Maybe it’s just the thought of all the prep work and time involved in cooking a big turkey for a large gathering that sends people to restaurants for Christmas takeout feasts.

Many home cooks would rather spend their precious holiday moments with family and friends instead of fretting over the timing for a half-dozen or more finicky dishes.

If that hits close to home, here are some local establishments that will allow you to relax while they do all the fussy stuff. Cheers!

Edge Catering

1927 East Hastings Street

Edge does Christmas right (and big), with traditional roasted and sliced local herb-butter turkey (white and dark) for two to six guests ($100 to $290). Included are Yukon Gold buttermilk mashed potatoes, port gravy, sourdough-cranberry-apple stuffing, maple squash, winter vegetables (Brussels sprouts and root veggies), cranberry-orange chutney, and a dessert choice of traditional sticky-toffee pudding with sauce or cranberry-apple-walnut galette with Chantilly cream. Bonus: a main-course option is braised beef short ribs with port jus and Yorkshire pudding (and all the turkey sides and desserts), and there are also vegetarian add-ons, cookie-decorating packages, and baked-goods boxes available. Call at least 48 hours prior to pickup until 3 p.m. on December 20 (pick up at back of building, alley off Victoria Drive, on December 24 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; delivery, if available, costs extra).

Westin Bayshore

1601 Bayshore Drive

The Westin’s H Tasting Lounge is offering an impressive whole-turkey takeout for six to eight people for $400. A roasted Rossdown Farms five-kilogram free-range bird is accompanied by garlic-and-Parmesan Brussels sprouts with honey-glazed root vegetables, buttermilk mashed potatoes, sage pan gravy, cranberry-peach stuffing, green salad, and a chocolate Yule log. Preorder through Tock until noon on December 20; pick up on December 24 and 25 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Juke Fried Chicken

182 Keefer Street

The popular Chinatown fried-chicken joint returns with its well-known holiday turducken (roast turkey, duck, and chicken) meal kit for four ($199). The rolled and sliced turducken comes with leek-and-sausage stuffing, turkey gravy, scalloped potatoes, cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts with bacon jam, roasted squash and carrots, and jalapeño cornbread. Orders are limited and must be picked up on December 22 and 23; order online or call 604-336-5853 for more info. (The turducken meal kit can be refrigerated for three days after pickup.)

Notch8

900 West Georgia Street

You won’t get the luxe ambience of this Fairmont Hotel Vancouver bistro when you order its takeout Christmas dinner, but $499 will get you an entire kick-ass seven- to nine-kilogram free-range Fraser Valley turkey for eight to 10 guests. Along with the absurd bird will be Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, honey-thyme winter root vegetables, pan gravy, cranberry relish, preserved fruit–and-bread stuffing, artisan rolls and butter, and a cranberry-and-candied-orange cheesecake tart. (A prime-rib roast with jus, horseradish, and Yorkshire puddings is also available as an “add-on” for $350. Woof.) Order online by 5 p.m. December 20; pick up between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on December 24 and 25. No word on whether or not executive chef David Baarschers will be using ingredients from his granny’s or coworkers’ gardens or trees, about which he sometimes tweets.

Blue Hat Bakery-Café

1505 West 2nd Avenue

This café and bistro run by a team of Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts chefs is turning out two menus for its holiday takeout this year (quantities are limited). Each $109 meal serves two (so you can just order two or three for extra guests), with one offering roasted turkey breast as the main and the other tempting you with beef short ribs braised in star anise and red wine. Both come with garlic whipped potatoes, kale-and-radicchio salad with butternut squash and walnuts, holiday stuffing, lemon-thyme glazed winter vegetables, and dessert choices of chocolate layer cake and traditional sticky pudding. (The gobbler option also comes with orange-cranberry sauce and turkey gravy.) Order online by 5:30 p.m. on December 17 and pick up on December 23
(9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) or 24 (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Go to the entrance at the northeast corner of the building (on Anderson Street); there is complimentary parking in the adjacent building on 2nd Avenue.

Railtown Catering

397 Railway Street

This is the ninth year this Railtown institution—located in the same building in the DTES’s historic Railtown district as its sister Railtown Café—has offered its turkey-dinner takeout packages. The pricier one, at $379 for eight to 10 people, serves up a seven-kilogram precarved and sage-roasted turkey along with giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, apricot-chestnut-and-brioche stuffing, mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, maple-glazed sweet potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts with toasted almonds, dinner rolls and focaccia with butter, and pecan pie with Chantilly cream. Phew. The half-size package ($279 for five to six guests) comes with all of the above but a precarved half-turkey. Order online by 10 a.m. on December 17; pick up between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from December 23 to 26 (deliveries are sold out).

Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront

1133 West Hastings Street

This downtown hotel has a trinity of takeout options this year to match the size of your guest list. Traditional oven-roasted turkey is precarved for a party of two ($89) or four to six diners ($199), and an entire turkey goes out the door for six to eight people ($329, carved upon request). The sides include Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, sage-cranberry stuffing, pan herb gravy, Brussels sprouts, maple-buttered carrots, French beans with sauteed peppers, fresh cranberry relish, both a green salad and a quinoa-cranberry version, and a choice of pumpkin or apple pie to finish you off. Additional guest portions, also picked up already heated, can be added for $45 per, and all online orders must be in by December 20 (pickup is only between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on December 24 and 25). Helpfully, discounted two-bottle wine packs, from $59 to $129, are also available for ordering online.