With Thanksgiving just days away, it’s now time to start getting the dinner ready. By now, you should have completed Part 1. If you have, the house should be cleaned, decorated and ready to go. Now it’s time to focus on prepping the dinner. Here are some easy steps to follow when preparing your Thanksgiving dinner:

Step 1: Plan & Prepare the Menu
A couple days before Thanksgiving, take a few minutes to sit down and write out your menu. There’s nothing more stressful than remembering you forgot something at the store while you’re in the middle of preparing all the food. Planning it all out a few days before takes away that stress. During Part 1, you should have taken stock of all the items you already have, so coming up with a grocery list should be easy. For some delicious recipe ideas, click here.

Step 2: Create a Cooking Schedule
Instead of prepping all these dishes and then realizing you can’t fit them all in the oven at once, make your life easier by coming up with a cooking schedule ahead of time. Figure out what dishes can be made ahead of time and those that must be cooked at the last minute. Also, utilize cooking tools other than an oven. Cook your ham or mashed potatoes in a crock pot.

Step 3: Go to the Grocery Store
After you’ve written down your menu and timeline, it’s time to go to the store to pick up all the food you need. By this point, you should know exactly how much of every item you need.

Step 4: Start Cooking Day-by-Day

Follow this guide for preparing different dishes for your Thanksgiving dinner:

4 Days Before:

Start thawing your turkey. The general rule is every 5 pounds of turkey requires 24 hours of thaw time in the refrigerator (NEVER do this at room temperature, which is a breeding ground for bacteria).

Make all your pies and cheesecakes, and put them in the freezer.

3 Days Before:
Make your cranberry sauce and refrigerate. Iron table linens and make sure all your serving platters, dishes, glassware and silverware are clean.

2 Days Before:
Remove the pies and cheesecakes from the freezer and let thaw in the refrigerator.

Make any fruit salads or gelatin dishes and keep in refrigerator.

1 Day Before:
Get all your ingredients ready for all the dishes you will be serving. This means wash, trim and chop all vegetables, set out any spices, etc.

Prepare other dishes that will be baked (green bean casserole, corn casserole, etc.) and store in refrigerator.

Thanksgiving Day:
The turkey should be the first thing in the oven. Let it sit at room temperature for 90 minutes before putting it in the oven. You’ll need to start working on it 5 to 7 hours before dinner is served. Prepare the turkey according to your recipe (add stuffing, extra spices, etc.). Baste about every 30 minutes with pan juices.

While the turkey is cooking, start cooking any other side dishes (corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, etc.). Warm bread rolls and garnish desserts.

Set the tables and pull out all serving platters and serving utensils.

Step 5: Sit Back and Enjoy!
You’ve just spent the past 2 weeks preparing your house and the dinner for this day. It’s time to sit back and enjoy. Need I say more?

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