It’s that time of year again for family and friends to get together for seasonal festivities. It seems that from now until New Year, people will be hosting parties and gathering together for holiday meals. While it is the season for entertaining, it can be stressful to think about hosting a holiday meal if you live in an apartment or studio. But never fear! You can still have a big party and hearty meal. We’re going to teach you how to make a holiday meal in an apartment.
Say goodbye to party planning stress. Our straightforward tips will make you the “hostess with the mostest” this holiday season. Here are 13 ways to make an entire holiday meal in an apartment.
How to make an entire holiday meal in an apartment
It doesn’t matter what type of food you plan to cook — making an entire meal in an apartment requires preparation and planning. Regardless of the size of your apartment, you can prep, cook and serve a beautiful holiday meal by following these helpful steps.
1. Make a guest list
Before you even think about drafting up a menu, you need to create a guest list and determine how many people you can realistically host in your space. Cozy is good but cramped is not. Assess how many guests you can comfortably seat at your table and establish who you’ll invite to your gathering. Once you have the finalized number, you can start the meal planning.
2. Set a menu
From traditional Thanksgiving feasts to taco bars to one-pan recipes, hosting an entire holiday meal in an apartment is a lot of work. But, you can simplify the workload but jotting down the menu and everything needed to whip it up.
Start by identifying different food categories. You’ve got appetizers, side dishes, the entree, desserts and drinks. If you want to make a five-course meal, more power to you. However, it’s also perfectly acceptable to keep it simple with a nice entree, a salad and dessert, too. Whatever you decide to cook is up to you, but you need to plan out the menu and serving sizes ahead of time.
3. Decide if it’s family style or buffet style
To serve family style or buffet style. That is the question and there are pros and cons to both. Family style is nice because all of the food options are on the table when you sit down to eat and can be passed around. It makes serving easy and allows people to easily grab seconds (or thirds!) However, if you have a small table to begin with, family style can feel cluttered and might not even be an option.
Buffet style is great because you can set everything up in the kitchen, let people pick and choose what they want to eat and then head to the table to dig in. Buffet style is probably the better option in an apartment so you can avoid being arm-to-arm at the dining room table.
Whichever serving style you choose, make the decision in advance so you know how to dish up and serve your finished food products before your guests arrive.
4. Make a grocery list
Your menu is set and you know how many people you’re cooking for at this point. Now, it’s time to plan ahead and make your grocery list. Include everything from extra ice to the garnish that’ll dress up the turkey (or tofurkey!) Be precise about the quantities you need, too.
5. Cook things in advance
It’s important to note that not every menu item needs to be cooked the day of. When you live in an apartment, you’re likely tight on kitchen space. That means that making five courses the day of in the tiny kitchen isn’t your best bet. So, think about what can be done in advance. For example, you could chop up all your veggies the day before and put them in the fridge until you need them. Or, you could make roll dough a few days early and freeze it until you’re ready to serve it. If you can chop, freeze or make things in advance, you’re going to have more room and less stress the day of your dinner party.
6. Get out that slow cooker
A slow cooker is a great way to start preparing for the holiday meal in advance. In a slow cooker, you can put the ingredients in at once, set it to start cooking and then move on to your next menu item. Slow cookers don’t take up too much space on the counter which is helpful in a tight space.
7. Focus on one dish at a time
It can be tempting to try and multitask when preparing an entire holiday meal in an apartment. After all, you might be short on space and interested in speeding the process up. However, it’s important to focus on one thing at a time. Not only does it save space but it reduces chaos and helps prevent burnt or overcooked dishes.
Let’s say you’re making a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Start with the item that takes the longest to cook — the turkey. Get the turkey prepped and baking in the oven first of all. Check! Then, you can move on to peeling potatoes for the mashed potato side dish. Once that’s done, move on to candied yams and so on and so forth. Save the easiest tasks for the end. It’s easy to open a can of cranberries right before you serve the meal.
8. Remember that not every dish needs to be homemade
Store-bought goods are completely fine! It can be tempting to try and make everything from scratch but it’s not imperative. Save yourself time and space by determining what can be bought from the store versus what food is best homemade.
9. Optimize and add makeshift surfaces for extra space
Chances are that your apartment has minimal counter space. When prepping for an in-house holiday meal, clean off the surfaces in advance by storing the bread box and cookie jar in the pantry for now. Once you have open surfaces, you’ll have more space to chop, mix and whisk.
You can also make makeshift surfaces like an ironing board or the dining room table for extra storage space. Got a patio? Put all the drinks outside while you’re cooking so they are out of the way and chilled for guests who will arrive later in the evening.
10. Practice mis en place
The French phrase “mis en place” means everything in its place. And that couldn’t be more true than when making a meal for guests in your apartment. Finished peeling potatoes? Put the skins in the garbage can and empty it, put the peeler in the dishwasher and put the potatoes in the pot of boiling water before you move on to the next recipe. It’s much easier to clean up step by step than waiting until everything is baking to start the process.
11. Outsource menu items
If you want to make all the menu courses yourself, more power to you! However, it can be smart to assign dishes to your guests to bring, too. You can still own the main menu and ask guests to bring things like hors d’oeuvres, a side salad, soda or cocktail mixes. Potluck meals can be a great way to save a little money, create more space and try different recipes.
12. Cook one-pot meals
One-pot meals can be a delicious blend of everything good in one bite. If you’re tight on space, consider making one-pot meals instead of having four to five side dishes plus an entree. One-pot meals don’t lack taste but they definitely save on space.
13. Keep it simple and have fun
We all love the delicious food that’s prepared around the holidays but most of us like the company even more. You’re not going after a Michelin star so keep the meal easy, have fun and enjoy your guests. Don’t let the stress of cooking take away from the joy of gathering.
Host a big, flavorful party in an apartment with ease
So, we’ve gone over tips and tricks that explain how to make an entire holiday meal in an apartment. Now, it’s time for you to draft up your own guest list, set a date for your party and start meal prepping! We hope these helpful hacks will save you time and space and allow you to host a party people won’t forget.
Source: rent.com