Who has started meal prep today?

Tomorrow I am baking the crustless pumpkin pie, making cranberry sauce, mixing the ranch dressing, and assembling the artichoke dip that will be baked Thursday morning.

Both dressings are made (the traditional family recipe and a batch of cornbread) are mixed and in the freezer ready to be baked. This afternoon I made a extra large batch of Chex mix and a batch of fudge.

Tomorrow I will be making 2 cakes and the jello salad as well as cleaning all of the crudite.

DH is in charge of the turkey and ham. Turkey will be brined tomorrow.

Very productive day.............

Sweet Potato Pie ✅
Fried Cauliflower ✅
Fudgy Pecan Pie ✅
Polish Coffee Cake ✅

Tomorrow’s another busy cooking day............

Pick-up Clams & Shrimp & Carvel Ice Cream
Apple Pie
Coconut Custard Pie
Baked Clams
Set table & get serving dishes ready

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL !

Tomorrow is my cooking day. Today was shopping day. No small feat as it is a Senior discount day at my grocery store and the bus had just dropped off a load of little old ladies right when I got there. I survived though and am now resting and figuring out a plan of attack for tomorrow.

I took the turkey out to thaw on Friday.

Made cornbread yesterday and chopped the onions and celery.

Today I made the jalapeño roll ups appetizers and stuck them in the freezer.

Tomorrow I will make the cornbread dressing. My family stuffing is made last minute because it goes in the bird so that can wait until Thursday morning. I will also make the pink stuff tomorrow. I use apricot jello so I don’t know why we call it the pink stuff but we always have. Mashed potatoes are Thursday.

My mom and sister bring the rest.

Oh, and my house is clean.

I've thought about meal prep today. Does that count? Lol!

I put the frozen  Pillsbury pie dough in the refrig to thaw so I can make pies tomorrow.

We travel to sil on Thanksgiving day but will contribute to the meal and help with the cooking.

We have been doing this for years and as our kids have grown and married they have taken more responsibility for the cooking,

As the years have gone by I have found that it is easier to have the dishes that I am contributing completely done or assembled and ready to bake when we get there.

I made a double batch of Chex mix and a cheese cake today. My husband is working on cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Friday before everyone leaves.

My kids will be coming home tomorrow so I’ll make pork carnitas for dinner and finish prepping a green bean casserole for Thanksgiving.

I actually started Sunday.  Bought my fresh turkey, simmered my brine, made the prep for the Make Ahead Gravy, prepped my herbs and set out the garbage bins that are usually in the pantry closet.  Ain’t no one got time for running back and forth to the garbage/recycling.

Happy Thanksgiving prep everyone.

DH picked up the Honey Baked Ham on his way home from work. They were turning people away that had not pre ordered. I've see that at Easter but not Thanksgiving . I've got the turkeys defrosting and I'm about to start prepping veggies and my dips.

I'll be making a pumpkin cheesecake tonight. I was thinking about making rolls tonight, but they are so much better if you have them the same day you bake them, so I think that can wait until tomorrow. We're not going anywhere for Thanksgiving or having anyone over either, so we can be pretty leisurely with how we do our Thanksgiving dinner.

Me too. And hopefully before too late when the procrastinators are there. 🤣

We've decided to skip Thanksgiving altogether. We are getting new countertops, sink, and faucet this week and carpet throughout the house next week. Kitchen was supposed to be finished today; however, someone dropped the ball and messed up scheduling so instead of countertops going on yesterday, it's happening today. Then the plumber and backsplash guy need to come. Our project manager is hoping everything flows today and its still finished today, but I don't expect that to happen. I do expect to have countertops and a sink, but we were told the sink has to sit for 24 hours before using so that goes into tomorrow assuming the sink is set today. I asked several times if they're sure they want to start this project Thanksgiving week and they assured me that there would be no problems. The rest of the weekend will be spent boxing up the house for movers to be here early Monday to move things for carpet. This is the state of my kitchen right now.

What are everyone’s thoughts on cooking pumpkin pies ahead of time?

My mom always made hers the day/night before. After they cooked, they sat on the countertop (covered with foil). After Thanksgiving dinner, they’d go in the fridge.

I’ve been reading that pumpkin pie should be refrigerated about two hours after baking.

I want to make mine this afternoon, but I don’t have the space in the fridge for two pies. Thoughts? I can put the baked pies in the garage as a compromise. It’s 39 degrees here today with a feel-like temperature of 28. Tomorrow’s temperatures will be similar. Or would you live dangerously and keep them on the counter?