Thanksgiving Prep 101

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       Are you cooking for a crowd this Thanksgiving and are you stressing out about pulling it off? Growing up in a large family and raising a large family of my own has taught me a few tips that I can share to help make your Thanksgiving meal prep much easier and successful.  A little pre-planning can take the stress to a much lower level. Be sure to print off the free timeline printable to hang on your fridge to keep you on track! 

Thanksgiving Menu and Recipes​

First things first, make a menu and choose your recipes! If you decide that you want to try something new, you may want to give it a trial run, but do that early, before the real crunch starts. I suggest trying something that you feel pretty confident will turn out well and be a crowd pleaser.  Also, it may be best to keep  your new recipes down to 1 or 2 dishes.  Traditional Thanksgiving recipes are looked forward to, comforting and expected by many and changing things too much could leave some people disappointed. A couple of new dishes added to the traditional can be surprising and fun! You might even start a new tradition.  I wasn't raised with pecan pie growing up, but it is a tradition in my home now. Also, I can still remember the year pumpkin rolls first appeared and we have enjoyed them ever since. 
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     Speaking of pies, we have a whole category devoted to pies on our blog.  You can start with my mom's absolutely best crust recipe here and go onto the many other varieties of pies that are all delicious, here. For even more pie ideas, you can purchase and download our For the Love of Pie ebook.   You might find a new, wonderful pie to add to your Thanksgiving dessert table this year! 

Make Assignments

If you are asking people to bring some of the food and drinks, be sure to make those assignments well in advance so that they have time to plan ahead as well.  Especially if you are just asking for a general thing, like a salad or a dessert, they may want to have time to try out a recipe before they bring it.  Or, they may need to budget into their budget the cost of ingredients.  I would say that 2 weeks notice is a good amount of time and you can give a heads up reminder a few days before Thanksgiving. 

Sometimes people already have an idea of what they would like to contribute, so it is good to be open to those suggestions and work around them.  If your sister asks what you would like her to bring, you could give her a few suggestions and let her choose.  Also, accept any offers from people who would like to come early and help!  

Before you Shop

Before you head off to the grocery store, clean your fridge! I am lucky enough to have two refrigerators, so I have to clean them both. But seriously, you are going to need a lot of room.  You will be bringing home produce, a turkey, butter, veggies of various varieties, cream, dips, cranberry sauce, pickles, olives...And then you have to plan on the leftovers! Don't forget that if people are bringing dishes to add to the feast, you will need a place to put any cold items that may need to be chilled until serving time. So, the week before Thanksgiving week, be sure to plan meals that do not generate a lot of leftovers. Then,  get in that fridge and get rid of those little dabs of leftovers, throw out the old, expired condiments, flush away the "science experiments" tucked away in the back corner, and wipe everything down so that you have a nice, clean refrigerator.  If you think that you may not have enough space for everything, break out or purchase a cooler to handle some of the overflow. This one on wheels would be great!  

​Another important thing to do before you shop is to take an inventory of what you have already and what you will need to make your planned menu.  Do you have enough eggs?  How about little things like sage or even salt?  Do you have the evaporated milk for the pumpkin pie? Make a list and check it twice! 

Shopping

At the beginning of November there will be tons of good sales on all of the fixings for a Thanksgiving Dinner. (This is also a good time to stock up on canned goods for your pantry and to buy food for donations to food banks!) Check your ads!  If you will also want a turkey for Christmas, get one now and put it in the freezer because the prices are at their best right now! Here are a few things to add to your shopping list that you may not have thought about:

• Freezer Storage Bags! 
• Containers that seal and won't leak.  Here are a couple suggestions:​

Pyrex Snapware

Rubbermaid brilliance, guaranteed not to leak.

• If you are using paper plates, get good sturdy ones.  I prefer to use real plates for big dinners, because they look prettier, they are sturdy enough to handle the gravy and other juicy foods and won't fall apart under a knife.   Also, make sure you have enough dessert plates! I like to check the clearance aisles for good deals on pretty dishes. 

• Plastic wrap, or another fun thing to do to send home leftovers in is to make your own wax cloths like Maddy blogged about here.  We use them all of the time and they are a great way to be a little more green. They would be a nice little gift to send home with your guests, wrapped around some leftover dinner rolls perhaps! Use some Fall colored prints!  It is also smart to have some disposable containers to use to send home stuffing, turkey, pie or whatever leftovers you may be divvying out.

• You may assign out whipped cream or Cool Whip, but I always like to have some extra on hand.
• Butter for those rolls!
• Save some time on Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week to go back for produce closer to Thanksgiving Day so that it will be fresh.

Timeline

Once you are finished shopping and have everything you need, make yourself a timeline of things that need to be done.  Here is an overview of how I generally organize myself the week of Thanksgiving. Be sure to get the free Thanksgiving Prep Timeline below. Just press the button.

• Make sure the turkey is in the refrigerator defrosting by Monday at the latest. Big turkeys take longer.  A 20 pound turkey can take 5 days to defrost.
• Clean the house really well on Tuesday.  You can also put together some of your dishes, such as the stuffing, in advance on this day.  Then on Thursday you can just pop it in the oven. Also, the cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes can be prepared in advance.
• Bake the pies, rolls and other desserts on Wednesday, because the oven will be very busy on Thursday with the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc.
• After baking on Wednesday, sweep and straighten the house and set the table, unless you have very tiny children who will just mess it up.  Then you can have someone help you with it on Thursday.
• Thursday morning, put a couple of spoonfuls of stuffing in the cavity of the bird for flavor, but bake most of it in a casserole dish.  Prepare the turkey by rinsing it and removing the giblets.  I cook the giblets separately on the stove in a seasoned broth to chop up and use in the gravy. When the turkey is done roasting later on, don't forget to remove the stuffing from the inside.
• When the turkey comes out of the oven, pop the stuffing, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole into the oven while it rests. Move the turkey to a platter to rest and make the gravy in the bottom of the roasting pan. 

Thanksgiving Prep Timeline Printable

One Last Tip

Accept help! Let others put out the cranberry sauce, pickles, olives and other condiments.  Allow someone to mash the potatoes, put out the rolls and butter.  You can give instructions as you make the giblet gravy! Then, at last, it will all come together, everything will be hot and you will have a feast to be thankful for.  
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Keep an eye out for some basic recipes here on the blog to help you out with holiday dinners!
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You May Also Enjoy:

• Part 1 of the Pie Series: The Crust
• Quick Thanksgiving Craft for Kids
  
•  Creating an Easy, Affordable Thanksgiving Centerpiece