Here are all my daily lists for preparing for Thanksgiving. I’ve gathered them together from all over this site so you can use them if you want to. The lists start on Friday, November 19th and go through Thanksgiving Day, November 25th this year, 2021.
You can print this page out and use these lists, adding your own notes, to help you prepare.
Friday, November 19th
Finish making pie crusts for the freezer
Make cornbread and biscuits for dressing, crumble and freeze in plastic bags
Grocery shop for non-perishables
Clean bathroom and do general straightening in the house
Saturday, November 20th
Take turkeys out to defrost
Grocery shop for perishables
Cleaning and laundry
Monday, November 22nd
Check on turkeys as they defrost
Clean dining room, put out plates, utensils, etc.
Set out all casserole dishes, pots and pans, see if I have what I need to cook everything
Make Aunt Eura’s Yeast Rolls and put in freezer
Make Cranberry Relish, refrigerate
Tuesday, November 23rd
Brine the turkeys. I’ll use the Traditional Turkey recipe this year!
Assemble casseroles and refrigerate (sweet potato, green bean, any casserole that does not contain breads, baking soda or baking powder.)
Make a Breakfast Casserole for Thursday, freeze or refrigerate
Wednesday, November 24th
Take Breakfast casserole out of freezer
Bake pies
Make dressing and refrigerate
Make salads
Roast turkey, carve, refrigerate in chicken broth
Make centerpieces
Do last minute laundry
Thursday, November 25th – Thanksgiving Day
Put Breakfast casserole in to bake
Take pies and yeast rolls out of freezer early
Make stuffing
Make mashed potatoes
Reheat turkey
Bake casseroles
Bake yeast rolls
Make gravy
Dinner is ready!
Back to All My Turkey Helps
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
Wow! I LOVE the idea of making the turkey ahead of time. It always takes so long to let it set and cool down and then everyone has to wait for you to carve it. What a great idea! This is such a great planner. I have so many applications of your plan going through my head right now. Thanks, Sylvia! Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Thank you so much for commenting, I hope you ejoy using the planner this year 😀
Thank you for sharing your lists. Can you please tell me how you reheat the turkey? I worry that it will dry out if I make it ahead of time. Thanks 🙂
Theresa,
You will carve the turkey and place it in an oven-proof pan or casserole dish, cover the turkey with chicken or turkey broth, then cover the pan tightly and refrigerate. Then to reheat, I place the covered pan of turkey in the oven while I am baking pies and other dishes, so the temperature is usually 350*F. I allow the turkey to reheat for about 35 minutes. If you use a lower temp, you’ll leave it in longer. You can always open the pan and check the turkey to see if its hot enough.
Let me know if you have other questions.
Thank you! Sounds so easy 🙂
Theresa recently posted..Veterans Day Hodgepodge
Knowing when to do what is always a problem to me. I would love to have a stress-free holiday meal but I always end up in a frenzy, trying to remember what needs to be done and when. I also downloaded and printed out your Thanksgiving Planner. Thanks for all you do for us.
Diane, I hope the planner is a big help to you. I always had trouble getting it all together too, so that’s why I figured out how to do it and wrote the planner.