Doing Favors for my Future Self -- Thanksgiving Edition
I'm once again hosting Thanksgiving and am attempting to prepare ahead as much as humanly possible. I like to frame this as "doing a favor for my future self." I normally make everything from scratch and you'd see me cooking my own pumpkins for pies, baking bread for stuffing, making rolls from scratch, etc. This year I'm allowing myself to take shortcuts and prepping ahead to simplify the holiday.
I should note that my husband would normally be pitching in, but he'll be at work until 6 P.M.
With that aim in mind, today I made the cranberry sauce, sautéed mirpoix for the freezer and assembled two apple pies, which I also stuck in the freezer. This may seem like a lot of work for someone who's trying to be easy on herself, but today was a low key day and I had the mental energy to complete these tasks.
Other plans to "do a favor to my future self:"
- Make ahead mashed potatoes, which I can heat in the crock pot in order to reserve precious oven space.
- Trim the green beans the day ahead.
- Gravy, which I'll also make the day ahead. I inevitably end up making it last minute from turkey drippings, while everyone waits for me. Weirdly stressful.
- I bought canned whipped cream, which'll save me from making it from scratch like I normally do.
- I bought boxes of stuffing mix, to which I'll add my premade mirpoix and rosemary from the garden.
- I outsourced the rolls to my mother and she can order them from a bakery.
My goal is to make things as easy as possible next Thursday. Essentially nothing but roasting the turkey. A favor to my future self.
What do you do to make Thanksgiving easier? I'd love to hear your tips and tricks!
I will buy turkey chops. They are more expensive than a whole turkey but none of us want to eat a lot of meat nor deal with a turkey carcass. We marinate them and bake them in the oven for a short period of time.
I bought Arnold's stuffing mix.
Pies will be made and baked on Wednesday.
The sweet potato butternut squash casserole will be made ahead of time.
K D, thanks for the inspiration for adding butternut squash to the sweet potato casserole I'm responsible for!
1. I have assigned desserts to my mom, and beverages to my brother -in-law.
2. I keep a gallon ziplock in my freezer all year long that I put chopped up bread scraps for dressing in.
3. I use frozen green beans from our garden for the green bean casserole. I insta-pot them the night before.
4. The turkey has been assigned to my husband, who will use the smoker to make it.
5. I assemble the charcuterie ingredients the night before.
6. My husband wants me to us disposal plates and bowls for easy clean up, but I just don't think I can for environmental and sentimental reasons.
I’m with you on that, Johanna! Like you, I’m thankful for this incredible planet, and my thanks include NOT using disposables.And, like you, there is something about using the sentimental items that seems to invite long gone family and friends to the table!
Dressing made and I'm also doing veggies ahead. Only thing to do on actual day is to stuff eggs and warm turkey . Happy Thanksgiving
In my family we divvy up the dishes. My kind father has turkey and carbs, my sister has dessert, I have vegetable sides, appetizers and cranberry sauce. I'll prep on Wednesday. We all set up and clean up. The kids are the dish washers (with no dishwasher)
We head to our son’s MIL’s house and bring the ingredients for a charcuterie board for snacking. I’ll shop on Monday to try to beat the crowds. In 5he past when life was stressful we bought a cooked turkey and some sides and only made what we enjoyed cooking. Not frugal but it was truly self care. Another year after a cross country move with an 14 year old and away from family and friends we made tostados for lunch and Chinese for dinner with a hike in the afternoon. Not trying to replicate Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves was again good self care.
We make the same menu every year (no trying to figure out a new recipe), prep almost everything on the Wednesday before (Thursday is a breeze), make pork tenderloin instead of turkey (we sous vide the pork which frees up oven space and is much more hands off), and request that my dad bring pies. I request that my in-laws bring nothing but a bottle a wine.
Our awesome sister-in-law who lives two hours away always hosts a potluck Thanksgiving, so I just have to bring a couple of dishes. She's always been lucky in that her men folk like to cook and take on making the main dish.
