5 cleaning jobs you need to do before you start Christmas cooking

The most important part of Christmas Day has to be the food, and if you’re having lots of people over, you might be feeling a little stressed at the cooking jobs ahead.

Preparation is key – not just for the food but also making sure your house is in good shape for guests to stay. So, before you start the mammoth task of cooking Christmas dinner, you’ll want to do a few essential cleaning jobs first to make sure your appliances are in good working order and get your house hosting ready.

From the oven to the radiators, here are five cleaning jobs you need to do before you start cooking for Christmas.

1. Scrub the oven and air fryer

Over the festive season, your oven and other appliances take a big hit. From Christmas dinners to leftovers and beyond, your oven will be on for hours at a time, as will your air fryer if you’re using it for making the sides or reheating pre-made food. Before your oven and air fryer get put into use cooking Christmas dinner, take some time to give them a good scrub a few days before your guests arrive.

Cleaning your oven can be a daunting job – it constantly surprises me how dirty they can get – but focusing on the racks, base and door will leave it looking sparkling. Air fryers are slightly easier to clean due to their size and removable attachments, plus most of their accessories can be cleaned in a dishwasher. For more details, see our guides on how to clean an oven and how to clean an air fryer for step-by-step tutorials.

2. Tidy and stock the fridge and freezer

The Christmas food shop takes up a mountain of space in your fridge freezer, and that’s not even including the food you have in there already for the lead-up to the big day. Before you do your big Christmas shop, remove everything from your fridge and give it a good clean. Make sure to go through the ingredients that were already inside and dispose of any empty or out-of-date items. Once its clean and dry (or as dry as a cold fridge can get), stock your fridge and freezer with the food and drinks you need for Christmas.

3. Bleed the radiators

If you’re having people over for Christmas, you’ll want to make sure that your heating is all sorted so they’re not freezing cold or boiling hot a la Monica and Rachel’s summer-themed Christmas party in Friends. Bleeding your radiators helps to release any trapped air inside them so your heating is more even and circulates around the house better.

4. Declutter the kitchen cupboards

Similar to the fridge, have a quick declutter of your kitchen cupboards. I know for a fact that some of you probably have food hidden in your cupboards from last Christmas, so check everything’s sell-by-dates and chuck out what’s gone off and what you’re unlikely to use. It can also be handy to have a dedicated cupboard for your Christmas food so people aren’t rooting around your kitchen trying to find the tub of Celebrations.

5. Shine the cutlery

Whether you use your normal everyday cutlery or have ‘special occasion’ knives, forks and spoons, make sure to clean and shine your cutlery before your guests arrive. One of the huge time-savers to do before Christmas Day and cooking is to set the table ahead of time, so give your plates and cutlery a run through the dishwasher or wash them by hand to get them looking shiny. If you have silver cutlery, use a silver polishing cloth to remove any tarnishes and bring back their sparkle. Once you’re done, you can set the table so it’s one less job to do on the day and gets every in a festive mood.