Eating out is our recipe for a stress-free Christmas dinner

FED up with rising at dawn to make a vast Christmas dinner you will be too tired to eat, and your family will not appreciate?

You are, it seems, not alone – with a huge rise claimed in the numbers of people choosing to eat at a restaurant on Christmas Day.

Producing the annual feast has always been a struggle, with battlegrounds including children turning their noses up at Brussels sprouts. But increasing demand for vegetarian, vegan, wheat and dairyfree and other specialist foods can now make satisfying everyone’s requirements for the perfect festive lunch harder than ever before.

And that may be behind what is claimed to be a 45 per cent rise in restaurant reservations being made for Christmas Day.

According to data compiled by online meal-booking agency OpenTable, that is the surge in popularity of eating out for the most important meal of the calendar over the last year.

And the figures also suggest that only a quarter of those eating out on Christmas Day are likely to go for a traditional roast with the expected trimmings – with the rest split between alternatives including Indian or south Asian cuisine, or Italian and French.