The Ultimate Thanksgiving Menu and Prep Schedule

Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and hopefully you have already planned a menu you know all your guests will love and will leave your guests in a food coma on the couch for the next 12 hours. So, with your menu all decided, let us start planning the days leading up to Thanksgiving!

Sunday:

• Clean out your fridge
• Make sure you have stocked up on beer, wine, and booze
• Prepare a grocery list
• Shop for the ingredients
• If you have a frozen turkey, begin to thaw it in the fridge
• Reorganize your cleaned fridge with new grocery store purchases

Monday:

• Make the cranberry sauce and refrigerate until Thanksgiving

Tuesday:

• Make vinaigrettes for salads
• Refrigerate all ingredients until Thursday

Wednesday:

• Cut the bread you are planning to use for stuffing and set on counter toharden overnight
• Make herb mixture for stuffing and refrigerate
• Make your soup and refrigerate
• Prep and clean vegetables and all other ingredients for vegetable sidedishes
• Make mashed potatoes, do not add herbs until Thursday
• Make desserts
• Set the table
• Make sure everything is returned to the fridge

Thursday:

• Prep the turkey and start roasting early in the morning
• Put together salads, cover with a damp paper towel, and refrigerate
• Finish making all the side dishes
• Reheat any dishes such as soups or mashed potatoes
• Carve the turkey and place on a platter 20 minutes before dinner
• Make homemade gravy
• Enjoy your Thanksgiving

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The big day is almost here. It’s less than a week out and by now I think we’re all fully prepared with an arsenal of recipes that will get rave reviews from everyone! So, let’s pull everything together for the most epic Thanksgiving Menu and then talk prep and making things ahead of time!

Photo Credit: WhatsGabyCooking.com

Appetizers:

Thanksgiving Tapas

Thyme and Garlic Baked Camembert

Main Course:

Herb Roasted Turkey

Homemade Gravy

Zesty Cranberry Sauce

Soups + Sides:

Fall Harvest Salad

Wild Mushroom Stuffing

Sautéed Brussels Sprouts

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

Charred Carrots with Herbs

Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes

Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup

Desserts:

S’more Pudding Pie

Triple Layer Pumpkin Cake

I mean, is that not the most glorious Thanksgiving menus you’ve ever seen!! Gobble Gobble!

In terms of prepping ahead – here’s what my schedule looks like for the menu listed above! We’ll start eating around 4 so everything is timed out for me below…

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