips (I use the aluminum containers from the 99c store)

-Have the plates, napkins, pie cutter and forks ready in another room for dessert, no digging around at the last minute for them.

-Make dishes that you can just set and forget. I've spent way too many parties in the kitchen.

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

I do every holiday at my house,,
so I ve learned some things thru the years...

I always start by planning a menu.
Then with each recipe,
I make a list of every ingredient
I need so I dont have to take 10 trips to the store.

Make sure you start w/a clean kitchen & empty dishwasher.

I prep the days before,,,,
cut up veggies&put in ziplocks,
make gravy etc...
anything I can cook beforehand-
less to do that day!

CLEAN AS I GO!
there is nothing worse than cooking and not cleaning, then when your finished and exausted, the pots & dishes are piled up in the sink and the entire kitchen is a mess!

Be sure you have all the serving platters and gravy bowls etc-
everything you need...
I love Target for this-I have every the plain white platter they sell in all the sizes.

Set the table the night before, and make sure you have appropriate centerpeices-napkin holders etc...

When warming everything up,
usually its so confusing because different trays are supposed to be on different temps for different amounts of time,,,
I learned to jsut throw it all in at the same time at the average temp -say 325@

Let the company bring dessert!
if i think of any more ill post!

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

I don't do anything really different than what's already been posted.

I do all my prep a couple of days ahead of time. Whatever I can cook the day before gets cooked so it just needs to be warmed up while the Turkey is resting (I only host Thanksgiving)

Table gets set the night before

My appitizers I prepare the night before so I just have to put them out in the afternoon.

And like the PP said.. CLEAN AS YOU GO! I cannot stand cooking in a messy kitchen. I need complete organization!

Re: Tips for hosting dinners!

All these tips are great!

-I always plan the whole menu out first (even drinks too)
-write out a shopping list with everything on it that I will need
-clean the whole house the night before
-set the table the day before
-have all plates, platters and serving things set aside and plan what will go in what
-appts are out and ready to go about 5 minutes before company comes so that when people arrive I can greet and talk
-clean all baking and mixing dishes as I go
desserts are done and set aside the night before so the only thing I have to worry about the day of is appts and dinner
-use all paper products for dessert and coffee so that
-my major thing is everyone out of the kitchen; I can not work with 5 people in the kitchen