I might make corn muffins the day before. We have those instead of dressing. I crumble mine and put gravy on it, DH butters and eats his the civilized way.

I will chill the canned cranberry sauce.

I will get the mail order Sunnyland Farms pecan pie from Georgia out of the freezer and let it that thaw in the fridge. Those are very good btw better than mine.

Day of I roast the turkey, make mashed potatoes, gravy.
I might buy Balduccis gravy when I go to Eclips that week.

I used to do sweet potato casserole with marshmallows (Florida girl) but only I eat that so now I just bake sweet potatoes for dinners in the fall.

Menu for 2 seniors:
turkey
gravy
mashed potatoes
whole berry Ocean Spray sauce (my tradition)
Stouffers frozen spinach souffle (DH tradition)
Pecan pie,:whipped cream

Used to have a nice white Burgundy or rose Champagne but DH doesn't drink now for medical reasons and my tolerance is way down.

Cotn muffins

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes us 2-3 days to make the gravy. It’s a process.

It’s not made from the turkey drippings?

OP here. I love to make a gravy “base” and then just add the turkey drippings and whisk well. It’s so much easier than making it all day-of.

I feel like there's nothing easier day of than gravy, just put the drippings on the stove and whisk in some flour? Easy peasy.

Just drippings and flour? Nothing else?

Tears of disappointment in your overcooked bird

???? This comment does not even make sense hahaha

Only the pumpkin roll and pastry dough. Everything else I cook the day of. I start at 6am, and the meal is served at 4pm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes us 2-3 days to make the gravy. It’s a process.

It’s not made from the turkey drippings?

OP here. I love to make a gravy “base” and then just add the turkey drippings and whisk well. It’s so much easier than making it all day-of.

I feel like there's nothing easier day of than gravy, just put the drippings on the stove and whisk in some flour? Easy peasy.

Just drippings and flour? Nothing else?

Tears of disappointment in your overcooked bird

I usually just do cranberry sauce, pies, and congealed salad the day before.

I make the cornbread for the dressing on Thanksgiving morning because I make a double batch and we have hot cornbread for breakfast (yum!). I haven’t really noticed a difference in dressing made with fresh v. stale cornbread.

Anonymous wrote:Original person who mentioned gravy. This is DH's big Thanksgiving thing - we start with roasting some wings and random turkey parts in the oven. Then we boil stock with vegetables and herbs for a long time. Then it comes together on Thanksiving with drippings and cornstarch. We make it gluten free for several relatives with celiac who don't get gravy the rest of the year. Its delicious and will probably be mentioned in his eulogy when he eventually dies.

Our DH's will need to meet. Mine does exactly the same. Drives me nuts so the deal is he gets it all done and cleaned up before Thursday.

We make the cranberry sauce, cornbread for the stuffing (if we aren't buying store bought cubes), salad dressing, and any other vegetable prep in advance. I always do pies the morning of - especially apple is better fresh.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving I make:
cranberry relish
gravy base

Monday:
cube the bread for stuffing and leave it to dry out overnight

Tuesday:
assemble stuffing (to be baked on Thursday)

Wednesday:
make butternut squash soup for lunch on Thursday (we eat at 6)
make dessert -- usually shortbread and chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin pie; guests bring pies
prep veggies to be cooked on Thursday

I have a crab appetizer thing I basically make and prep the day before. I get the green bean casserole basically put together except for the crispy onions the night before.

Pies the day before.

I prep the stuffing the night before to put in the bird.

I make sure my pearled onions are prepped before the day.

That is basically it. I really want to make the NYT cranberry curd pie again this year but does anyone have any advice on how to make the straining part less onerous. That took SO long and my hands ACHED afterwards that I swore I would never do it again but then it tasted SO good....

Original person who mentioned gravy. This is DH's big Thanksgiving thing - we start with roasting some wings and random turkey parts in the oven. Then we boil stock with vegetables and herbs for a long time. Then it comes together on Thanksiving with drippings and cornstarch. We make it gluten free for several relatives with celiac who don't get gravy the rest of the year. Its delicious and will probably be mentioned in his eulogy when he eventually dies.

Ok I am the gravy person and I just googled gravy because this is how my grandmother taught me to make gravy when I was a child and I never knew all these other ways. I guess take it from me if you slowly whisk in some flour it turns out great! Been doing it since 1995 hahaha and she was doing it a heckuva lot longer than that and I've always had people rave about my gravy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes us 2-3 days to make the gravy. It’s a process.

It’s not made from the turkey drippings?

OP here. I love to make a gravy “base” and then just add the turkey drippings and whisk well. It’s so much easier than making it all day-of.

I feel like there's nothing easier day of than gravy, just put the drippings on the stove and whisk in some flour? Easy peasy.

Just drippings and flour? Nothing else?

What else is needed? I'll taste it and maybe add some salt if it needs it but usually it is fantastic if its coming off a well seasoned bird. Just gotta add the flour a bit slowly and whisk as you go but the whole thing takes 5 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes us 2-3 days to make the gravy. It’s a process.

It’s not made from the turkey drippings?

OP here. I love to make a gravy “base” and then just add the turkey drippings and whisk well. It’s so much easier than making it all day-of.

I feel like there's nothing easier day of than gravy, just put the drippings on the stove and whisk in some flour? Easy peasy.

Just drippings and flour? Nothing else?

Deviled eggs, pie, cranberry sauce. And chop the onions/celery for the stuffing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes us 2-3 days to make the gravy. It’s a process.

It’s not made from the turkey drippings?

OP here. I love to make a gravy “base” and then just add the turkey drippings and whisk well. It’s so much easier than making it all day-of.

I feel like there's nothing easier day of than gravy, just put the drippings on the stove and whisk in some flour? Easy peasy.

Pie dough (I make the pies day-of, but having the dough prepped is half the battle)

Cranberry sauce

Stuffing - prep, store the pan in the fridge. Bake day-of.

Gravy - make the stock ahead of time, but it comes together quickly when the turkey comes out of the oven to rest

Slice a ton of vegetables for a lunchtime veggie platter