5 Ways to Make Your Thanksgiving Prep Suck Less
Am I the only one who feels like Thanksgiving snuck up on us this year? I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that it just started to feel like fall yesterday. But whatever the reason, the fact that it is already Thanksgiving week has me completely thrown. (Can you tell that I’m probably not prepared?)
If you, too, are starting to get stress hives about how on earth you’re going to put together a feast for 10 — so many sides, so many pies, so many drinks AND a turkey?! — without quitting your day job, like, right now, relaxxxx. Below you’ll find five ways to make the prep for all those sides, pies and drinks less painful. Happy cooking!
1. Knock out as much cooking as you can before the big day
The biggest stressor when it comes to Thanksgiving, in my opinion, is the daunting thought of whipping up a meal that satisfies a room full of guests’ nostalgia-filled Thanksgiving expectations in the seven hours before the always-weirdly-early meal takes place. It’s just so much pressure. Our solution: Spread the pressure out. Knock out your sides in the days leading up to thanksgiving, then bust ‘em out and heat ‘em up before the big meal. We promise, your stress levels will go down by roughly 98 percent.
Below, a few make-ahead Thanksgiving recipes to make your life easier.
Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts with Brown Rice, Pecans and Dates
This recipe, which can easily be made ahead of serving, screams fall. And loaded with brown rice and protein-packed nuts, it just might be one of the healthiest recipes on the table. We call that a win-win.
Make-Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole
Okay, okay, so this isn’t the healthiest of make-ahead dishes, what with all the cream cheese and sour cream and whole milk. But hey, it’s Thanksgiving, so we say live a little — and free up some room in your schedule to enjoy your holiday.
Wild Rice and Butternut Squash Salad with Maple Dressing
Annoyingly, many salads are prone to wilting when you make them ahead of time. But the greens in this salad are already wilted, making it the perfect recipe to knock out before the big day.
Cauliflower Gratin with Almond Parmesan Breadcrumbs
This lightened-up take on cauliflower gratin is great in more ways than one: First off, you won’t feel too guilty about going for seconds, and you can make it ahead of time then throw it in the oven to reheat come Thanksgiving day. Yes, please!
You can throw everything involved in this stuffing together the day before, then just pop it in the oven for 30 minutes before dinner, and voila! You’ve got yourself the least-stressful stuffing ever. And note: You can easily swap in vegetable broth instead of chicken broth to make this recipe good for the vegetarian folks at the table.
2. Pot-luck it up
Another way to avoid stressing about the many plates that are going to fill your dinner table is to have your guests contribute. After all, everyone has that one Thanksgiving food they can’t do without (mine is macaroni and cheese), so why not ask them to bring their favorite dish? They will be happy and you will be less stressed. #Winning. Just make sure to have everyone tell you what they’re contributing to check for doubles — mac and cheese is great and all, but five mac and cheese dishes for one Thanksgiving dinner is kind of overkill. (Kind of.)
3. Let the professionals handle it
If you’re still suffering from PTSD after your pecan pie refused to set last year, let go of the pie-making stress and let someone else — a professional! — do it for you. Thanks to our friends over at Foobooz, we know of a few spots that are taking pie orders through today. You can find them here.
4. Streamline your drink menu
I have been to many a holiday shindig where the host is constantly jumping up and down to grab someone else a drink. On the one hand, this is great for them, because exercise! But on the other hand, who wants to be jumping up and down all night? No one. No one does. So this year, don’t offer people six different types of wine and every type of liquor. Instead, just put some alcohol and juice in a punch bowl and let people serve themselves. This will make your prep for Thanksgiving suck less (less bar stocking means less money spent, and that’s great in my book), and it will make your actual Thanksgiving festivities suck less. Another win-win, if we do say so ourselves.
You can find plenty of recipes for Thanksgiving punches (like Sparkling Pomegranate Punch. Mmmmm.) here.
5. Avoid the grocery store at all costs
If you’re trying your best to avoid wanting to die on Thanksgiving Day then, whatever you do, don’t — I repeat, don’t — step foot in a grocery store. Grocery stores are where souls go to die (while waiting in very long lines) with other souls who forgot to buy cream or butter or whatever else they can’t live without come Thanksgiving Day. So, for your mental health, get all your grocery shopping out of the way today or tomorrow. (If you’re the kind of always-prepared genius who got their grocery shopping out of the way this weekend, you can gloss right over all of this.) And if, come crunch time, you realize you’ve forgotten to buy something, consult this handy list of ingredient swaps and check your pantry before you make your way to the store.
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