Thanksgiving Planning Tips
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Intro and free Thanksgiving download
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Booth Parker: Today on Momonomics, I am going to give you my timeline for planning out Thanksgiving if you are hosting the meal at your house this year. So I have this little planner here. It is a free download on my website under the resources section. I will link it in the show notes here if you would like to be able to print it out and have the actual checklist because if you're like me, you get a lot of satisfaction in checking those little items off the to do list.
Additionally, there are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes and a full menu in this little planning guide. So you're probably going to want to [00:01:00] go download your copy, but I'm going to kind of walk through the timeline that I use when I am hosting Thanksgiving. Especially if you are hosting a large group,
you want to get a lot of things done ahead of time and you want the actual day to not be stressful. So the more you get done ahead of time, the easier the day will go and you won't have to worry about things being out of stock when you go to the store to purchase them. So the second page of the little planner, if you're on the YouTube version, you can see me holding it up here, has the schedule of what to do when, leading up to Thanksgiving.
Checklist: three weeks out
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Booth Parker: So, three weeks out, you want to finalize your guest list, make sure everybody's coming, so that way you know how much food you need to prepare. And go ahead and finalize what your menu is going to be so that you can make your full grocery [00:02:00] list. And I like to do a separate list for the perishable items that you're going to have to buy closer to actual Thanksgiving Day and the non perishable items that you can stock up on early. The next thing to do is order or purchase.
So if you're doing a fresh turkey, you need to go ahead and get it ordered. And if you're going to do a frozen turkey, go ahead and get it purchased and stick it in the freezer. And if you're doing a fried turkey, which I love, it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's a treat on Thanksgiving.
If you're doing a fried turkey, go ahead and pick up the frying oil because that can actually be kind of hard to find sometimes. Peanut oil is what we use and we have had a hard time purchasing it when we wait till the week of Thanksgiving. So go ahead and knock that out three weeks out. And then also go ahead and order or purchase any wine or alcohol and beverages you're going to serve.
So you can go ahead [00:03:00] and get those. You can leave them in a box, you know, maybe in the garage or in the pantry or the laundry room, wherever. But go ahead and get those items so you know you have them and you're not running around last minute to go purchase these heavier, bulkier items. And then the last thing on my list for three weeks out is to go ahead and purchase any paper goods and leftover containers that you want to, have on hand.
So,for Thanksgiving, I like to use the nice dishes and the pretty napkins and all of those things, but I do like to have good containers for people to take leftovers home in and then any leftovers I am going to keep.
So, I have some, they're linked actually in my Amazon store under the resources section on my website that are, they're a biodegradable paper and I use them all the time and they are my favorites because then you're not chasing down a bunch of, you know, reusable plastic ones and all of that kind [00:04:00] of stuff and everybody can take some leftovers home.
Two weeks out
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Booth Parker: Two weeks out, not quite as much to do two weeks out, but if you are using all of the nice things, make sure all of your linens are washed and go ahead and press the napkins, table runners, anything like that that you are going to need for the day. And if you're being real fancy, and you're using the real silver, go ahead and get it polished and cleaned and ready for the day.
Cause that can take a long time depending on how many pieces you're using, how many table settings you need to do. So go ahead and knock that task out as well.
One week out
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Booth Parker: And then one week out, you can go ahead and create your tablescape, obviously minus the fresh flowers, but you can go ahead and set the table unless you use your dining room for everyday meals. But if your dining room is separate, you can go ahead and set the table and that way while you're doing that you may realize some things you [00:05:00] need or may need to borrow from someone for your serving. And I like to go ahead and set up the buffet for all of the serving dishes I'm going to use. So I go ahead and I clear the sideboard in the dining room and I go ahead and lay everything out. And what I like to do is just take a sticky note and mark what items on the menu are going to go in each dish. It will make sure you have enough dishes to serve everything properly. And if you don't have, you know, a sideboard or something large like that to go ahead and lay everything out, go ahead and kind of make a list of what menu items are going to go into what dishes you have, again, to make sure you have enough dishes to serve everything.
The week of Thanksgiving
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Booth Parker: On the Monday before Thanksgiving, so Monday of Thanksgiving week, you want to take the frozen turkey out of the freezer so it can begin to thaw. So don't forget to do this one becauseit's hard to make it thaw [00:06:00] quickly and also properly. And the Monday before Thanksgiving, I like to go ahead and get the majority of the perishable groceries.
There might be something you need to wait on, but I like to maybe on the weekend right there before, go ahead and do an online grocery order and pick it up first thing Monday morning and get those things put away in the refrigerator. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I like to go ahead and make the cheesecakes, because they need to set up. I'll go ahead and make bread dough for any homemade bread we're gonna have. Go ahead and make cranberry sauce, that one can be made ahead. And I'll prep any casseroles that I can, like the green bean casserole and things like that.
