1. Make sure you have a to-do list
This seems a bit redundant to mention, as most of us have to-do lists already, but it also matters how you make your to-do lists. It helps a lot if two weeks before Thanksgiving you sit down with your family or partner and write down what you want to make for dinner. Everyone’s favorite dishes, decorations you might want, and if you are having friends and family over, who is going to attend.
Afterward, make a separate list of what ingredients you need and the quantity, so you can go and buy the most pressing items first. It will help you immensely to have every ingredient in advance. Do not forget your decorations and placeholders! This way, the night before, you won’t be stressing over finding a turkey or whether you’ve bought those cranberries or not! Moreover, it helps to know how many people are going to attend so you do not work more than you have to.
2. Delegate tasks
We cannot stress this enough. It does not have to be a one-man army situation during one of the most stressful days of the year. You can delegate tasks, even before the day of. Have your husband or wife help you with some of the cooking. If they are not versed in this area, have them stay with the kids or decorate the room where you will hold the dinner, and have them arrange the table.
There are lots of small tasks to be done that if you try to do them all yourself, you can get overwhelmed. Even before the morning of, you can ask friends or family that will come over to cover some of the ingredients for the side dishes especially if you cannot find them in your area.
3. Prepare ahead
Try to make everything you can ahead of time. You can make the pies and freeze them ahead of time, they store in the freezer beautifully and all you have to do is heat them up the day of. It will be like you just baked them and you will be able to serve the dessert warm. If you are not a fan of this, you can always make the dough ahead of time and the filling the day before so you will just have the baking to do.
You can also do this with the cranberry sauce if you plan to make it from scratch. To prevent the accidental burning of the sauce, if you have to work on 3 pans at the same time and check on the oven, you can make it ahead from scratch (it’s really easy) and freeze it. All you have to do is remember to move it to the fridge the night before so it can defrost. Heat it up and it’s good to go! A warning, this will not work with canned cranberry sauce due to the jello consistency.