Christmas is when I have to turn out the Christmas eve and morning meals. My family are picky eaters without very refined palates, so they are absolutely fine with a nice pre-cooked spiral-cut ham, canned cranberry sauce and Pillsbury rolls, though I do make a pie from scratch.
I take it easy by going to my brother's -- an annual tradition. He is a retired chef, so Thanksgiving there is awesome. He usually asks me to make and bring cranberry relish -- my mother's recipe, which is the classic chopped cranberries and oranges. Easy peasy. I will probably take something else for the weekend -- beverages or snacks. Pistachios are usually a hit.
We do steak for dinner, as no one enjoys turkey particularly. We are likely to host a regular Thanksgiving (just the four of us, likely) & then a Friendsgiving, which may be a Persian diner. I'll likely buy pie for both. Only DH eats pie in our immediate family. I'll eat peppermint ice cream. 😉 I use Stove Top for stuffing, because it's truly the preferred version. DH makes the steak, mashed potatoes & pomegranate martinis. I make the salad, acorn squash & stuffing. I bought Trader Joes cranberry sauce this year as a treat to myself.
Butternut squash rolls made and in the freezer; ditto romanov potatoes; cranberry sauce refrigerated but yes! still need to make cranberry relish!. Green bean casserole will assemble easily last minute, and casseroles can fit in oven with turkey but I like the make-ahead gravy idea. Pies will be made Wednesday, but homemade crust is in the freezer.
I have never heard of butternut squash rolls and they sound absolutely delicious!
I’m also intrigued!
They are so good and so moist.
One of the interesting changes in recent years is using fruit purees in baked goods, like applesauce, or the squash rolls mentioned here. "Simple Frugal Life" this week has a recipe for Pumpkin Puree Crust Pizza. (Not my interest, but worth mentioning).
I enjoy cooking and I am at good at it, but the coordination and time it takes to pull together a Thanksgiving meal is not worth the effort for our small family. A few years ago we began purchasing a full pre-cooked ready to reheat Thanksgiving meal from Whole Foods. It’s tastes almost as good as homemade and is much less stressful for us all. Is it frugal? Probably not. Is it worth it? Yes!
That is so tempting! It’s just three of us this year and WF is my favorite store for meat and produce…
I think this year we are going to something non traditional as we don’t want leftovers and son is doing the traditional meal (and contributing stuffing to that) the previous weekend at a Friendsgiving. We are trying to use up food - not accumulate - as we will travel the following week. I am purchasing a pie from a local small business who makes the most delicious and substantial pies.
I've started planning and will keep the menu simple and prep the night before and cook the morning of starting early around 5 or 6 am. The big meal for lunch roughly, and then I boil the carcass and make home made turkey noodle soup. We wanted to buy dinner this year, but it's not in our budget. Financial self care is cooking this year.
I'm going to make lamb stew in the crock pot for Thanksgiving they had some lamb stew meat at the store so about 3 packages of it.
Katy, adoring your “matched set” of spice jars and envious that you have a source to harvest/rescue. I’m a long time fan of those Bonne Maman jars and use them for many things, even to adding the labels to my junk journal when I have been gifted with the jam.
I admire Katy's jars too, Jennifer!
Wednesday will be the big day for me. I’ll make the pies, prep the stuffing (to go in the oven after the turkey comes out), make the rolls (to go in the fridge until Thursday morning, when they’ll come out and rise), bake a quiche for the vegetarians, make turkey stock for the gravy, and massage some olive oil into the kale. I’m outsourcing mashed potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, and “green bean casserole” (which I will not eat) to guests.
I don’t understand how anyone thinks canned green beans with gelatinous gray soup dumped on top is edible. Apparently, the recipe is non-negotiable.
Sadly, my freezer is packed, so there’s not a lot I can do in advance!
I feel the same about green bean casserole!
