Who else is hosting Thanksgiving? This is our first year hosting in our new home and we’re super excited to have the family over. There is a lot of prep work involved and K.C. and I are big planners and big fans of lists. Now I have helped my mom with the prep and cooking since I was little so I have taken plenty of notes on what has worked over the years. If you need any guidance on how to prep and when-let me help! I have a few notes below on what has worked for my mom and I over the years and tweaked it so it works best for how K.C. and I cook in the kitchen. Enjoy!
saturday
- Time to purchase any last minute ingredients that may require a special trip. For us, we need to go to Penzey’s to get some spices. If you don’t have one near you I highly recommend visiting their site. Their cinnamon is the ONLY one that we use.
- Tidy up the pantry so it is easy to grab ingredients as you prep. Ours is generally organized but near the holidays, we can get a smidge lazy when unloading groceries so this helps fix all of that. Plus, you get another chance to see if you’re missing any ingredients.
sunday
- Spare day to retrieve anything that you couldn’t get yesterday. Get a Starbucks treat-why not?
- Maybe decorate the exterior for Christmas? It’s basically here.
monday
- Give the kitchen a really good deep clean so you have a sparkly kitchen to destroy over and over for the next few days. As counterproductive as it sounds, your prep work will just feel so much more productive with a very clean space as a foundation.
tuesday
- Prep the things that take forever to do beginning to end if you were to do them “day of”
- For example, boil/peel potatoes and make any sauces/rues
- Prep the things that will make your dessert baking day (tomorrow) easier, like pie doughs.
- If making a dressing/stuffing…dry out your breads starting now. Also use a low oven too, really helps draw out the moisture.
wednesday
- Cook the desserts! No need to save these to be done any later.
- Take the time to prep any casserole “inners”
- For example, green bean casserole (sans the topping)
- Saute any veggies needed for tomorrow
- If you are doing homemade butter and whipped cream go ahead and get that done now. I have slammed those steps to be done at the last minute and it’s not a fun time for anyone involved that I have recruited to whip the cream for me.
- If you are making cranberry sauce, go ahead and take care of that now too so it has time to set and cool. It tastes better next day anyways too!
- Brine.your.bird. We use the dry brine here at William Sonoma and it is a winner for us.
thursday
- Drink coffee. Don’t stress too much on when the meal starts-it will happen when it is supposed to.
- Get the turkey in the oven.
- Prep any appetizers. We are big fans of the block of cream cheese with pepper jelly and a simple meat and cheese tray. We want folks to be hungry but not starving.
- Any crockpot action? Get those fired up.
- Keep an eye on when the turkey will be done so you know when to put in the sides to cook. We’re LUCKY in that we have a countertop convection oven so she will hold a few sides too.
- As the turkey is resting, make the gravy if you’d like!
One of the best tips that I learned from my mom is to take the time to make “prep stations” if you’re having helpers come over. Meaning, make a mini station for the sweet potato casserole with the ingredients needed and a recipe card. She would keep the flour and sugar in central location but any dish specific ingredients (i.e. sweet potatoes) would be right by your recipe card. This solves two things: 1. Your helper is able to help and feel included and 2. You don’t have to multi-task as much and can release that control.
Don’t forget to count your casserole dishes and if all else fails, call a friend or family member to see if they have a spare.
