With Christmas day just around the corner, many are starting their big dinner preparations this weekend.

Here are a few things you need to remember as you cook.

From how to correctly prepare food, which types of food can be left out, and the warning signs of when your food may be going bad, we will be here to make the holidays a little less stressful for you.

Tonight we examine the ways to safely begin preparing food for your holiday meal.

Executive chef at Gilchrist hunting club Matt Boring says it's important to clean your utensils when switching between foods.

"Whenever you are cooking with or messing with raw poultry for example, and then you switch over to a vegetable like lettuce, if you don't wash your cutting board, for whatever reason, you cold be contracting anything from salmonella to other microbiological organisms that you don't want," said Boring.

Next week we'll tell you which types of food you don't want to leave out too long, and the warning signs of food that's starting to go bad.