In my normal day to day I make a lot of things from scratch, but when it comes to Thanksgiving we prefer all the boxed and canned stuff. Cranberry jelly in a can, jarred gravy, boxed mashed potatoes, and stove top cornbread stuffing are our favorites. I used to roast a whole turkey, but the family members that liked dark meat are no longer with us for the holiday, so now I get the 3 pound Butterball turkey roasts instead. Costs more, but so much quicker to cook and we prefer the taste. I make the Frugal Girl's crustless pumpkin pie using canned pumpkin, and then top with cool whip.
1. I got a free pie with an ibotta rebate and brought it in for a work luncheon event.
2. I redeemed a $10 giftcard through the Fetch app. I look forward to using this to round out Thanksgiving food shopping.
3. A neighbor received a large amount of chocolate covered pretzel rods as a gift and is regifting them to my household. A different neighbor offered up a gallon of milk as her and her husband both bought milk and didn't need two gallons.
4. I hosted a get together Sunday and utilized the leftover veggies from the veggie tray with dinner one night. I gifted my neighbors a bag of mini tomatoes as we're not fond of them. I purchased meat at 50% off at Aldi and made meatloaf and taco meat. Cooking off 50% off chicken tonight. Trying to really eat at home and stick to our budget as I catch up on things this month.
5. We've been watching films based on John Grisham novels and they have been great. A few have had some more graphic content with the crimes, but were still great films. We have a few more to go. I have been taking them out on DVD from the library for free. We were inspired after watching the miniseries on Peacock called the Rainmaker based on his book and movie of the same title. We also watched the newest Jurassic Park last night on Peacock - it was just ok.
This year is different. My oldest son has major dental surgery on Monday again. So we are all driving to where he lives (he lives in RV while working in the northern part of the state) and we are going to eat soup at Panera Bread the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Not necessarily cheap but this year it is necessary.
I cannot tell a lie: For the last several years, I have been a professional guest at Thanksgiving, though I always bring a side dish--usually my foolproof kale, carrot, and apple salad, which provides a nice contrast to the usual Thanksgiving spread.
As NDN1 and I have done for the past two years, I'm taking her to the 1 pm event at her other close friend's (CF's) house. CF *always* asks for the above-mentioned salad--and the spread there is amazing. (Anything that involves three kinds of stuffing and a pecan pie with half the usual sugar and Chinese five-spice powder is completely OK with me.)
Kale salad is my go-to for the people who can’t stand green bean casserole. A bonus is that it won’t take up previous oven space! It drives me crazy when someone appears with a casserole dish and says, “I just need to pop this in the oven for 35 minutes.”
*precious not previous! Ugh!
@Li - I hosted a cookie party last year at my house. I have a very small single wall kitchen with limited counterspace. I came home from work and my SO and a few friends were at my house getting ready for it. One friend and her husband commandeered my stove top and half my kitchen counters to make homemade hot chocolate. They made a huge mess and it impeded where we had planned to lay out dishes. I was not pleased....
I get it!
Years ago, I invited friends for Christmas dinner, and they brought a surprise ham! And then they proceeded to apply glaze and look for room in the oven! Ha!
Not space related but on a similar note, a family member once brought their CSA box to a family cookout and proceeded to ask the host (my BIL) to grill it while they mingled with other guests. The box held 8-10 pounds of broccolini!
I have to know, did he try to grill it?
I'll pass on both the green bean casserole and the kale salad. Give me pepper slaw, please.
I go to my Sisters every year -- its mandatory that I bring green bean casserole even though only 3 of us eat it. I am also bringing a family size box of Triscuit I got super cheap with coupons for the charcuterie - and the free Edwards pie i got via Ibotta rebate to add to our desserts.
I always make 2 pumpkin pies - one for me and one for a friend who's spouse does not cook/bake.
I have already purchased everything to make the casserole and pies, each time I was at the store and saw things on sale i would grab something - shop early and avoid the rush!
