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Poll: What items do you cook ahead for T-Day?

Mrs Mungo

By Mrs Mungo,
in The Chat Board

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What items do you cook ahead for T-Day?  

113 members have voted

  1. 1. What items do you cook ahead for T-Day?

    • turkey and/or ham
      12
    • stuffing and/or dressing
      33
    • mashed potatoes
      22
    • sweet potatoes
      29
    • gravy
      7
    • pie
      83
    • other dessert
      51
    • other side dish
      55
    • I make everything on Thanksgiving Day proper
      10
    • I just like to vote in polls
      8
    • Charlie Brown
      13

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Caitilin

Caitilin

Posted
Posted

We make pies, rolls, and cranberry sauce ahead of time. Everything else we do the day of. At this point, with two teen dds to help, plus miscellaneous relatives, it's not a big deal. But I've done everything on the day too, and that's fine. Cooking doesn't stress me, especially since it's the same thing every year. :)

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Element

Element

Posted
Posted

We're buying mostly* pre-made food this year, but in past years I have cooked everything ahead of time except mashed potatoes and gravy. My family is crazy about mashed potatoes and I never trusted that they would stay out of them. :)

 

*I am making a veggie tray and sweet potatoes, both of which I prepared tonight (the night before Thanksgiving.)

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LucyStoner

LucyStoner

Posted
Posted

Pies, cranberry fig port sauce, any bread needed for stuffing or rolls. I prep my veggies ahead the night before and make a brown sauce if we are eating red meat.

 

Tomorrow we are sharing the holiday at some friends' house so we just have pies, sauce and cranberries to do. I am going to do some rolls first thing in the morning. We were sick so I didn't do as much ahead as I would have. The pies are in progress, three down (2 were donations) and 2 to go. The crusts are done, just need to fill.

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zoobie

zoobie

Posted
Posted

I do lots of prep the day before. My sweet potato casserole will be in the fridge, ready to bake. I do the sauce for the green bean casserole. I chop and saute the veggies, make and cube and toast the cornbread, and crumble the sourdough for the dressing. Make the cranberry sauce. Devil the eggs. Make the pies and desserts. Iced tea made. I'll have the roll ingredients ready to go as much as possible. I really need to get off the computer...

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nmoira

nmoira

Posted
Posted

I'm only responsible for the turkey (currently dry brining in the fridge), gravy, and Brussels sprouts, all of which are cooked on the day. All the prep work well be done by tonight though.

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meggie

meggie

Posted
Posted

Mostly I make any side dishes or desserts the day before, if I possibly can. I am making the hashbrown casserole, the green bean casserole, and the spinach dip (well, mixing it up. It will have to be heated tomorrow) tonight. I usually make a pumpkin cheesecake the night before as well, but I'm not making one this year, we have store bought pies, so I'm not worrying about it. Then on Thanksgiving, all I have to do is bake the turkey, then reheat the sides or put the components together and then bake it. We have a teeny tiny galley kitchen, so the less I have to do on the day, the better.

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Jenny in Florida

Jenny in Florida

Posted
Posted

It varies from year to year. Usually, I do the bulk of the cooking on Thanksgiving, although my husband often does a lot of the chopping and prep work on Wednesday if he is home from work early enough to do it.

 

This year, because both kids have places to be tomorrow afternoon and we'll be on an actual schedule, my daughter and I hit the kitchen this afternoon and did the following:

 

- Cooked, mashed and seasoned the sweet potatoes and packed them into their cooking pan.

- Made the applesauce.

- Prepped and sliced the green beans so they can be quickly sautéed.

- Made the cranberry sauce.

- Mixed the margarine/maple spread for the cornbread.

- Mixed the potato pancake stuff.

 

Tomorrow, we'll pop the pre-made stuff in the oven to warm while we watch the parade, and I make the cornbread and mashed potatoes, cook the green beans and fry the potato pancakes during commercials. The plan is to put the meal on the table within 15 minutes of the time Santa's float passes by on TV so that we have time to eat and linger a bit before I have to start running teens all over town.

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Susan in TN

Susan in TN

Posted
Posted

I do very little actual cooking, but I do lots of pre-assembly. In fact, most of it is pre-assembled: apple pie filling, salad dressing, sage dressing, and cheesy broccoli casserole. I do bake the pumpkin pie the day before.

