Occasions Planner
Meal Plan Occasions 1: Special Occasions
Chapter 8 · Occasions planner
How to use this chapter. The occasions fall on different days, so there is no single weekly shopping list. Each of the 14 recipes has its own shopping list (follow the link on the recipe), and this chapter helps you plan: when each occasion falls, how much time it needs, what to do the day before, and how to scale the recipes up or down. Chapters 1 to 5 are written for 4 people, and chapters 6 and 7 are for one.
When each occasion falls
Pancake Tuesday falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, and Easter moves every year (it is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March). Your birthday and your own celebration are whenever you choose.
| Occasion | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Fri 1 Jan 2027 | Sat 1 Jan 2028 | Mon 1 Jan 2029 |
| Pancake Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) | Tue 9 Feb 2027 | Tue 29 Feb 2028 | Tue 13 Feb 2029 |
| Easter Sunday | Sun 28 Mar 2027 | Sun 16 Apr 2028 | Sun 1 Apr 2029 |
| Halloween | Sun 31 Oct 2027 | Tue 31 Oct 2028 | Wed 31 Oct 2029 |
| Birthday | Your date | Your date | Your date |
| Christmas Day | Sat 25 Dec 2027 | Mon 25 Dec 2028 | Tue 25 Dec 2029 |
| "I feel like celebrating" | Any day | Any day | Any day |
The seven occasions at a glance
| Ch | Occasion | Serves | Main meal | Dessert | Time needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Year's Day | 4 | Slow-roast pork belly with lentils and roast apples | Apple and blackberry crumble with custard | About 4 hours |
| 2 | Pancake Tuesday | 4 | Baked chicken, leek and mushroom pancakes | Lemon and sugar and banana and chocolate pancakes | About 2 hours |
| 3 | Easter | 4 | Roast half leg of lamb with roast potatoes | Hot cross bun and butter pudding | About 3 hours |
| 4 | Halloween | 4 | Mummy sausages with mash and onion gravy | Chocolate brownie graveyard | About 1 hour 30 minutes |
| 5 | Birthday | 4 (cake serves 8) | Build-your-own burger night with wedges and slaw | Chocolate fudge birthday cake | About 2 hours, plus cake the day before |
| 6 | Christmas Day | 1 | T-bone steak with chips and peppercorn sauce | Sticky toffee pudding (makes 2: one for Boxing Day) | About 1 hour 15 minutes |
| 7 | "I feel like celebrating" | 1 | Garlic king prawn and chorizo linguine | Tiramisu pot | About 30 minutes, plus 2 hours' chilling |
Make-ahead timelines
Almost all of the work can be done before the day. Here is what to do when.
| Occasion | A few days before | The day before | On the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Order the pork belly from the butcher if you want it scored. Buy the apples, lentils and custard ingredients. | Dry the pork skin with kitchen paper, rub in the salt and leave it uncovered in the fridge. Peel the potatoes and keep them in cold water. | Pork in the oven about 3 hours 30 minutes before you want to eat. Lentils at 2:00, mash at 3:00. Crumble goes in the oven when the pork comes out. |
| Pancake Tuesday | Buy the chicken, leeks, mushrooms and cheese. | Make both batters and keep them in the fridge. Make the 8 savoury pancakes if you like, and stack them with baking paper in between. | Make the filling and sauce, assemble and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Make the sweet pancakes while it bakes, and keep them warm. |
| Easter | Take the lamb out of the freezer if it is frozen. Buy the mint, rosemary and hot cross buns. | Stud the lamb with garlic and rosemary. Assemble the bread and butter pudding, cover and chill. Make the mint sauce. | Parboil the potatoes in the morning. Lamb in the oven about 2 hours 30 minutes before you want to eat. Potatoes go in 30 minutes later. Pudding bakes while you eat. |
| Halloween | Buy the sausages, puff pastry, chocolate and biscuits. | Wrap the sausages in pastry and chill them. Bake the brownies. Make the onion gravy. | Bake the sausages, boil and mash the potatoes, reheat the gravy. Decorate the graveyard on each plate at the last minute. |