Yesterday (or was it the day before?) I made no-knead artisan bread that has since been cut into cubes for stuffing. I have made the cranberry sauce and it is in the freezer until Wednesday. I have chopped leeks from this summer's garden in the freezer, as well as sausage, for the onion/sausage/mushroom stuffing that I will make Wednesday evening after buying the mushrooms that afternoon. On the day itself, the husband is in charge of potatoes and I stuff and monitor the bird, a small 9 pound turkey; I am very glad the number of folks eating here has dropped so I no longer have to make 24 pound turkey every November! We realized one year that no one really wanted vegetables, so guilt free we serve no vegetables for this meal. I do have a fruit salad, though. Also, no one ate the rolls, so I don't make those anymore. We don't serve a dessert but on the day I pull out a pie I premade and froze and we eat it for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving. There is not much frenzy on our house on Thanksgiving, just relaxing.
Pumpkin pie for breakfast is a day after Thanksgiving tradition at my house! Soooo good with a strong cup of coffee in my jammies.
We always ate leftover pie for breakfast until it was gone!
I peel the potatoes and chop them. They then get stored overnight in a bowl of water.
Hubby makes the apple pie ahead of time. We cook it the day of.
I make 2 batches of corn bread the day before for the stuffing.
Everyone brings food so its not that bad.
I cook my turkey the day before, take it off the bone, cover with broth, then reheat it on Thanksgiving Day. It is always moist and tasty! I make broth from all the bones/skin to use for my gravy, noodles, and dressing.
That sounds like a good idea!
We normally have a very meticulously planned meal with turkey and sides and desserts, I have a dairy allergy so it's often easier (safer) for me to make the dishes I plan on eating anyways. We've been doing Friends-Givings as well which are a lot of fun but double the holiday chaos lol
This year we decided we're staying in, declining invites, and taking a break. I'm making a chicken pot pie, with chicken I already cooked and shredded in my instant pot earlier this month. We organized the chest freezer and found some homemade cinnamon rolls that just need to thaw and bake so we'll have some for brunch Thursday morning. In an effort to make some kind of an effort, we decided to make a blackberry pie with the blackberries that have been hiding in the back of our freezer for an embarrassingly long time. I can prep the pie crust for both sweet and savory pies at the same time for pennies.
We did get a request from friends to get together for a Friends-Giving, but with scheduling conflicts for everyone it'll probably end up being more of a Friends-Give-Mas between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We also scored a cheap turkey at the beginning of the week that we'll either have for meal prepping meat later on or it'll be our contribution to our group since we like to have ham for Christmas.
Thanksgiving day is my only day off as the Amish kids have school on Friday. I am NOT cooking. We're going with another couple to a restaurant that specializes in turkey dinners all year long.
When I do cook a turkey dinner, I do NOT stuff the turkey cavity. My mom always baked stuffing in a dish, never in the bird. I also cook it overnight the day before (put in oven Tuesday night). Wednesday, I cut/pick the meat off the bone. I get rid of the excess fat and "ick," so I'm not messing with that and a turkey carcass on Thanksgiving day. I season the turkey inside and out with McCormick's lower sodium seasoned salt and black pepper. I put carrots, onions, and celery (everything in chunks) in the cavity, and use cheap white wine as the liquid instead of water or broth.
HOWEVER, Thanksgiving is about being THANKFUL. It's not about what you eat, it's about who you're with. When our daughter lived at home, we had homemade pizza for every holiday...Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
Before my dad died in 1976, my sister had our family to her efficiency apartment for Christmas. There were 7 of us, total. My sister served tacos, refried beans, non-alcoholic piña coladas, and flan. In the evening, we toasted marshmallows in her fireplace.
When my husband's family gets together (he is the youngest of 9) for ANY occasion, it's potluck.
I say, move out of your "comfort zone." Don't try to achieve the "Norman Rockwell"/"Hallmark Channel" holiday. Maybe splurge on salmon fillet or steaks, but keep the rest simple.
If you think about it, Thanksgiving is "carb overload"...mashed potatoes and/or sweet potatoes, corn, rolls, stuffing... It's no wonder we fall asleep during the football game and we have to unbutton our pants to accommodate our bulging bellies.
