Yesterday morning I realized its Saturday, not earth shattering I know, but in the very next instant I realized it’s the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Do I have a turkey? Umm, no. Do I have pie ingredients? Again, the answer would be no. Holy cow how did this month get away from me?
I have a method for preparing for all holiday dinners, it seems to serve me well so I thought I would share. First, I decide on the menu. Every family has things they have to have on the holiday table otherwise it’s not the holidays, for me, one of those things is sauerkraut, for my daughter, its deviled eggs. Once I have the menu in mind, I write it down, every item, from gravy to dessert, otherwise come Thanksgiving Day I will forget something. After I’ve decided on the menu I look at all our tried and true things to see if I want to try a new recipe.
Next I make a grocery list based on all the dishes we’ll be having, then I scour the pantry, fridge and freezer to see what we already have that can be crossed off the list. If I don’t do this first I wind up with too many cranberries and not enough sweet potatoes or something similar. I always think I will remember but I never to so at least for holiday meals I live by the list.
Ok, now I have a menu and a shopping list, it’s time to look at dishes, silverware and serving dishes. I pull all the serving dishes out and put a sticky note in them with the name of the food they will hold on Thanksgiving Day. If I don’t have enough serving dishes now is the time to borrow or buy what I need. I leave the sticky notes in the serving dishes otherwise I forget what I planned to use for each dish.
Finally, I make sure I have enough plastic storage containers for the leftovers. Then it’s off to the store at last. We will have Thanksgiving dinner after all!