If you are cooking cauliflower, add some milk to the water. It will color the cauliflower lovely white
Get some tea lights and burn the candle when cutting onions, your eyes will not burn
Brine the turkey, if you do not have a big enough pot, use a cooler. You can even leave it outside (deck or balcony if you do not live in a house).
Cover the turkey with sliced tomato and it will not dry out.

If guests are coming, let them bring something. Do simple apps to have out before the meal - cheese, crackers, nuts, olives, veggies and dip. I make ahead the mashed potatoes and gravy (does not require turkey pan drippings and it’s delicious) and do stuffing in the crockpot. Yes to setting the table the day or more before and let others clean (or just use cute disposable plates - people will appreciate not having to even offer to help with dishes).

Don’t invite your MIL (and possible your own mother as well)

Thanks for the ideas!

You can make the stuffing a day ahead. Just assemble, pop it in the oven day of. If you have a grill, explore grilling the turkey. Frees up the stove and is delicious!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should secure some people to clean up! that is the part that is most stressful.
It's ok to say, I am so tired, can a few of you (not just one other person) help put these into the dishwasher and run it.

Yes! And I actually clean up as I go along as much as possible. It feels like less of a chore when you spread it out. At my MILs, she leaves everything for later and its a horrifying mess at the end of the night and people are scrambling to find any clean dish or utensil for dessert. Makes my butt clench.

I have assigned jobs to people. Please serve coffee. Please clear table 1. Please pack up leftovers. Keeps most people out if my small kitchen. I hate tripping over guests trying to be helpful.

Seafood platter is more fun.

Anonymous wrote:You should secure some people to clean up! that is the part that is most stressful.
It's ok to say, I am so tired, can a few of you (not just one other person) help put these into the dishwasher and run it.

Yes! And I actually clean up as I go along as much as possible. It feels like less of a chore when you spread it out. At my MILs, she leaves everything for later and its a horrifying mess at the end of the night and people are scrambling to find any clean dish or utensil for dessert. Makes my butt clench.

You should secure some people to clean up! that is the part that is most stressful.
It's ok to say, I am so tired, can a few of you (not just one other person) help put these into the dishwasher and run it.

I entertain out of town family for an entire week this time of year so I always am making Thanksgiving easy. I order the turkey already cooked, the gravy, the mashed potatoes, and pie (all from Wegmans). I make the sides and one homemade (non-pie) dessert. Just the reduced stress of knowing the turkey will not be undercooked alone is helpful.

After one year of dealing with a potato ricer, we used Costco mashed potatoes the following year. You need to doctor it up with plenty of butter and some sour cream though.

Consider a turkey breast instead of a whole bird; it cooks faster and is less fuss.

Set your table Wednesday night.

Make sure you have snacks and nibbles for yourself when you are cooking. I usually set out a heavy cheeseboard and graze on that throughout the day (and more importantly, so do my kids, so I don't have to break my cooking flow to tend to them.)

Cook the turkey on an oven bag. No basting, cooks faster, very moist.

I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year, and it will be a small group but we still want the Thanksgiving favorites. I have a busy week at work next week and have some medical issues going on that are making me extra tired (plus I have a procedure on Monday that may result in lingering pain over the following few days), so I'm trying to cut down on the amount of food prep. Here's what I'm planning so far. Any other tips to cut down on the Thanksgiving meal workload?

- Buying all of the desserts (pie, cake, cookies).
- Buying one of the veggie sides from Whole Foods.
- Make-ahead mashed potatoes (still have to do the prep, but will just re-heat the day of). (**Is there a store-bought option that tastes good? I think years ago I bought mashed potatoes from Whole Foods and didn't love them so haven't done that again.**)
- Making the cranberry sauce a couple days ahead of time.
- Cubing, drying and freezing bread cubes for stuffing ahead of time (**I always make the bread cubes myself, but are the bagged bread cubes just as good as drying out your own??**)
- Using frozen thaw and bake rolls.

Thanks for any tips!