Avoid Thanksgiving stress this year by planning ahead! Planning ahead can relieve most Thanksgiving stress, because you’re not running around like a madwoman whose hair is on fire. I’ve gathered planning ideas, shopping ideas, gathered recipes, cook times, and more to help you keep you cool this holiday season.
Avoid Thanksgiving Stress This Year
Thanksgiving is a big holiday, and it’s a great one despite what the woke mob says. It’s a holiday of thanks and gratitude and that is something we need this year. This year has been rough, the last few years have been rough, so having a day where we can all be together and be thankful is more important than ever.
But Thanksgiving is stressful for those who are in charge of it. Usually Mom is in charge, though we see you Thanksgiving dad’s and men! Even before Thanksgiving, there is so much planning to do! So let’s break down some ways to help you avoid Thanksgiving stress this year!
Avoid Stress This Thanksgiving By Menu Planning
If you haven’t started a menu and started gathering Thanksgiving goods already, now is the time to start. What are you making? Most people have:
- Appetizers
- Dinner Mains
- Dinner Sides
- Desserts
- Leftovers
Gather all your recipes now and start writing a grocery list. Try any new recipes this week to make sure you have time to perfect it and actually like it. You don’t want to be creative on Thanksgiving to only be surprised by how a recipe may taste.
Don’t wait until the last minute to get your Thanksgiving supplies, especially when there are shortages. Get your grocery list, and get to the store!
Plan Out Your Appetizers For Thanksgiving Dinner
In my house we don’t eat breakfast. We pretty much starve until dinner, however, I do stick out some appetizers and finger foods.
Generally I will do a veggie plate or fruit plate, but we have ideas for other great Thanksgiving appetizers too.
You don’t want food that is super filling, but something to stave off the hanger.
Need some ideas for Thanksgiving appetizers? These are some of my favorites:
- Veggie/Fruit Tray
- Caprese Skewers
- Sausage Balls
- Little Smokies and BBQ
- Cheese Ball and Crackers
Make Sure You Have All Your Thanksgiving Dinner Mains Planned Out
The turkey is obviously the main, unless your family doesn’t like it, then whatever meat you prefer. Other mains would be dishes like ham, rabbit, and dressing. Or any dish that your family “HAS” to have every year.
Not sure how much food you will need? No worries!
What Size Turkey Do I Need?
The general rule of thumb when it comes to turkey is 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of meat per person. Or to make it easier:
- 12 lbs – 8 People
- 15 lbs – 10 People
- 18 lbs- 12 People
- 20 lbs – 14 People
These sizes will ensure that you will have ample leftovers! I usually do 16lbs each year and we end up enjoying turkey for the next week.
You can also use this Butterball Turkey Calculator.
What Size Ham Do I Need?
A lot of people do hams alongside with their turkey, because there are quite a few people who don’t like turkey. You generally want 1/2 pound per person if you’re making a bone-in ham and if you have a boneless ham it is 1/3 pound per person.
Boneless Ham
- 3-4 lbs – 8 People
- 4.5-5 lbs – 10 People
- 5.4-6 lbs – 12 People
- 6.3-7 lbs – 14 People
Bone-In Ham
- 5.2-6 lbs – 8 People
- 6.5-7 lbs- 10 People
- 7.8-8 lbs – 12 People
- 9.1-10 lbs – 14 People
Planning Your Thanksgiving Dinner Sides To Ensure A Stress Free Thanksgiving
The sides are important and you should decide now what you want to make. Don’t overdo it, I know it is tempting to make 20 sides, but do something that is manageable. Also, if you have another relative that wants to help, and can cook, ask them to bring some sides.
Some of the sides we do are:
- Southern green beans
- Buttered Corn
- Rolls
- Cranberry Sauce
- Devilled Eggs
- Mashed Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- And my mother in law is bringing some butternut squash.
