Thanksgiving week planning: The struggle is real people!

Call me a freak, but I enjoy making the Thanksgiving meal. I love this holiday because it’s all the fabulous food and none of the pressure of presents of Christmas. You just make a great lunch/dinner and that’s it, nap time and a sandwich later. Plus there’s football all weekend, but this post is about giving some helpful tips on planning out the week so that you aren’t getting up at 2 AM to put a turkey in the oven then need a nap before you can even eat said turkey. Football is just a nice side dish. 🙂

This meal isn’t as daunting as it seems. Put a turkey in the oven, make some sides, gravy and rolls and boom – happy people! The thing I’ve figure out is, with some help from trial and error, reading, and watching too much food tv, that you can do a lot of this stuff ahead of time. It’s Tuesday night and I’ve already spent a couple of days on prep. The more you can do ahead, the easier things can be. And, don’t be afraid to take some help from the grocery – or your mother and sister in my case – people really do like to help and as long as they are up to the task they offer to help with, accept all offers of assistance. Culinary challenged people can help with ice or drinks/alcohol – or both. 🙂 Just make sure people feel included that offer to help.

I love a good list and/or a spread sheet to keep me organized. I find that the older I get the more I need these handy little things around to keep me on track. I make a grocery list, then a list of things I need to get done around the house, then a list of cooking tasks. Cleaning, laundry, find and clean table cloths, table setting or decorating, anything I can get done ahead of time all go on my chore list. I then keep a list of food related things I can make a little bit ahead. More on that later.

My planning started about 3 weeks ago. First up Menu – write down what you want to make and what ingredients you need for it. Work off this list anytime you need to run to the grocery – or the liquor store – and pick up things on the list that are non-perishable. I got my boxed stuffing, (I have a sister who likes that along with the homemade stuff -I love her – I buy it – I make it – it’s super easy) green bean casserole and dressing ingredients as soon as I saw them on sale. Frozen veggies/rolls are also a good buy ahead item. Anything you can get that won’t go bad while you are already at the store, pick it up. That means less to deal with on the day you go to get things are more sensitive to how long they can survive in the fridge. My big shopping day was still a 2 cart festival of items even with all the previous purchases.

Serving pieces, roasting pans, setting the table – all this stuff can be organized ahead too. I worked off my menu and spent the past weekend sorting through what I needed to serve appetizers, corn and rolls in, bake stuffing and green bean casserole in, found my roasting pan, and any other dishes you only break out for special occasions. Go on the quest to find them ahead of time so you aren’t looking around on turkey day. Clean everything that needs a little dusting, label them with post-it notes if you can’t remember stuff like me, and set them aside and check that off your list. I spent Tuesday night setting the table with napkins, placemats, silverware, butter dishes, gravy boats, salt and pepper shakers, water glasses, along with a pitcher, and dessert dishes. All that is ready to go.

Do ahead food: There are things you can do ahead too that will help make things easier on you for the big meal. I have been getting a fresh turkey lately, but the most important thing is to make sure you defrost a turkey if you are going the frozen route. Either way is good, you just need to make sure you aren’t fighting with a frozen turkey on turkey day. I made my brine base on Sunday, and I got some extra turkey wings and made some stock for extra gravy on Sunday. Both are stored in the fridge until you need them. When you are ready to brine your turkey – if you go that route – just add the base to some salt, sugar and herbs along with some ice and you are ready to brine away. I put my 18 lb. bird in a cooler with 2 bags of ice plus my brine out in the garage. It keeps it colder and keeps any interested critters from getting to in the garage. I flip it over half way through the 24 hours of brining and add ice as needed.

I liquid brine my fresh turkey and dry brine my frozen one. I make an extra smaller bird the day before for my guests to take for leftovers. That’s why everybody likes this meal anyway, right? I also put those inexpensive containers on my shopping list and grab some of those when I see them on sale. Your guests will love you for it. I will cook the “to-go” turkey on Wednesday and keep it in some stock until it finds it’s new home.

I also cooked off my celery and onion in some butter for my dressing on Sunday. Chopping seems to take up a lot of time for this meal – geez! I made my cranberry sauce on Monday, just because that’s when I had some extra time. Store prepped items in storage bags, storage containers – or my favorite – canning jars. As long as they are air tight you are good to go. I assemble my ingredients in the baking dishes as well, so that I say organized. I am blessed with a lot of room, but that’s not always been the case. I have cooked this entire meal in a 750 square foot apartment before. Put stuff where you can…under the kitchen table on the chairs is perfectly acceptable. Windowsills can be a great place for cans. I can’t tell you how much stuff I have put on top of a fridge before. It’s only for a day or two or three…improvise and get creative. It will all work out.

The day before I will bake off my pecan pie, assemble my dressing, and prep my turkey. You will have to decide if baking ahead is a good idea, (my pecan pie can take it but things like fruit pies may need to wait for Thanksgiving day). I’ll take my turkey out of the brine and stuff it with veggies and rub it down with butter too. Sometimes I use the bags, sometimes I go without it. It’s all up to how you like to roll. By the way, that’s prep for pecan chocolate bourbon pie in that first pic. I highly recommend it. 🙂

Turkey doesn’t need 12 hours to cook, especially in those handy bags. You can (or have your butcher) cut a whole bird into piece and then they will cook faster and more evenly. Just check a thermometer to make sure you aren’t contributing to someone having a bad experience with raw turkey. This post is really about help prepping so do what you do as far as cooking your bird.

Day of the big meal, the most challenging thing is timing. Make sure you allow enough time for your turkey to cook properly then rest. You can rest a turkey for 45 minutes or so, allowing you time to cook your side dishes and rolls in the oven. You can keep some warm stock around to heat it up right before serving too. Cook top stuff like mashed potatoes and veggies just need to be prepped then cooked off while you are waiting for the oven items to finish up. Yes, I make a list of times I need to start/stop things just to keep me on track. Hey, Ina does it so I can do it too. 🙂

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Don’t stress out…it is only food after all and your family and loved ones will have a good time no matter what. Or maybe they will have a good story to share. It’s also perfectly fine to buy a turkey already made, sides all ready to reheat and rolls from a package and a pie from the local store. Moral of the story – Thanksgiving should simply be a meal with people that you love. That is what this day is supposed to be about after all. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!