Thanksgiving Planner

Thanksgiving Planner

Thanksgiving is coming fast. Once Halloween is over, the rush to prepare for two major Holiday events is on! At first, it seems like everything is far enough away to wait, but after all the events, be it kids, sports, or church, before hand along with work and other commitments, Thanksgiving is practically knocking at ones back. As with all holidays, it is easy to procrastinate and then end up with too much or too little food or not the right ingredients or number of plates or spices when the day hits, creating more stress. In order to reduce the hectic race to the store and the loading up of the buggy the weekend before or the week of Thanksgiving (and to help avoid the parking and line issues), here is a weekly weekend planner to help make this Thanksgiving worry free.

	November
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Nov. 1: Create the menu, determine number of people coming to eat, and make a list of items needed.

Nov. 2: Create a menu recipe guide. Try to keep it simple, 2 sides (potatoes and green bean casserole for example), 1 bread, stuffing and cranberry sauce, main meat dish-Turkey, 2 desserts. If expected lots of guests, see if a covered dish Thanksgiving would be doable, or let everyone know to bring one side dish and, maybe, one dessert. As the host, cook the bird, stuffing, and prepare cranberry. Covered dish can be extremely helpful and pretty fun.

Nov. 7: Decide on items to buy during the weekly grocery store trip, try to divide the list into 1/4's. Mark each item bought off the list. Place list on fridge or in a helpful place where it can easily be spotted as a reminder.

Nov. 8: Go ahead and start looking at turkeys, about 1 pound for each guest, but speaking from experience, a 15-18 lb bird has been able to feed 20 people and produce leftovers. To keep it easier, opt for 2 good sized turkey breasts, they cook faster making it easier on the cook at Thanksgiving. Purchase the bird and freeze it until ready to thaw.Decide on items to buy during the weekly grocery store trip, try to divide the list into 1/4's. Mark each item bought off the list. Place list on fridge or in a helpful place where it can easily be spotted as a reminder.
 Nov. 9: If any special drinks are to be served, decide on what they will be (mulled cider, wine spritzers), make a list of possibilities and narrow it down to two.

Nov. 14: Buy 1/4 of what is on the list, continue to take count of what is not and is needed.

Nov. 15: Decide on plates, napkins, silverware, and decorations. Decorative or plain paper plates and plastic ware is always a great option for gatherings. Make a list of decorations that may be needed and check out craft store websites for deals and coupons.

Nov. 16: Get decorations and tablecloth. Go ahead and enjoy shopping for turkey or pilgrim salt shakers, a platter for the turkey (less than $10 at most stores), and anything else that may be needed-if kids are coming, there are large packets of kid activity placemats at many craft stores, buy several boxes of crayons and place in small mason jars and let the kids have fun while waiting for the meal.

Nov. 21: Call and confirm who is coming. Determine how much drink items to buy for number of people. If doing a buffet style/covered dish, confirm what others are bringing.

Nov. 22: Buy the rest of the Thanksgiving feast and double check to make sure everything is bought and ready to go.

Nov. 23: Double check baking dishes and dish ware. Be sure there is enough bake ware for all items and enough plates and utensils and napkins for guests.

Nov. 25: Begin decorating, if anything is missing, go on and get it.

Nov. 26: Prepare all cold food items, let them chill overnight in the fridge. This is a great way to prepare a dessert, instead of a warm pie, make a cold one or a cheese cake pie. Set up table/tables the night before.

Nov. 27: The big day!! Cook the turkey first. About 2 hours in, start stovetop items, such as potatoes. In the last hour of the turkey cooking, prepare one or two casserole dishes to go into the oven immediately. Make the gravy. Heat stuffing in the oven and then, last but not least, heat up the rolls.

As strange as this seems, all of this (if using turkey breasts) takes 3 hours or less. There is no need to get up at 5AM and try to do everything, start at 7AM or later or plan for an afternoon meal instead of lunch. This makes it better for the cook or cooks because they have a chance to enjoy parades or even take time first thing in the morning to go run a local turkey trot. All of these tips are easy, doable, and money saving. Happy Thanksgiving to all and, after that, to all a Merry Christmas Season!!!