Other people also do side dishes like:
- Collard Greens
- Turnips
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Broccoli Casserole
- Carrots
There are so many different sides to choose from! But choose what your family will eat and if you’re new to cooking, choose what’s easiest!
You don’t have to make homemade bread. Rhodes rolls taste homemade and you let them rise and bake them 15 minutes. Or you can buy premade rolls. You don’t have to make homemade cranberry sauce, there are some tasty canned and store made cranberry sauces.
If you’re not a cook at all, you can also buy easy to make things like boxed mashed potatoes and stove top stuffing. It’s all good.
Have Your Desserts Planned Out To Make The Day Ahead Of Thanksgiving To Help Ease Stress on Thanksgiving Day
Most people make pumpkin pie and pecan pie. My family always usually had 4-5 desserts like
- Fruit pie
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Cheesecake
- Cobbler
- Pumpkin/Pecan pie
The best part is, most desserts can be made the day before leaving you more room to work and more time on Thanksgiving day.
Planning Out Leftovers After Thanksgiving Day To Avoid After Holiday Stress
Avoid the Black Friday crowds and have leftover groceries on hand. Bread and mayo for sandwiches and chips as a side. Grab some pie crust and gravy to make a turkey pot pie. Have cheese on hand to add to the rolls to have turkey sliders.
There are so many great ways to enjoy leftovers.
- Leftover Stuffing Muffins
- Turkey Shepherds Pie
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Leftover Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich
Avoid The Crowds And Thanksgiving Stress By Shopping The Week Ahead With A Grocery List
Once you have your recipes on hand, it’s time to write a list. Now, when you’re making your list there are ways to go about this to make it easier.
I generally grab the turkey right away and other meats like sausage that can sit in the freezer a week or two ahead of schedule.
Foods that are canned, frozen, or long lasting like onions, get bought the week ahead.
However, foods that go bad quicker I generally buy a few days ahead like bread, and potatoes (potatoes don’t look the greatest in stores anymore), milk, etc.
So I usually end up with 2 grocery lists each Thanksgiving one that gets bought early and one gets bought a few days before.
Once everything is one hand, start organizing it. Whether it’s on your counter or in your pantry, have everything in order, easy to grab.
Defrosting Your Turkey
This week is the week you will be defrosting your turkey in the fridge.
- Turkeys Up To 12 lbs – 1-3 Days
- Turkeys 12-16 lbs – 3-4 Days
- Turkeys 16-20 lbs – 4-5 Days
- Turkeys 20-24 lbs – 5-6 Days
Brining Your Turkey
About 3 days out, you will also be doing a dry brine on your turkey. This will help you bring out the flavor of your turkey, but isn’t necessary. I’ve never brined my turkey, but you can always try it out.
If you’re using a wet brine that happens 1 day out. The aromatics will help flavor your turkey and make it super juicy.
Prepping and Cooking The Day Before Thanksgiving
The day before Thanksgiving you will want to make your desserts and start meal prepping everything. Getting the little stuff done the day before will make less stress on Thanksgiving.
- Lay out your bread to get stale if you’re making homemade dressing.
- I like to cook up the sausage and vegetables I use for the dressing too and have it ready in the fridge so I can just dump it in the bread mixture the next day.
- Pre-cutting vegetables like onions and garlic will save time.
- Pinching the ends off the green beans the day before is a great way to save time.
- The pies, cakes, cookies, and sweets are great to make ahead.
Thanksgiving Day
Don’t let Thanksgiving stress get to you today! You’ve got this!
The big day is here and now we need to cook all the food! The biggest stress of Thanksgiving is cooking times and getting everything done around the same time, particularly the Turkey.
Turkey Cooking Times
At 350 F you want to roast the turkey, generally 13 minutes per lb, if it is unstuffed and 15 minutes per lb if stuffed.
