Simplify Thanksgiving: 7 Tips to Make It Easier

Whether you are preparing to host your first Thanksgiving or your 51^st Thanksgiving, you know a lot of time and effort goes into preparing the feast of the year. But you can cut a few corners that will help make your family and food focused meal a success without tying you to the kitchen stove.

With these 7 time-saving tips you can do the one thing you have always wanted to do on Thanksgiving: sit down and eat Thanksgiving dinner!

1. Have a Plan

Last minute planning will put you on the track to being instantly overwhelmed throughout the cooking process. Do some research on what items will grace your table and then create a grocery list before you head out to the store with the intention of only getting a turkey. With a menu plan in mind your Thanksgiving meal will seem more doable. And be sure to clean out your fridge before the big day hits. You want to have room for all of your ingredients and, most importantly, the leftovers.

2. Get the Right Tools

Hand mashing doesn’t make your taters that much better.  There are some time saving kitchen tools that will make your Thanksgiving prep much easier. Some favorites for the top holiday dishes: a sturdy roasting pan like the Calphalon Unison Nonstick Roaster from Williams-Sonoma, a potato ricer for easy mashed potatoes from Kuhn Rikon, and these Pinch and Pour Measuring Cups from Crate & Barrel to easily measure all ingredients whether dry, liquid or sticky.

3. Know your Turkey

If you have a lot of guests coming over for dinner your first thought may be to get the biggest turkey in the store, but small birds are more tender and cook much faster so consider cooking two small turkeys instead of one big one. Before you tackle the bird review these turkey tips from the Food Network. You will be grateful that you did. You can also skip the turkey altogether and free up some space in the oven!

4. Not Everything has to be Homemade

It is okay to cheat a little! Get the pre-cut veggies for your green-focused dishes, buy a butter or gravy that is already pre-seasoned or leave the pies to Aunt Jemima. Everything will still be delicious and practically made from scratch with these quick time savers. Also, don’t neglect your crockpot! It is a great tool to “forget” about until your dish is ready hours later.

5. Change your Traditions (a little)

Keep your signature dishes on the table and ask your other guests to bring a dish too. The potluck style Thanksgiving is a great way to bring other’s traditions to the holiday and remove a dish from your own menu. Another big trend is to embrace finger-friendly foods so guests can nosh throughout the day and save you from some major clean-up later.

6. Make Some Dishes Ahead of Time

Unless you want to wake up at the crack of dawn, start some of your Thanksgiving cooking a few days ahead of time. Your freezer is your friend over the holidays. Many appetizers, breads, pies and soups will freeze and reheat beautifully so that you have one less masterpiece to create the day of. You can also prepare ahead of time by doing some of the shredding, cutting or spice measuring and such before the cook-a-thon gets going.

7. Assign Cleaning Duties

The worst part of a delicious meal is the clean-up. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from the children and your other house guests after the meal is over. Things will go much faster with additional hands in the mix. And, use disposable items whenever possible so you can trash them and move on to the next thing.

Stay tuned for BSW’s healthy menu suggestions!

Do you have any time-savers for turkey day? Which of these tips are you going to implement into your Thanksgiving plan?

Feature photo via