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Reply to "First time cooking Thanksgiving dinner from scratch (or almost) - what can I prepare ahead?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes, you can do the pies ahead.  Not sure freezing is necessary to get the pies from Sun-Thurs, but if you freeze them, be sure to allow thawing time.

You are making a lot of sides for just 3 people (particularly if one is a kid).  You also have picked a number of sides that should not be made ahead.  In a pinch, I'd do the mashed potatoes ahead, but you should plan on warming them up slowly (very slowly) while stirring constantly and rehydrating with warm milk before serving.  No way would I do glazed Brussels Spouts ahead.  The crispy parts are the best and you lose that when you reheat - they'll get a lot moister which is ok as leftovers but for your main event you want them at their best.  Don't go to the trouble of making them if they aren't going to be as good as they are supposed to be.  I don't know what you are planning to do with the carrots but I'm dubious about whether that's something that could be done the day before.  But think about whether you can make a choice between the Brussels Spouts or the carrots.  (I'd go with Brussels Spouts - you can make the carrots the next day to have with leftovers if you really want them.)  Also, do you really need both mashed potatoes and rice?

I am also dubious of your stuffing plan.  Just add water?  If you got the stuffing cubes, that is going to be gross and tasteless.  First, use chicken stock instead of water.  Second, it is so much better if (at a minimum) you saute some onions and celery and add to the cubes with some chopped fresh herbs.  All the better if you first make some sausage and then saute the onions and celery in the sausage grease and add the sausage to the stuffing too.  You can do all this ahead and put it in a baking pan so that you just need to heat it up for 45 mins (depending on volume) the day of.  Cover in foil but remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of heating time to get the crispy on top.  You can put it in the oven as soon as you pull your turkey out to rest before you carve it.

Also, you don't heat cranberry orange relish.

Thanksgiving is a lot of work, unfortunately, and there's not a really good way around that.  Don't forget to think about your oven room and what you have the ability to cook or reheat at one time, particularly if you have a moderately-sized turkey in there.  And you shouldn't be opening the oven a lot to put in and take out stuff while your turkey is cooking.  Once or twice is ok, but more than that and your going to extend the time it takes for your turkey to cook.  You also will extend cooking time if you put a bunch of other stuff in the oven with the turkey that cools the cooking temp down.

Bottomline, you've bitten off a lot here and you might want to reassess.  [/quote]

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