Christmas Lunch for Two, Without the Leftovers of Twelve

By Jodie Smith, Product & Hamper Manager at The Gourmet Pantry.

Christmas lunch for two works better when you buy by pack size instead of scaling a recipe down: one hot dish built for four, six pastry cases rather than twelve, and mini jars instead of full ones. Boxing Day gets planned rather than endured.

Cooking for two on Christmas Day is not the same job as cooking for twelve with a smaller pan. Recipes are written for a table, packets are sized for a table, and what survives is a fortnight of the same three things. Most of the fix happens while you are shopping. The hot half of this menu comes off the gourmet meals shelf, and if you would rather graze than sit down, our Christmas grazing box for two is the board version of the same idea. This is the meal.

Two people need a different shape of lunch, not a smaller one

A table for twelve is built around a centrepiece, because a centrepiece is the only sane way to feed twelve at once. Take ten people away and that logic goes with them. A leg of ham for two is a month of ham, and we do not sell ham, turkey or seafood anyway; those come from a butcher or a fish shop. What changes the day for two is the shape of the meal: one dish cooked once and eaten twice, one small thing to open with, and a dessert that runs out on the day it is served.

Three other constraints leave with the crowd. Nobody arrives across a two hour window, so the food does not have to hold. Nobody has to be fed at one o'clock, so the hot dish can happen whenever the morning ends. And nobody is counting courses, so four small ones beat two large ones.

If one of the two is an older parent, the same shopping list quietly does a second job. A 110g jar has a smaller lid than a 310g one and takes less grip to open. Small servings mean nobody feels obliged to finish a plate. And nothing here asks somebody to stand at an oven for an hour in the heat.

Buy by the pack size, not by the recipe

Everything below is sized so the packet finishes roughly when the meal does. Prices are what is on the shelf now.

The pattern holds past this list. Our tarts and pastry shells are worth reading by count rather than by flavour: six large shells and twelve mini ones are two different amounts of dinner.

A lunch for two, in four small parts

1. One plate to open with, not a board. Crackers, one cheese, one mini jar, and olives or nuts if you want them. Five minutes of assembly, and the hot dish no longer has to arrive on time. Two people only need something to pick at while one of you cooks.

2. One hot dish, cooked once. A four serve paella kit is the one I reach for, because four serves out of one dish is precisely two lunches and no carving. Start it late morning and eat when you are hungry, not when the clock says so. A risotto kit, or good dried pasta with one jar of sauce, does the same job for less.

3. One cold thing beside it. Prawns from the fish shop, or a green salad dressed at the last minute. Buy the seafood on 24 December and keep it on ice from car to table. For two, 500g of green prawns is generous.

4. Dessert that finishes. Six sweet pastry cases, filled cold within the hour of eating them: mascarpone and cherries, or lemon curd and a raspberry. Fill them earlier than that and the pastry softens. Three each is plenty after a hot lunch, and there is no half a trifle to rehome.

Boxing Day, decided in advance

A four serve kit for two makes the second half the plan rather than the accident. Paella keeps better than most things, gently reheated in a pan with a splash of water, or forked cold into a bowl with lemon and parsley. Either way it is a meal you already own on the one day nobody wants to shop.

The rest of leftovers is what never got opened. A pantry shop for two should finish with three or four jars in the cupboard rather than eight, and unopened jars keep for months. If you would rather not cook at all this year, our guide to Christmas food without cooking covers the version with nothing switched on, and Christmas food in Australia sets out the shape of the whole day.

The shelf stable half of this list can be bought in early November and forgotten about. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post, and shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100. Australia Post confirms its Christmas dates in October, so treat mid December as the practical limit rather than a deadline to aim at.

Questions we get asked

What should I cook for Christmas lunch for two?

One hot dish and three cold small ones: a four serve paella or risotto kit, prawns or a green salad beside it, crackers and a mini jar to open with, and filled pastry cases to finish. Nothing needs carving, and half the kit is Boxing Day lunch.

How do I do Christmas for two without a week of leftovers?

Buy by pack size rather than by recipe: the 110g jar over the 310g one, six pastry cases over twelve, a twin pack over a box, and one dish meant to be eaten twice. What is left is sealed jars in a cupboard, not covered bowls in a fridge.

What is an easy Christmas lunch for a small household?

Crackers, cheese and a small jar while you cook; a kit that goes into one dish; something cold from the fish shop; six pastry cases filled with cream and fruit. Only one of the four parts is hot.

Can I buy a small Christmas hamper for two people?

Yes, and it is the shortest route to the opening plate. The Gourmet Bites Hamper at $59.95 is one of our smaller boxes, alcohol free and hand packed here in Corio. The Christmas hampers range runs up from there if you are sending one rather than eating it.

Two people, four small parts, one packet of each. Start with the gourmet meals shelf for the hot dish, add the pastry cases and a mini jar, and the shopping for Christmas lunch is done before December begins.