Things You Can Do Now To Get Ready For Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is coming up later this month, but there are a few things you can do now that you can check off your list.  That way when it’s crunch time… You’ve already done it!

This is so important, especially when hosting larger gatherings. Below is a picture of our Thanksgiving table last year set for our guests (there were actually two more tables that didn’t even fit in this room!)

Clean your china

Do you have seasonal or formal dinnerware that you use for this occasion? What about glassware?  If you are like me, they have been sitting in storage all year and it’s time to wash the dust off of them.

Clean and Iron the Linens

What linens are you going to use? A tablecloth? Placemats? Napkins?  Are they clean? Did you iron them?   This is a huge time saving step you can do right now!

Polish the Silver

If you have silver or silver-plated cutlery, they may require polishing.  Take them out of the cabinet and decide if they need to be polished.

Decide Your Meal Plan

Have you decided what exact recipes you are going to make?  If you make the same thing every year and use the same recipes, great!  We always try a new dish or two to see what is a hit or not.  Below, we made these Parker House Bread rolls and they were delicious! I strongly recommend making them!

Make what you can ahead of time – and freeze it

Now that you’ve meal planned, is there something you can make ahead and freeze? Like maybe your pie dough, perhaps? We sometimes make a pumpkin soup that calls for pureed kuri squash. We will bake the squash in advance and freeze it so when it comes time all we have to do is actually just make the soup. Below, the best apple pie ever. Get the recipe here!

Early Grocery Shopping

Are there things you can get at the grocery store now to prepare?  For instance, we started using Trader Joe’s puff pastry dough because it is made with real butter.  We had previously used Pepperidge Farms, however that is made with oil – which that is totally fine, once you try to the TJ’s dough, you will realize, oh, that is better.  We tried to buy some – but they sold out! I confess, I already bought mine for this year!  Below, our #1 appetizer, the apple gruyere onion tart bites. Apple Gruyere tart recipe is here.