Thanksgiving Dinner 101

For those of you who don’t live your lives knee-deep in event planning craziness, I always try to include a blog post or two about the planning involved in everyday life.  And if you’ve looked at your calendar lately, you know what that next event is.

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Photo Credit.

But we’re switching it up this holiday. Instead of telling you how to plan your perfect Thanksgiving dinner, I’m just going to remind you of the basics that everyone overlooks.  So here they are!

Start Early: Though it seems like the easiest piece of advice, many Thanksgiving chefs never begin early enough. Even if you factor in your cooking time, be sure to factor in prep time too. Many dishes require up to an hour of preparation and some desserts can require hours of cooling time. Don’t forget to plan for this!

Stagger Your Dishes: If you’ve ever cooked Thanksgiving dinner before, you’ve inevitably tried to put the biscuits in the oven and realized that the turkey and casserole and two pies all need to fit as well. Solution? Create a cooking schedule based on what will be served when and how long it will need to be in the oven. This will help you get everything cooked on time and no one will notice your lack of oven space.

Stick to Your Recipes: If you’re going to go rogue, do it on a day when your entire extended family won’t be tasting the fruits of your labor. And don’t mix your recipes! Depending on the cook, the temperature, cooking time, and ingredients are all different. Don’t combine recipes if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Make Time For a Shower: Don’t get so caught up in your kitchen efforts that you forget to prep yourself too. Family that you haven’t seen for weeks or months will be spending the day with you and certainly taking dozens of pictures, all of which you will be tagged in on Facebook. So, prep yourself. Schedule in time for a shower and have someone to watch whatever is still on the stove. You’ll thank me later.

Enjoy a delicious meal. And Happy Thanksgiving!