Your December dinner survival guide

Quick midweek recipe ideas and energy-saving tips to get you through silly season

Are you hanging by a thread right now? You’ve already fought off about two million winter bugs. You’ve braved work parties and Christmas jumper days, gift shopping and, if you’re lucky, the odd social gathering with the people you actually want to spend time with (and battled through parenting on a hangover the next day). You’re inching your way to the end of the year, one work deadline, one more thing crossed off the never-ending to-do list, at a time.

Meanwhile, your social media feeds are full of ‘fun’ festive recipes and kids’ crafting ideas, hilariously placed elves on shelves and relentless ads for Christmas gifts or food or wine or clothes you never knew you needed.

If you’re anything like me, you are at maximum capacity right now. Among all of the Christmas chaos, you can’t survive on mince pies, or snowmen made of marshmallows, or whatever other weird thing with a sheet of puff pastry and Nutella you saw on TikTok that time, alone.

Your dinner – and I’m not talking about Christmas dinner, I’m talking about all the other meals the knackered and time-poor among us will need to cook between now and 2025 – has a big role to play at this time of year. It needs to give you a dose of immune-boosting veggies, soothe your frazzled soul and provide a few minutes of calm in an otherwise frantic day. Here are some things I’m attempting to embrace in my cooking over the next few weeks to help me survive the silliest month of the year.

Batch cook breakfast

On the weekend, I make up a batch of chia cherry compote – made by simmering a bag of frozen cherries with 1 tbsp chia seeds, a squeeze of honey, ½ tsp cinnamon and 2 tbsp water. Simmer until it goes sticky and jam like, then use to top yoghurt with granola, porridge or overnight oats on busy mornings.

Make the easiest tomato pasta

The fallback dinner that will save you after a busy day. My recipe is based on Ed Smith’s iconic version and is ready in 15 minutes with very little effort – good when there’s not much left in the tank. Add two tins of good-quality chopped tomatoes, a knob of butter, two minced garlic cloves, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt and 2 tsp sherry vinegar to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down and simmer gently for 15 minutes, while you cook 400g pasta. Toss the pasta in the sauce and serve with basil and parmesan.

Embrace shortcuts

There’s a long list of things I have no shame in buying ready-made when life’s busy. Curry pastes, good-quality pasta sauces and my go-to frozen pre-chopped soffritto mix all feature heavily. For a dinner in 5 minutes, try jazzing up shop-bought ravioli by quickly browning some butter and a few crispy sage leaves to pour on top of the cooked pasta. The same goes for instant ramen noodles – stock up on these, ready to be topped with a jammy egg, some fresh veg, crisped-up tofu, or leftover turkey and ham.

Trust in traybakes

Traybakes are your friend when you don’t have the energy to stand at the stove. Try some homemade baked beans: roughly chop two red onions and two red peppers and arrange on a tray. Sprinkle over 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp ground cumin, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 180C fan for 20 minutes, until softened, then stir in 2 tins haricot or cannellini beans, a jar of passata and 1 tbsp chipotle chilli paste (leave out if your kid doesn’t like it spicy). Return to the oven for 30 minutes, until the sauce has reduced. Good with rice or jacket potatoes.

Eat eggs any which way

Eggs are my fallback breakfast/lunch/dinner when I’ve run out of ideas, and they can be a way to get some extra veg in. Try masala-spiced eggs: beat two eggs in a bowl and add 1 tsp garam masala, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 finely chopped spring onion, 1 chopped green chilli, 1 chopped fresh tomato, and a handful of chopped coriander and some kale leaves (you can mix this up with whatever veg you have in the fridge). Heat a splash of butter in a small frying pan and add the eggs, cooking while slowly stirring for 3 minutes or so, until cooked to your liking. Meanwhile, heat a shop-bought garlicky naan bread or toast a slice of bread, and pile the spicy eggs on top. Serve with a blob of mango chutney.

Lower your expectations
I pictured myself as a mum who would be lovingly making homemade muffins for my son at nursery pick up. The reality is that with both parents working full time and everyone feeling knackered this isn’t possible. I’m learning to accept that stuff out of a packet is what he’s getting (plus an endless supply of bananas). See also: making batches of homemade cookies to give as gifts, sending handwritten Christmas cards, setting up your work Secret Santa. Focus on what’s important to you, and forget the fluff.