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Prepping and planning your Thanksgiving menu is no small task. Although, in my opinion it’s a necessary one.
There’s nothing worse than hosting your Thanksgiving meal and everyone showing up for dinner and nothing is ready. How do I know? Well the first year we decided to host…dinner ended up starting almost two hours late. (insert palm hitting my forehead here.)
So, I want you to learn from my mistake and use these steps to ensure that not only will you get all your cleaning, shopping & cooking done but you’ll get it done in time! Heck, even with time to spare!
1. Guest list & Menu
I know this seems like something that you should already know but sometimes its completely overlooked.
The Guest list is where you should start because it will completely dictate the menu. Depending on how many guests will be attending and if anyone has any allergies or restrictions. All of these things will be taken into consideration when you start planning your menu.
Once you’ve figured out how many people will be attending you can get onto the menu plan. In our house this year, because we live so far from family, we will be hosting dinner and our guests will be staying for a week…so we won’t have anyone bringing a dish over. We will be prepping it all in our house together.
Check to see if any of your guests will be bringing a side. That way you don’t have duplicates, and that saves you from having to make everything.
2. Grocery list & Shopping
Now that you have your menu completed it’s time for you to search your pantry only to realize you don’t have half of what you need. ALWAYS check to see what you do or do not have first. I’ve been bad about that in the past and I end up buying duplicates of things while forgetting other things that I need…resulting in me running to the store 12 times in a week.
Make sure you cover all your bases, double and triple check your list. Without fail I think we always forget something when we go to the store…and usually it’s the list itself.
Definitely do your shopping as early as possible. Not only do stores tend to run out of things but you want to be sure that you have plenty of time to get all your pre-cooking done.
3. Cooking Timeline
Okay, so by this point you’ve managed to get your shopping & menu plan done. This is where you get your butt in gear and start your cooking timeline. Whether you’re starting your meal at noon or six you want to be sure that when you’re guests arrive to eat they’re not left waiting. If you say dinner starts at six, it should start at six.
Fortunately for you, I’m sure that menu you’ve planned has a few different items that can be prepared ahead of time and just thrown in the oven to be warmed. Saving you tons of time the day of to worry about the things that need cooked the same day, and still have time to get yourself put together before guests arrive.
Lay out all of your menu items and make note of anything that can be made or prepared (even if it’s only partially) one, two or maybe even three days ahead of time. Personally I like to make my pies one or two days early! I’ll also prep the stuffing three days ahead (I need my bread to dry out). Anything that you can do, big or small, will be a life saver in the long run.
Also, in this step it would be a good idea to make not of how long things need to be cooked, such as your turkey. This will dictate how you go about cooking it and when you need to start it. I always try to plan things earlier than I think I will actually need it. One, the drippings I need for gravy and two, I would rather keep my turkey warm then serve dinner late.
4. Cleaning & Prepping
Cleaning is something that people usually put off, or skip all together. But this small step can make all the difference. Having guests in my home is always fun, but I NEVER want a guest to enter my home when its dirty. So I try and start preparing for guests a few days in advance.
Of course you want to make sure the dining room and table are clean along with any linens you plan to use…but, you also should make sure that things like sitting areas, as well as bathrooms are clean.
I know this seems silly that I’m even bringing it up but sometimes when you’re hosting a big even these little things are exactly what slip our mind or end up on the back burner only to never get done or half done.
Also, use this time to prep your table as much as you can. Some people love to do big table-scapes and they’re beautiful, but, that sort of beauty takes time. Hence, get as much done ahead of time as possible.
5. Pre-cooking
As I mentioned earlier, pre-cooking is totally a thing and you should do it! a day or two ahead of time start cooking up anything that you can. Whether you’re like me and you opt to pre-cook your pies, or you go ahead and get all of your veggies pre-cut and stored in the fridge…DO IT!
Review that menu and any step that can be done ahead of time, do. Don’t wait. It may seem silly to half prepare a dish a day or two in advance but the day of, you’ll be SO glad you did.
6. Thanksgiving Day
You’ve literally done all the prepping and planning for Thanksgiving that you can. You’ve managed to save only the absolutely necessary items for today and now it’s time to get that Turkey cooking. Back in step 3 we talked all about how you should have a cooking timeline planned and that should make this day super easy.
The idea is that you’ve done all the hard work early. So you can spend this day getting ready, finishing any last minute menu items, and enjoy your guests when they arrive. Gone are the days of you just hiding out in the kitchen even after everyone else started eating.
