Thanksgiving Cooking Survival Checklist

For those who celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, it does go without saying that if you are having any kind of decent sized gathering with your family, you may be preparing for days or even a couple of weeks if you have a large gathering. You are scrambling to get everything together to make this Thursday an enjoyable experience for those who are attending your gathering. Even a small family dinner for Thanksgiving does have its challenges.

Here is a list of tips to remember for Thanksgiving.

Ensure You Make a List of Everything You Need.

Depending upon how elaborate the meal is, you may need a list of items. Try and ensure that you have everything in your house, ready to go. It is the number one thing that you should deal with on your Thanksgiving checklist. Try and have everything ready to go before the Monday before at the very latest. Trust me when I say that scrambling to get everything together and then remembering you’ve forgotten an essential item the day before just contributes to the high levels of stress regarding Thanksgiving Preparation.

Ensure You Know Everyone Who Might Be Attending.

Even if it is just a “maybe I’ll swing by if I can make it”. Better to be prepared for a person who only has a chance of showing up and them not showing up, then not be prepared and have one person too many show up. Plan for everything and if you invite someone, a maybe or “I’ll thank about it” could go either way.

Have enough plates and more than enough food.

There is nothing more embarrassing them running out of plates/silverware/glasses and one person being left out in the cold. That does lead to a rather uncomfortable atmosphere around the dinner table for Thanksgiving as you prepare for your meal. Also try and cook far more food then you’ll ever think you’ll need, because sometimes people bring big appetites, as Thanksgiving is one of the few days of the year where for most, “diet be damned.” If you have some left over, hey that’s leftovers and a couple of nights where you don’t have to cook.

Time Your Cooking

You don’t really want to be cooking down to the wire, as people are walking up to your door, for Thanksgiving. The more ambitious of us Thanksgiving dinner makers will need to cook several things at once, which can be stressful. Spreading it over a couple of days, when applicable, will go a long way to helping you prepare your feast. Don’t want to have anything not done well enough or burned. Both extremes can be.

Thanksgiving can be one of the more hectic days if you’re entrusted with cooking the family meal. Everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving for those in the United States and for those who aren’t, have a nice day on Thursday regardless.