 

Several items are simply put into a baking dish after (ahem) opening a can (cranberries, sweet potatoes). Dinner rolls are pre-made.

 

And Julia Child said there is absolutely nothing wrong with instant mashed potatoes.

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DarlaS

DarlaS

Posted
Posted

We make pies, rolls, and cranberry sauce ahead of time. Everything else we do the day of. At this point, with two teen dds to help, plus miscellaneous relatives, it's not a big deal. But I've done everything on the day too, and that's fine. Cooking doesn't stress me, especially since it's the same thing every year. :)

I do the same three things. Today though, I didn't do the cranberry sauce. I'll get to it in the morning.

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bobbeym

bobbeym

Posted
Posted

This is the first year I've cooked potatoes ahead of time.  The sweet potatoes came out great last night.  Not sure the russets are going to work so well.  I may be glad I bought 2 bags of potatoes last week, but I'll let them finish cooking before I make a rash decision.  

 

My pumpkin pie looks fantastic, but I burnt my knuckle on the cookie sheet while messing with the apple.  Burnt part of a towel too b/c all my potholders seem to have gone missing.  DS better REALLY appreciate his pie this year!

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texasmama

texasmama

Posted
Posted

I made two pies and cranberry salad today. I will make the turkey breast, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole tomorrow because those items need to be hot and I hate reheating. We will be going to a family member's house. I have made the sweet potato casserole ahead of time in past years and then cooked it the day of and that worked well. Just didn't get to it this year.

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msjones

msjones

Posted
Posted

I do almost all the sides ahead of time.  I use the America's Test Kitchen Make-Ahead Cookbook recipes and they are all excellent.  I just cannot do it all on the day-of;  I'd be way too grumpy by mealtime.  I admire those of you who have the fortitude to host and cook such a big meal on the same day.  

 

This way, all that's left is the turkey, lots of reheating, whipping the cream, and beverages.  

 

It is my favorite meal of the year!  

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swellmomma

swellmomma

Posted
Posted

If I made my own pies I do them the day before.  But I cheat and just buy those.  Everything else gets done the day of.  When my mom used to host for a huge group she would cook the turkey, stuffing and gravy on the day of, and buy the pumpin pie. My sister would do the ham and one of the potatoes and I would do the other potatoes(we liked having both regular mashed and sweet potatoes) and the veggies, and bring the buns.  My brother would bring his skor trifle we all love, sil's apple crisp and the wine.  So everything would get done the day of but not all by the same person.  We would all decend onto mom's house and have a whole feast ready for when everyone else arrived.  Now I just cook it for the 5 of us so not nearly as much to prepare.  It ends up being just like any other big Sunday dinner here.

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Mom0012

Mom0012

Posted
Posted

My mom, sister and I got together and made 2 kinds of sweet potato pies, stuffing, an appetizer, a pumpkin pie, cranberry relish, and peeled all the mashed potatoes (which are soaking in water) yesterday within a couple of hours. My SIL will be bringing a couple of dishes today and my mom will be bringing a couple of extra pies. Many hands make light work.

 

The only thing I am not looking forward to making today is gravy.

 

Eta: We didn't actually cook anything but the pie. Everything was just put together and is ready to go in the oven.

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DawnM

DawnM

Posted
Posted

I meant to make a few things yesterday but didn't.

 

I don't make pies, ever.  I don't' particularly care for pie, so it is one thing I buy.  Costco has some good pies so I see no need to slave over them.

 

What I am taking today really could only be partially put together before today, so waiting wasn't a problem.

 

I am making TODAY:  green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn, and mashed potatoes.

 

My friend will make the turkey, stuffing, two pies, and cranberry relish

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MomOfOneFunOne

MomOfOneFunOne

Posted
Posted

AMDG

 

I voted "I just like to vote . . ." B/c we almost always go camping for Thanksgiving and I love cooking over the campfire so I prep before as little as possible.

 

For the second time in 20 years, we're not camping. At the last minute we changed plans and decided on a road trip. It was so last minute we didnt even pack snacks. Our camp destination is 3 hrs from home and we can all easily go w/o a snack so I didn't have any prepared. Our road trip destination is . . . Oof, hard to say . . .about 10 hours from home so, we missed the snacks . . . An amish bakery kept us from resorting to cannibalism.

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