Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far! It wins for me because there are no gifts involved, everyone appreciates my cooking and once the meal is done, it’s just a nice mellow day. I don’t buy into the black Friday concept, and the day after Thanksgiving isn’t typically a busy day in real estate, so it’s sort of like two days off in a row. The only hitch is that the first day adds up to about 12 hours of preparation for 15 minutes of eating and then three hours of cleanup. Still, I love it.
The past few years, I’ve really put an effort into doing a lot of the prep the day before Thanksgiving, which includes finding the carving knife, all the pieces of the roaster, etc. so that I can hit the ground running on Thursday morning.
You might consider adding a few things to your pantry that have really been game changers for me when it comes to Thanksgiving. I go to Ocean State Job Lot a few weeks before Thanksgiving and stock up on foil pans of all shapes and sizes. These are great for clean up and consolidating side dishes after the meal, sending take away containers home with guests, and just in general, reducing the number of pans that need to be washed.
My next favorite is my Black & Decker chopper. I received this as a gift, and liked it so much I’ve gifted it a few times since. It’s super easy to clean (four easy to assemble pieces) and is a real time saver. Bonus is that it comes with two bases and a lid for each, for easy storage of chopped items. You’ll be amazed at how it makes quick work of onions, carrots, nuts and more.
First place game changer on Thanksgiving meal prep is my electric turkey roaster. We always go very heavy on the quantity of side dishes, resulting in Thanksgiving gridlock in the oven, with the turkey being a real problem as far as taking up all the space. I remember how excited I was to learn about the existence of a self-contained electric roaster, taking the turkey completely out of the oven. A few years after I treated myself to the roaster, I was out running errands, and I saw a friend of mine putting items free on the side of the road in front of her house. One of those things was a turkey roaster, just like the one I have! Now I have a ham roaster and a turkey roaster.
Since the timing has it that my newsletter is coming out about three weeks before Thanksgiving, I thought I would share a planner that I put together. If you’re box-checking meal planner like me, feel free to print my countdown to Thanksgiving checklist to spread the work out over a few weeks, reduce stress, and be ready on the big day. I’d love to hear your feedback of what else should be on this checklist. I included a small screenshot below and a full size graphic at the bottom of this story.
CONTACT ME and I’ll email you the PDF version, OR I can pop one in the mail to you, if you’d like.
As a complete alternative–if you don’t love the meal prep, the checklists or the cleanup, you could always plan ahead and make reservations at any of the local restaurants that are serving Thanksgiving dinner. In 2016, we were in the process of moving and I made an executive decision (made reservations) for Thanksgiving dinner. We were moving in two weeks, and it just made sense to me. The family still talks about it as something to never do again. I guess I’m just a really good cook, and am happy that my family appreciates that.
Does your Thanksgiving meal prep involve making reservations or ordering a pre-cooked prepared meal? Check out these local options for dining out on Thanksgiving or getting traditional Thanksgiving menu items as takeout.
PRE-ORDER
Baked
Birchtree Bread Company
The Blue Moon Diner
Brookfield Orchards
Cedar Street Cafe
Cracker Barrel
Cyprian Keyes
Deadhorse Hill
Farm to Fork Gourmet
Galliford’s Restaurant and Tavern
Hannaford
Kay’s Dairy Bar
Napoli Italian Deli and Catering
Not Just Produce
Peppercorn’s Grill and Tavern
Red Apple Farm
Smith’s Country Cheese
Ten West Market
Theatre Cafe
Val’s Restaurant
Worcester Restaurant Group
DINING OUT
The 1761 Old Mill
Avellino and The Duck
The Barn at Wight Farm
Gardner Elks
Gibbet Hill Grill
Maxwell Luciano’s
Publick House
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
Salem Cross Inn Restaurant and Tavern