I was just wondering about your Thanksgiving menu Katy.
I am making a key lime which is my brother's favorite desert. I may make a pumpkin pie as I like it. I will also make a corn casserole. We will visit my brother's family. I am told each year what to bring (which I do not mind). I am told we will have surf & turf and a small turkey. I have some cans of turkey gravy & cranberry sauce which I will also contribute. I am hoping I can commander the turkey carcass to make turkey stock. I was going to buy a turkey as they were on sale for 55 cents a lb but the store will was out of them on Wednesday. I may try another location. When you work at a hospital you work some holidays each year. I appreciate my part time teaching gig as I am off on holidays.
Planning ahead is key! My dad is providing a smoked turkey…what a treat. I’ve made my dressing and it’s is in the freezer. Made my sweet potato casserole and froze it this morning. Tomorrow I will make our cheeses potato dish and freeze it. Precooked bacon. Will chop it and freeze it too. Makes life so much easier…before family starts arriving. I’ll make my desserts Wednesday, but I’ve got all the stuff already. I start buying holiday food weeks ahead so it’s not too painful all at once.
It’s stressful, and every year I say we need to do it differently, but I secretly love it…except the expense.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I cannot convince better half to put the stuffing in the turkey cavity. I miss my mother's "sweet potatoes" (aka canned yams, you cannot find true sweet potatoes in our area but she always brought some home when she and dad visited relatives where she grew up). Cooked them in butter and brown sugar - they, a roll, dark meat and stuffing covered with gravy is something I miss.
Divide and conquer is done at our house except better half always adds more side dishes despite us never having more than 8 people. No one goes hungry and everyone gets leftovers.
We are traveling for the first time in probably a decade. I am bringing vegan “turkey” pot pies (I’m strictly plant-based, brother is vegetarian and my husband is veg-friendly). I plan to construct them this weekend and freeze for the journey over the river and through the woods. I’ll probably also bring a jar of my own pickled beets and a bottle of my own dandelion mead (the reason I can’t say I’m vegan ). And, if I’m super ambitious, I’ll make some deviled potatoes (pb alternative to deviled eggs). Happy Thanksgiving (American one and belated wishes to the Canadians on here as well!)
My memories of Thanksgiving involved a ton of work. We were a family that invited LOTS of people (regularly upwards of 30), and we spent days cooking and cleaning the house (it doesn't help that I'm not a fan of either turkey or pumpkin). Thus, my preferred way to celebrate the holiday is to escape to Canada, or anywhere outside of the US! Our best Thanksgiving meal, therefore, was a perfect Peking duck and Bretagne cider from a great restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown. This year, however, my partner and I both work the day after, so we are going to the in-laws. We are responsible for 2 veg side dishes.
I'm celebrating Thanksgiving by myself this year, and I'm looking forward to it. I always find a big gathering very stressful, even if I'm not doing much of the cooking. To make things easy on myself, I'm buying ready-made rolls, sliced turkey, and canned cranberry sauce. I already have sweet potatoes and canned pumpkin. This way, I can easily put together a nice meal with what I consider the best parts of Thanksgiving and have leftovers for the next few days.
I'm not making pumpkin pie this year, although I usually have some, whether made by me or another family member. I recently made myself a cherry-lime pie just for fun, and it was delicious, but I don't feel the need to have more pie so soon. I'm making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins instead. Much quicker and easier, and suitable for the traditional leftovers for breakfast as well.
We parcel out side dishes and the "additional meat". But I just don't see the lure of ham. Better half is already planning Xmas Eve meal - what can I say, he's a four decades plus keeper.
We have turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, multiple side dishes, Stove Top (I will get better half to stuff that turkey one of these days with better stuffing), ham, rolls, and pie/other dessert. Plenty of leftovers for everyone - especially turkey for me since I love dark meat. Though I tend to send the legs to the person who tends to be on-call on T-Day.
I'm going to my sister's and doing what I'm told.