Christmas Dinner Timings Planner

How the planner works out your Christmas dinner cooking schedule

The scheduling method below was written by CookingCalculator.co.uk. Cooking times and temperatures come from our own calculators or are labelled planning estimates, and food-safety advice comes from the Food Standards Agency.

1. Every dish is set to finish at your serving time, less any resting time.
2. Its cooking start is that many minutes earlier, and its preparation comes before.
3. Oven dishes are placed in start order. A dish joins an oven already on if the temperature ranges you allow overlap and a shelf is free.
4. Otherwise the oven needs heating or changing first, which takes the warm-up time you set (15 minutes by default).
5. Hob dishes take one ring each, up to the number of rings you have.
6. Anything that cannot fit is shown as a clash. The planner then tests possible fixes and only offers ones that really reduce the clashes. Nothing changes until you press Apply.

Inputs and outputs

Serving time

When everyone sits down to eat. Everything is worked back from this.

Main dish and weight

For turkey, the cooking time, temperature and rest come from our turkey cooking time calculator.

Sides

Each has a preparation time, cooking time, appliance and a temperature range it can share. You can edit all of them.

Kitchen

Number of ovens, usable shelves per oven, hob rings and oven warm-up time.

Timetable

A start time, a time for every step, what each oven is doing, any clashes and ways to fix them.

Assumptions

• An oven holds one temperature at a time.
• Dishes share an oven only within the temperature ranges you allow. Some ranges are our planning estimates and say so.
• Each oven dish takes one shelf unless you choose to put two on one shelf. With two ovens, a dish stays in the oven it started in.
• Each hob dish takes one ring. Parboiling potatoes counts as preparation.
• Every dish is ready at serving time. Nothing is kept hot to make the plan fit.
• Preparation is not limited by how many people are helping.

When to use your own judgement

Ovens run hot or cool, tins and starting temperatures vary, and fan ovens differ. Always check the turkey is cooked through, follow pack instructions for bought items, and adjust the figures if your own recipes take longer.

Worked example: Christmas dinner for six with one oven, served at 2pm

This example was generated by the planner itself. Inputs: a 5kg whole turkey (190 minutes at 180°C and a 45-minute rest, from our turkey calculator), roast potatoes, roast parsnips, stuffing, pigs in blankets, carrots and sprouts. Kitchen: one oven with 3 usable shelves, 4 hob rings and 15 minutes to heat or change the oven.

1. First result: 4 oven clash. Roast potatoes needs 200 to 220°C, but your oven is at a temperature outside that range then, with no time to change it.
2. Suggestion applied: Rest the turkey for 75 minutes and use that time for the sides.
3. Suggestion applied: Make the stuffing the day before and reheat it.
4. Final result: 1 clash. Cooking starts at 09:15, the turkey comes out at 12:45 and rests for 75 minutes while the oven goes up for the potatoes.
5. Unresolved clash: Stuffing needs 180 to 200°C, but your oven is at a temperature outside that range then, with no time to change it. The potatoes need a steady 220°C for their full hour, and the stuffing's own figures only go up to 200°C, so one oven cannot do both at once without cutting one of them short. The planner will not quietly lower the oven or keep cooked food hot to make it fit.

One-oven alternatives the planner tested

• Make the stuffing the day before and reheat it: still 1 clash. Stuffing needs 180 to 200°C, but your oven is at a temperature outside that range then, with no time to change it. Reheating needs the same 180 to 200°C, so it meets the same problem.
• Cook the stuffing somewhere other than the oven: the rest of the meal then fits one oven with no clashes. You choose how to cook the stuffing (for example in a separate appliance) using its own instructions.
• Changing the stuffing's sharing range yourself: only do this if your recipe supports a hotter oven. The planner will not change it for you.

Worked example: the same dinner with two ovens, served at 2pm

Same dishes and kitchen, but with a second oven. Suggestions applied: Rest the turkey for 75 minutes and use that time for the sides. Result: 0 clashes, cooking starts at 09:15, and no dish has its oven temperature changed while it is cooking.

What this example does and does not check

• Checked by the planner: each dish's cooking time, one steady oven setting per dish, oven heating time, shelf count, hob rings (including parboiling) and preparation finishing before cooking.
• Estimates: cooking times and temperatures come from our calculators or are labelled planning estimates. Sharing ranges are planning estimates.
• Needs your judgement: Some dishes cook inside the sharing range you allowed rather than at their own temperature. Their times are not adjusted, so check them. Always check food is cooked: poultry must be steaming hot all the way through with no pink meat.

What changes the timetable

• Serving at 13:00: after the same suggestions, cooking starts at 08:15 with 1 clashes. The whole plan moves with the serving time.
• Serving at 15:00: after the same suggestions, cooking starts at 10:15 with 1 clashes. The whole plan moves with the serving time.
• Shelves and hob rings: with only 2 shelves, or more hob dishes than rings, the planner reports a clash and explains it rather than keeping food hot.
• A bigger turkey means a longer cook, so the start time moves earlier by the extra cooking minutes.

Times are estimates for planning. Ovens, tins and starting temperatures vary, so check food is cooked rather than relying on the clock.

Christmas dinner timings: common questions