How to Plan a Stress Free Thanksgiving Meal

If you’re responsible for planning or cooking the Thanksgiving meal for your family, you should know it can be a very stressful event. From juggling oven space to choosing the right size turkey for a large crowd, proper planning is key to having a stress-free Thanksgiving meal.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• recipes
• menu
• groceries

1. Plan your menu ahead of time. Don’t try to just wing it as you walk through the grocery store. Use cookbooks, online recipes or food magazines to find recipes that you would like to include on your Thanksgiving menu. Then make a detailed shopping list before you go to the store.

2. Delegate. Don’t try to make everything yourself. Let Aunt Irene bring her famous pumpkin pie and let your sister make the salad. Delegate as much as you possibly can- anything from appetizers to desserts- so you have a few less things to worry about.

3. Make ahead as much as possible. Make-ahead side dishes are the way to go. Search online for make-ahead mashed potato recipes and vegetable casserole side dishes-- you can even make the gravy ahead of time using a turkey wing gravy recipe. Any recipe that can be made a few days before Thanksgiving will make your Thanksgiving morning all that much easier.

4. If oven space is a problem, cook the turkey first. The turkey will take the longest to cook, so once it’s cooked, cover it with aluminum foil to keep it warm and put the side dishes in the oven.

5. Consider using your crock pot. To free up oven space, find crockpot recipes for vegetables or other side dishes. Once the crock pot dish is cooked through, you can put it on Warm and forget about it until meal time.

Tips & Warnings

• Not sure what size turkey to buy? Multiply the number of guests you will have times 1 pound. For example, for 10 guests you will need at least a 10 pound turkey—but buy a larger one if you want more leftovers.
• If you make casseroles or side dishes ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate them, make sure to bring them to room temperature before you heat them in the oven (usually about ½ an hour on the kitchen counter will do it)