I won't fully bake them yet, but I'll get them completely prepped and put in the fridge. And I also like to go ahead and set up the bar and the coffee station. So if you don't serve alcohol at Thanksgiving, no big deal, but you still need some beverages for everybody. So you can have a fun and kind of festive little bar area for people to serve themselves.[00:07:00]
And a coffee station with really fun, you know, creamers and all of that type of thing. And if you do serve alcohol, you can have a nice bar. Maybe you do a signature cocktail for the day that you're going to do and kind of go ahead and set up the glasses and the nice bottles of red wine and get the white wine chilling. And I also like to go ahead and pick up the fresh flowers on Tuesday. They will be fine until Thursday, but go ahead and get those picked up and get them arranged and in their vases.
The day before Thanksgiving
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Booth Parker: And then on Wednesday, you're now the day before Thanksgiving. I go ahead and make the mashed potatoes. I put my mashed potatoes into a casserole dish and then I just warm them on Thanksgiving Day. My mashed potato recipe is in this little Thanksgiving Planning Guide and I always get asked to bring my mashed potatoes when they're needed.
So it seems to be a well loved recipe. Then I also go ahead and make any pies or anything like that. You want them a little fresher than doing them on [00:08:00] Tuesday, but go ahead and make them on Wednesday and they will have time to get chilled and set up in the refrigerator as well. And then I'll also go ahead and prep any fresh veggies or salads or anything like that that I'm going to do. So I'll get them chopped, I'll get the salad maybe in a big serving bowl, go ahead and wash the lettuce, get it all chopped, get all those kind of things ready. They tend to take longer to do when you're rushed on Thanksgiving morning.
So if you can just go ahead and knock that prep out on Wednesday, it'll be one more thing you don't have to worry about on Thanksgiving Day. And then the last thing to do on Wednesday, the day before, is if you ordered a fresh turkey, don't forget to go pick it up.
Enjoying the big day
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Booth Parker: Then, on Thanksgiving Day, I love to get up in the morning and turn the Macy's Day Parade on, and, I'm guilty: I might have some Christmas music going already. But, if not, maybe a little jazz, something fun, [00:09:00] festive, get you in the spirit, but I love being in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning with the parade going.
My son, even though he's on pretty much grown, he still loves to watch the parade on Thanksgiving morning while I am in the kitchen doing my thing. So these are the items that I do on Thanksgiving morning. I will get coffee prepped and open the mixers and the wine and everything at the bar. I won't start the coffee.
I'll wait until later, but I'll go ahead and get it prepped. So all I have to do is hit that on button. And then I'll prepare the things that have to be done kind of when you're ready to cook them, like the stuffing and getting the turkey prepped, get the oil heating up. If you're doing a deep fried turkey, that oil takes a long time to heat up. So those little things that you have to do the day of, get those started. If you're doing a turkey in the oven, obviously you need to get it in the oven based on the amount of hours you need to cook it ahead of time. So oftentimes they can take several hours, so going ahead and getting that ready in the oven and then you can move on to [00:10:00] your other tasks. If you have multiple ovens, which is very helpful on Thanksgiving Day. So if you have multiple ovens, you can cook the casseroles and warm up things like mashed potatoes and such while the turkey is cooking. But if you only have one oven, do not fret, or do the fried turkey in the big pot. But if you only have one oven, once you take the turkey out, tent it in aluminum foil and it'll stay nice and warm and then use your oven to cook the casseroles and such. Just remember you'll need to put the turkey in early enough to give yourself that additional time to cook the casseroles and things. Sometimes you can put the casseroles in with the turkey, but just be mindful of how that may alter the cooking time of both things. And of course, use a thermometer to check the temperature of the turkey to make sure it truly is done, but you don't want to go Griswold style and completely [00:11:00] dry it out either. And while the turkey is cooking, I'll go ahead and get the gravy started on the stove. It's pretty easy to, you know, kind of watch and stir while you've got everything else going. And then any stove top vegetables, we normally like to maybe do some fresh green beans or something like that. If you're doing anything like that, you can have those going on the stove as well.
Easy to monitor while you're doing these other things. And then you just have to get everything served up, put it in those dishes that you're going to use to serve. This is when you may get, some help from the fam to get everything out and ready to serve. And then just let everyone serve up and sit down at the table and have your blessing and enjoy your Thanksgiving.
And then hopefully, they will all help you clean it all up. So that is, that's always a biggie from Thanksgiving, but we usually get a little assembly line going and get all the dishes knocked out right away and then maybe enjoy the coffee or [00:12:00] dessert after that. So just whatever the way you like to enjoy your Thanksgiving.
Final thoughts
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Booth Parker: But these tips to get things done three and two and one week out really do help make your Thanksgiving week a lot less stressful if you are the host. So, I hope these tips help you and I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Oh, and remember, if you want the actual checklist, you can download it from the resources section
on my website. I have the take home containers for leftovers linked on my Amazon under the resources as well. And this planning guide has my beloved mashed potatoes recipe in it. So go grab your copy, print it out, and check these items off the list. [00:13:00]
