Homemaking Homesteader

Thanksgiving Planner

05:30, 2009-Nov-7 .. 6 comments .. Link

Thanksgiving Planner

Crystal Miller

3 weeks ahead of time

Figure out how many people will you be serving and how big of a turkey you will need. To calculate this, you need to figure about 1 ½ lbs of turkey per person. So if you are feeding 8 people you would need a turkey that was about 12 pounds. I usually buy them bigger so I will have leftovers.

Write out guest list

Plan out menu

Gather recipes

Write out grocery list

2 weeks ahead

Buy turkey (if buying frozen ones)

Make dinner rolls and freeze. I like to freeze them before baking. I shape them into rolls; lay them out on a tray and flash freeze them. On Thanksgiving Day I bring them out in the morning to defrost and rise.

If your guests are contributing to the meal let them know what you would like them to bring.

1 Week Ahead

Clean out your fridge to make room for the added food items

IF you have not bought your turkey yet, they should be on sale this week.

Do your grocery shopping of staple items you will need for the meal

4 to 5 Days Ahead

If your turkey is frozen you need to put it into the fridge to defrost now. A turkey will take anywhere from 2 to 6 days to defrost depending on its size (figure one day for every 5 pounds of weight).

Buy any fresh and perishable items you will need

Make cranberry sauce and refrigerate

Make salad dressings and refrigerate

3 Days Ahead

Clean your house

Get out and ‘good’ dishes or bigger serving dishes and get them washed

2 Days Ahead

Wash table linens

Get out your roasting pans, thermometer, turkey baster and make sure they are clean and ready to go

Wash and chop up veggies for stuffing and side dishes and put in refrigerator

Make pie crusts, roll them out, and put in pie plates. Cover each one with plastic wrap and put in fridge

1 Day Ahead

If you are making mashed potatoes for the crockpot you can make those up now and store in fridge. Tomorrow you take them out and put in the crockpot on low in the morning.

Make stuffing and refrigerate. If you are stuffing your turkey do not do that now, wait until right before you put the turkey in the oven

Assemble side dishes

Assemble any jello type salads

In the evening pull out your turkey, clean it and make sure it has defrosted and put back in fridge. Remove giblets and refrigerate

Set the table in the evening if desired

Assemble and bake pies

Thanksgiving Day

Put some Christmas music on (this is our little tradition ~smile~)

Stuff turkey and put in oven at appropriate time (or if you have a roaster oven you can bake the turkey in there leaving your oven for heating up side dishes and baking dinner rolls)

Put the giblets in water with a little salt and let those simmer. You can use the broth for gravy and the cooked and chopped giblets can also be added to the gravy

Pull out dinner rolls and let them defrost and rise

Set the table if you did not do this yesterday. Add a nice centerpiece to the table

Put the mashed potatoes in the crockpot

If you have a second crockpot you can put the stuffing in there to warm (if you are not stuffing your turkey. I always stuff the turkey and have leftover stuffing in a second crockpot)

When the turkey has finished cooking, pull it out

Put the side dishes in the oven to bake (if you did not bake the turkey in a roaster oven)

Bake dinner rolls

While the side dishes are heating up and rolls are baking, make gravy

Take a deep breath

Light some candles

Freshen up

Greet your guests

Enjoy your meal and give lots of thanks the Lord for his blessings and bounty in your life

Leave a Comment

plan

06:15, 2009-Nov-7 .. Posted by Vickie
Thanks for posting this. I will be going somewhere else for Thanksgiving this year, but I'll probably use this for Christmas as we usually serve the same things.
Have a blessed day!

you rock!

06:48, 2009-Nov-7 .. Posted by Anonymous
as always
thanks so much for this - this will be very helpful

love Cath
http://whatevercathieb.blogspot.com/

Untitled Comment

07:59, 2009-Nov-7 .. Posted by gabbie427
I just found out last night, that I was voted to have Thanksgiving at our house this year, so this planner could not have been posted at a more perfect time for me.

Thanks so much for sharing Crystal!!!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

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03:22, 2009-Nov-7 .. Posted by anoldfashionedgirl
What a wonderful "game plan" Thanks so much for sharing this.

Thanksgiving plan

05:01, 2009-Nov-7 .. Posted by Anonymous
Thank you for posting your plan and including the recipes, too. I was just pondering what to cook for sides this year and really appreciate your wonderful ideas.
Peace,
Lynne in NC

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05:50, 2009-Nov-7 .. Posted by Jena
Oh, this is a great post! I probably won't host a Thanksgiving for quite awhile so maybe I should print this off. You're quite the go-getter.

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