Hosting a dinner party is already a lot of work, but if your dishes require they be served right out of the pan or freezing cold, you’ll never get to leave the kitchen. Prepping dishes that don’t need any special treatment will let you actually enjoy your company.




If you want to save yourself some grief come dinner time, Sarah Jampel at Food52 suggests you go with foods that are designed to be served at room temperature. You don’t have to be worried about timing, watching food as it cooks on the stove, or how you’re going to store it all. Plus, you can get more done ahead of the party so you can spend more time with your friends and family during it. Leafy green salads, pasta salads, casseroles, and other dishes that can be mixed up quickly and set out are the best way to go. And when it comes to how many dishes you should prep, Jampel suggests it’s better to go for large quantities of a couple dishes as opposed to smaller quantities of a wide variety of dishes.


17 Tips for Throwing Your First (or Your First Painless) Dinner Party | Food52