| Birthday | Buy everything, including candles. Take the mince out of the freezer if it is frozen. | Bake the cake sponges. Shape the burgers (chill them on the bottom shelf). Make the slaw and the burger sauce. | Make the ganache and finish the cake in the morning. Wedges in the oven 40 minutes before you eat. Burgers and bacon last. |
| Christmas Day | Buy the steak, dates and cream. | Christmas Eve: bake the 2 puddings and make the toffee sauce. Keep both covered. | Take the steak out 45 minutes before you cook it. Chips in the oven 40 minutes before you eat. Steak last, rested while you finish the sauce. Warm the pudding while you eat. |
| "I feel like celebrating" | Buy the prawns, chorizo and mascarpone. | Make the tiramisu pot the day before or in the morning, so it chills for at least 2 hours. Make the garlic butter. | Garlic bread in the oven, pasta on, chorizo and prawns in the pan. 25 minutes from start to the table. |
Scaling the recipes
- Scaling up (more guests): multiply the quantities by the number of people, then check the biggest limits: the size of your roasting tin, the size of your baking dish, and the space in your oven. If a dish will not fit, cook it in two tins or two batches.
- Cooking times: do not simply double the time. Roasts need more time by weight (the lamb and pork recipes tell you the minutes per 500 g). Pasta, rice and steaks take the same time per person, but need a bigger pan or more batches.
- Scaling down (fewer guests): the main meals for 4 can be halved easily, apart from the pork belly and lamb. The leftover roast is good cold, in sandwiches, within 2 days.
- Scaling the Christmas T-bone: one steak per person. Cook them one at a time or in a very large pan, and keep the first ones warm on a plate under foil while you cook the next.
- Scaling the celebration pasta (chapter 7): up to 4 people, multiply the quantities (400 g linguine, 400 g prawns, 160 g chorizo, and a tin of chopped tomatoes in place of the cherry tomatoes). Cook the prawns in two batches.
- Cakes: the birthday cake already serves 8. The brownie graveyard can be cut into 8 or 9 squares, and the pancakes can be stacked up and kept warm.
Equipment
- A large roasting tin, a lidded casserole or foil, and a meat thermometer (New Year's Day, Easter, Christmas Day, burgers)
- Two 18 cm sandwich tins, a 20 cm square tin, a 1.2 litre baking dish and a 1.5 litre baking dish (cake, brownies, puddings, crumble)
- A 20 cm non-stick frying pan and a large heavy frying pan (pancakes, steak, burgers, linguine)
- A wire rack, a stick blender or a whisk, and a sieve (pancake batter, ganache, custard, tiramisu)
- 2 ramekins of about 200 ml (sticky toffee puddings) and a glass or small dish of about 250 ml (tiramisu)
- A large baking tray with baking paper, and a grill tray (wedges, sausages, bacon)
- Kitchen paper, cling film, foil and covered containers for the make-ahead steps
Food-safety reminders
The four rules for every occasion
- Cook pork, sausages, burgers and chicken right through, with no pink and clear juices. Steak and lamb joints can be served pink in the middle if you like (the outside is the part that is seared).
- Cool leftovers quickly, within 1 to 2 hours, keep them covered in the fridge and eat them within 2 days. Reheat only once, until steaming hot.
- Keep raw meat on the bottom shelf, away from other food, and wash your hands, boards and knives after handling it.
- Defrost frozen joints in the fridge, allowing about 18 hours for the lamb, 24 hours for a big joint, and overnight for mince and chicken. Never refreeze them after defrosting.
Shopping across the occasions
Because each occasion is a different day, shop for each one a few days before. Cream is bought in a small pot for both Christmas Day recipes (about 105 ml in total), and mascarpone for the tiramisu keeps for 3 days after opening.