- 12-14 lb Turkey – 2 ¾ to 3 Hours
- 15-16 lb Turkey – 3 ½ to 3 ¾ Hours
- 18-20 lb Turkey – 4 to 4 ¼ Hours
- 21- 24 lb Turkey – 4 ½ to 4 ¾ Hours
- 24+ lb Turkey – 4 ¾ to 5 Hours
If your turkey doesn’t have one of those thermometers in it, or if it doesn’t work, your turkey’s internal temperature should be 165 F.
At 150 F you can take it out of the oven and let it sit for 30 minutes, it will get to 165 F.
Now, some people wait until the dark meat is 190 F because it breaks down the collagen and connective tissue and allows for more tender meat, but you may have drier white meat.
My Turkey Tips:
My trick to keeping the white meat moist, is to put a stick of butter under the skin, and onion in the cavity, and cook it with the breast side down.
Regardless, you do not want any pink on your turkey.
NOTE:
If your turkey is still frozen, make sure you have an extra hour or two to make sure the turkey is cooked all the way through. Don’t panic, it’ll still get cooked, but it just takes some time.
Don’t Forget About The Little Things!
If you’re using real butter, make sure you leave a stick out for the rolls.
Don’t forget to bring out the cranberry jelly and slice it for everyone to grab.
If you’re making frozen rolls, read the instructions. Make sure you set them out if they need it.
Thanksgiving Side Dishes
Don’t panic if all the sides aren’t done at the same time.
- Cover casseroles, dressing, and anything else that gets done a little early with aluminum foils or lids.
- You can keep your veggies warm on the stove, turning the heat way down so they don’t over cook.
- You usually warm the bread up for a few minutes at the last minute (when everything else is done), or if you’re using frozen rolls, like Rhodes, then cook them while the turkey is sitting.
Have all the times written down and when food needs to go in. For the most part:
- Canned veggies can be heated up 10-15 minutes before
- Fresh veggies may need 30 minutes to an hour depending on what kind and how soft you want them
- Casseroles usually need at least an hour
- Dressing will need at least an hour
- Rolls can need anywhere from 5-15 minutes
Set Up An Appointed Table or Counter For Thanksgiving Dinner
Set out all the food in one place so people can easily go through in a line and nothing gets forgotten. The plates and silverware, mains dishes first, and then the side dishes, and then the smaller things like rolls, butter, etc.
Pies, cakes, and other desserts can sit on another counter next to smaller plates and silverware.
This will help keep everything orderly, keep messes in one area, and nothing gets forgotten. Yes, I’ve forgotten food before.
One Of My Favorite Tips To Avoid Thanksgiving Stress
One of the most stressful things, to me anyway, on Thanksgiving is the cleaning up. I have literally used every dish and pan on bigger Thanksgiving gatherings and after hours of prepping, hours of cleaning, hours of cooking, and hours of socializing, I’m exhausted.
Then it takes another hour or two to clean. It’s the absolute worst. I was young and inexperienced during this time, but now that I have 12+ Thanksgivings under my belt, here is what I do.
Make sure your dishwasher is empty early. Fill it as you go. If it gets full, then run it. As soon as it is done, empty it or ask someone else to and repeat.
If you’re running around like a madwoman, I’ve been there, and don’t have time to unload it, wash as you go. Start rinsing out dishes, wiping off spoons, and have a towel next to the sink to let it dry.
So by the time dinner is done there won’t be multiple sinks worth of dishes needed to be washed.
Also, paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware! I know it’s not the most eco-friendly, but it’s sanity saving. I was one of those people who was busting out every dish I had and after dinner had 20 dirty plates and a bunch of small plates that needed washed on top of everything.
Don’t Let Thanksgiving Stress Ruin Your Thanksgiving
Don’t let the stress of cooking, family, and cleaning ruin your Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time of being thankful and gratitude. It’s a time for friends and family to come together and enjoy one another’s company. It’s time for joy and happiness, something we all can really use this year.
2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
What Thanksgiving tips do you have to help people reduce stress this holiday?