This Friday, March 1, up and down the country, we'll be celebrating en masse with communal dinners for Shabbat UK. 

Whether you're a balaboosta used to cooking for a crowd every week, or a relative newbie to Friday night dinner catering, it's always good to have some short-cuts and tips in your culinary tool kit. Recipes that always work or just simple hints how to make the prospect of dinner for ten, 20 or even 30 a little less nerve-wracking. 

Here are a some of our favourite hacks to take the strain out of hosting your Friday night dinner:

#1 Accept offers of help!

Cooking's more fun with friends. Let them muck in, and if your guests ask ‘what can I bring’ – never refuse! If levels of kashrut are an issue your guests can bring a bottle or packaged kosher food.

#2 No shame in buying in

Mix it up by adding some of the really good ready-made foods available in kosher supermarkets and delis with your own lovingly made morels. My family love to dip their challah into a range of dips as a starter mezze. I make some and buy others. No one needs to know...

#3 Batch cook     

  Kneidlach really aren’t hard to make, but ARE time consuming. Make a huge batch and freeze them on a tray. Once frozen, bag 'em up and drop straight into boiling water (seasoned with a little chicken soup powder) to cook. Perfect!

#4 Real fast puddings

I keep a bags of frozen fruit and a bag of crumble topping in my freezer. Make it with Tomor or another non-dairy spread, and you have a parev pudding in minutes. Or, if you have more time, you could prepare fresh seasonal fruit. It's always a winner. 

#5 Get into traybakes

The fastest way to get meat, veggies and potatoes on the table – and (the biggets bonus) there's less washing up. Build up a repertoire with different meats and veggies so you can vary it seasonally.