Set It & Forget It: What You Can Do While You Wait for Your Prepared Meals to Be Ready

The holidays can be a stressful time. Whether it’s finding a place for Aunt Linda to sleep, decorating the house, or making enough food for 20 hungry people, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Fortunately, we’re here to take some of the work off said plate while keeping plenty of food on it. 

Prepared meals make it easy to put out a delicious gourmet spread for all your holiday / celebratory needs because they don’t involve any cooking. Why spend time sweating away in a hot kitchen and making a mess while your friends and family are having all the fun? (And drinking all the wine!) Then there’s the cleanup. The horror! The horror!

This holiday season, let Harry & David cater your family gathering with delicious apps, mouthwatering sides, and hearty main courses. We have the entire meal covered, from soup to nuts and everything in between.

Meals 

Chicken Pot Pie

The holidays are all about being cozy, and nothing is cozier than a chicken pot pie. (Well, maybe eating it wrapped in a sherpa-lined blanket.) But this is more than just a savory pie — it’s an entire meal that feeds four to six people. Take that, Hungry-Man! The meal includes a delicious pot pie with tender white chicken meat, carrots, peas, potatoes, and sautéed onions in a flaky, hand-crimped pastry crust, a delectable side dish of crisp green beans with sliced almonds, and a sensational blueberry peach crisp bursting with flavor. And if your guest list grows, you can always get the deluxe version.

Sides 

Baked Beans

Baked beans were a staple in the diet of early American settlers, which means we’ve had a lot of time to perfect this recipe. And these just might be the best baked beans you’ve ever tasted. A scrumptious twist on a classic, these bourbon baked beans are cooked in a thick sauce including savory bacon and onion, and, of course, a small kick of bourbon flavor that really makes these beans stand out at any dinner table.

Italian-Style Pasta Trio

Here's a fun fact: Pasta can improve your mood. Once eaten, pasta is converted into serotonin, which can, well, make you feel happier! (Yay, science!) So, add some happiness to your life with these ready-to-bake pasta dishes. First up is a rich cheese tortellini with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Next, we've got delectable penne with pork sausage, onions, and bell peppers, all topped with Parmesan cheese. Last but not least, we've included farfalle pasta with chicken, mushrooms, and artichokes in a lemon cream sauce, all topped with shredded Asiago cheese. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling better already...

Gruyère and Garlic Red Mashed Potatoes

Let’s face it, carbohydrates have gotten a bad rap. Sure, if you’re trying to lose weight, you might want to limit your carb intake, but it’s the holidays, so I say, it’s time to carbo-load — and no carbs are more comforting than mashed potatoes. And, likewise, no mashed potatoes are quite as tasty as gourmet mashed potatoes smothered with a creamy blend of heavy whipping cream, Gruyère cheese, and garlic seasoning.

Rainbow Carrots with Lemon Butter Sauce

You don’t need to be Bugs Bunny to appreciate this dish. This colorful and vibrant aray of rainbow carrots is cooked with a salivating mix of butter, honey, lemon juice, thyme, and turmeric — a unique combination of ingredients that's guaranteed to have mouths watering. (Mine is.) Should you want to turn this side into a main course, and love sustainably caught fish, you're in luck, because you have the option to pair these carrots with wild caught Alaskan halibut.

Wagyu Beef Cocktail Franks in Puff Pastry

When pigs in a blanket have to go to a fancy affair, they get all dressed up and turn into this sensational appetizer: Wagyu beef cocktail franks in puff pastry. Thirty (!) premium Kobe Wagyu beef cocktail franks are individually topped with mustard and then wrapped in a flaky, buttery puff pastry. These crowd-pleasing apps will class up any holiday affair.

Bacon-Wrapped Crispy Scallop Skewers

If there’s one thing I love, it’s bacon. If there’s two things I love, it’s bacon and scallops. (I think you see where this is going.) Treat your guests to a sensational savory appetizer with two dozen succulent scallops individually crusted, hand-wrapped in crispy bacon, and skewered for maximum enjoyment. If you want to impress your guests, bacon plus scallops get it done every time.

Chicken Pot Pie Meal

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Bourbon Baked Beans

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Italian-Style Pasta Trio

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Gruyère and Garlic Red Mashed Potatoes

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Rainbow Carrots with Lemon Butter Sauce

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MSC Wild Alaskan Halibut and Rainbow Carrots with Lemon Butter Sauce

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Wagyu Beef Cocktail Franks in Puff Pastry

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Bacon-Wrapped Crispy Scallop Skewers

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OK, so your prepared meals are in the oven, and now you’ve got plenty of time to do all the things you’ve been putting off. Here are 25 suggestions of what to do while your food is heating up:

1. Watch the game. What game? Any game! You have the time!

2. Play a board game. Just not Monopoly. You’ll never finish.

3. Vacuum the house. Even if you’ve already done it, it will drown out Aunt Linda’s voice.

4. Wrap presents for family and friends. Heck, wrap one for yourself too! 

5. Probably best to order the presents first. Remember that one for yourself.

6. Get in a workout. You’re not exactly about to sit down to a low-calorie meal. 

7. Put up those holiday lights. Just try not to overdo it on the exterior illumination.  

8. Send out those Christmas cards you've been putting off…for years. But please, enough with the matching outfits.

9. Get cozy by the fireplace. Don’t have a fireplace? Make a fire pit outside!

10. Don’t feel confident in building a firepit? Watch this video.

11. Call that one relative who always talks your ear off. Oh wait, that’s Aunt Linda, and she’s in your living room. Maybe skip this one.
    

12. Finally watch Barbenheimer. 

13. Take a nap…a looooooong nap. 

14. Start learning a new language for that long-awaited trip to Europe. 

15. Build a snowman. Or maybe even build a whole snow family! 

16. Enjoy a glass of wine. Heck, have two.

17. Fold laundry. Unfold and fold it again. 

18. Teach your kids how to fold their own dang laundry.

19. Actually talk, I mean really talk, to your guests. Go deep. Get philosophical.  

20. Take an online class on “How to become a mermaid.” Yes, that’s a real class. 

21. Scroll…scroll…and scroll some more.

22. Handwrite (yup, handwrite, not email) a letter to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.

23. Sit on your couch and do nothing. Except enjoy that glass(es) of wine.

24. Add a journal entry on how enjoyable hosting was this year thanks to those prepared meals.

25. Get around to finally putting together that 1,000-piece puzzle set. I believe in you!