Mary Berry: don’t cook everything at Christmas, buy in and hide the packaging

Stop stressing and buy in your food for Christmas if it means being able to spend more time with the family, says Dame Mary Berry Speaking to Lisa Tarbuck for a BBC Radio 2 special’ Mary Berry: At Home For Chistmas’ she said: “It’s unlikely that I would buy party food but there such great party food around now. “It’s more important to spend time with you family, with you grandchildren, so if you’re not used to it, if it’s going to stress you, go and buy it. “Buy in your gravy. It’s only once a year, and just throw away the packaging so nobody knows you’ve done it. The people are more important than the food. “You don’t need to make it (mince-meat). Good quality mince-meat is readily available and you can always add a dash of brandy.” 'Ill informed' Mary Berry has been criticised for condemning maternity leave Try out Mary's meat free recipes Photo: Andrew Crowley Berry other tips for making Christmas as stress-free as possible include cooking bread sauce, red cabbage, roast potatoes, parsnips and stuffing the day before, and cutting sprouts in half to have the cooking time. She even suggests a ‘mountain of stir fry vegetables’ to avoid the separate pans. “I am prepared for Christmas,” she added. “I’ve done as much prep as possible. I will be there to chat and give people nice things to eat. I don’t like doing things at the last minute unless I’ve got everything prepared. “Also roast your potatoes today. That really worries people. Do them today, put them in a cupboard where people won’t pinch them. “Do them to a pale golden brown and use the fat for something else. Then put them back for 20 minutes tomorrow to crisp up. You don’t want them to be.” Michel Roux Jr's roast potatoes Potatoes can be cooked the day before and reheated Photo: ALAMY Even a Christmas Cake can be made at the last minute if necessary, she says. “It will be a bit crumbly, and still hot, but who cares,” she added. Berry also recommends clearing a table and installing a huge jigsaw puzzle for the family to pick at over Christmas. “It’s got to stay there for the whole of Christmas, not folding it up,” she warned. And for people who do want to make their own gravy, Berry recommends adding red wine, red currant jelly and a dash of Worcester Sauce, and using ‘all the lovely gubbins from the bottom of the roasting dish’ And her final tip? Never crumble stilton, she advises. “It gets under your fingernails. It’s best to use a grater.” Stevie Parle's roasted bird