Christmas dinner without a cooker

[weewdy]

My parents are building an extension and have been without a cooker for 18 months. Unfortunately they wont have the one they have ordered for christmas. I cooked christmas dinner last year at my house but because we have a large dog kennel we dont like leaving the dogs unattended so this year my dad doesnt want to leave them as we will have alot of pupsm

So the idea is that i will cook a few rolls of meat the day before and the men in the family want a barbecue (in scotland on xmas day lol). We dont have a barbecue but i have always wanted one so i will buy it. They are planning on having chicken, ribs, kebabs etc what is the best way to cook them? Also does anyone have any other ideas of what they can have?

The women will probably just have a normalish dinner with what can get prepared in the microwave. Pudding i will make the day before and i dont think we will have a starter, unless i make quiche the day before.

Any advice or recipes would be great.

 

[lola_90]

What about a slow cooker? There is a group on Facebook and I know some people cooked there turkey in it x

 

[Elphaba12]

Does anyone in your family have an actifry and slow cooker? If you could borrow these for the day then along with the microwave you could just make Xmas dinner as normal.

Also if you can get a George Foreman grill or similar you could cook the meat on that if you didn't want to go down the BBQ route.

 

[lindseymw]

What about getting a halogen table top cooker? You can pick them up relatively cheap (£30-40). You can do joints, chickens etc in them.

I second a George Foreman for the BBQ stuff. I have one and use it all the time.

 

[Tiff]

If they want to stand out in the cold and BBQ then let them have at it! I'm in Canada, its always brutally cold here and lots of people haul out the BBQ to do ribs/chicken/steak/turkey etc on it. All the things that you mentioned can easily be cooked on a BBQ provide someone wants to actually stand out there and freeze while doing it.

If I'm honest, I prefer the way food tastes on a BBQ rather than in an oven. Sorry to hear their cooker won't be there in time for Christmas!

 

[jd83]

If you are still looking into buying a BBQ, I'd highly recommend getting one that do smoking too. Or just get a smoker. Ribs and chicken are sooo good smoked. We have a Weber brand smoker, and its very easy to use. Just charcoal, some wood chips, water, your meat and any spices you rub on the meat. We used to grill a lot with a gas grill, but since I got DH a smoker for Father's Day and seeing how delicious everything has turned out so far, we've just been using it mainly now. Seriously. Every single thing we've made so far in it has been amazing.

It would make it a bit more hands off with the cold too. You just get it going, put the meat in, and let it cook for a few hours. You just have to check its at the right temp every few hours, which only takes a minute.

 

[Tiff]

Friends have a smoker and you are right, it is absolutely delish!

 

[Incubus]

Slow cooker, steamer and a halogen oven would make a fab traditional dinner

 

[weewdy]

Thanks ladies some great ideas. I will look into a smoker as that sounds so good. Also i never even thought of the slow cooker. I have one in the back of a cupboard somewhere.

 

[HPmum2B]

Sorry but I have got to ask - How on earth have they managed without a cooker for 18months. We couldn't use ours for about a week when our kitchen was getting plastered a few years back, and we had take-away for a week!!

 

[tommyg]

Sorry but I have got to ask - How on earth have they managed without a cooker for 18months. We couldn't use ours for about a week when our kitchen was getting plastered a few years back, and we had take-away for a week!!

I was thinking the same thing.

Op BBQ sounds good just remember it needs to be used outside as they can give of carbon monoxide.

Slow cooker and microwave should do the job.

 

[weewdy]

Lol they have managed for the last 18 months by me batch cooking food for them and then heating it in the microwave. They come to mine every sunday for dinner. They have also bought a george foreman and an actifry in the last 6 months just to vary their diet a bit as they were fed up with soup, mince etc.

I think they have had 3 take aways in the last 18 months, where we live we dont have alot of takeaway choice. Its took so long as we are building it ourselves and trying to hold down full time jobs.