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Cooking for a Thanksgiving Party

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If you are hosting a Thanksgiving party, it is easy to get overwhelmed by everything. You'll have to spend the days before the holiday shopping, cleaning, and, of course, cooking a large meal. The best way to prepare, though, is to create a schedule so you have a time frame to meet your goals. Use the following information on cooking a Thanksgiving meal to help keep everything balanced and ensure a successful holiday dinner.

Two Weeks Before

Photo by andrewatla, sxc.hu
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, you can start creating the menu. Look at cook books, search for recipe ideas online, or just cook traditional family favorites. At the same time, you'll want to please all of your guests, so take into account if anyone has food allergies or dietary restrictions. If someone is a vegetarian or lactose intolerant, provide other options that don't contain meat or dairy products, so these guests have enough to eat. You can also create your shopping list, including all ingredients you will need to create your meal.

At this point, you'll also want to take stock of your kitchen and make sure you have all the appropriate items, such as:
  • Large roasting pan for the turkey
  • Meat thermometer
  • The appropriate kitchenware for your other dishes
  • Serving platters and utensils
  • Enough plates, silverware, and glasses
  • Extra tables and chairs, if necessary
One Week Before

With a week to go before Thanksgiving, you should do most of your shopping. While you shouldn't get any highly perishable goods yet, such as salad greens or bread, you'll want to get all of your other ingredients, including the turkey. If you do your shopping less than a week before the holiday, the store might not have as big of a selection of turkeys. Prior to your shopping trip, though, you should sort out your freezer and refrigerator so you can fit a large turkey and all of the other ingredients inside.

TIP: When choosing a turkey, you should allow for about 1.3 pounds of the bird per person, and then round up. Thus, if there will be 12 people at your meal, you will need at least a 16-pound turkey.

Three-to-Four Days Before

At this point, you can take the turkey out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to defrost. Remember, you should never leave the turkey out to defrost at room temperature, since that could cause it to go bad. You can also begin decorating your home and setting up any temporary tables and chairs.

Two Days Before

On this day, you can start cleaning your home to prepare it for guests. You can also continue putting up Thanksgiving decorations. With two days to go, you can also put out table cloths and place settings, so you won't have to worry about doing this later. You can also use any extra time you have to begin making some side dishes.

One Day Before

With one day to go, you'll want to pick up any perishable items, such as salad greens and bread. You can then focus on putting together all of your side dishes and desserts. Also use this day as a practice run for tomorrow. Make sure you have enough place settings, serving dishes, and everything else. If you find you are missing something, you'll still have time to go to the store to pick it up.
Photo by equiLearn, sxc.hu

Thanksgiving Day

If you stuck to the above schedule, then the only thing you'll have to worry about on the big day is the turkey. Prepare the turkey according to your recipe, making sure you give it enough time in the oven. Test the temperature with a thermometer to make sure it is cooked properly. Once the turkey is done cooking, let it stand for half an hour before you begin carving it. During this time, you can use the oven or microwave to heat up all of your side dishes.

By following a schedule for your Thanksgiving meal, you will have more time to spend with your guests and to enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

Patrick Hanan  Posted by Patrick Hanan on November 12, 2009

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