From burnt pumpkin pies (thanks, Marie Callender) to deep frying disasters, Thanksgiving day can be a landmine for the best of us. After all, the pressure of perfecting a meal, hosting family and friends and managing all of the cleanup is no walk in the park.
The good news? Just a few Thanksgiving dinner hacks could take your feast from fail to fabulous.
Whether you’re hosting your first Thanksgiving dinner or your fiftieth, it never hurts to learn a few new hacks. Read on for some of our favorite Thanksgiving dinner pro tips to make your home happy for the holiday.
Thanksgiving Dinner Hacks – Before the Event
Preparation is key! You’ll need to ensure everything is ready before the first guest even arrives.
Tend to the Guest Room
Speaking of guests, you can start by stocking their rooms. After all, once you start brining the turkey, you probably won’t have the capacity to make up a bed or clear out their closet.
In addition to the basics, Martha Stewart’s tips for going above and beyond include:
- Providing a welcome basket, complete with snacks, water, over-the-counter medications, and wifi information.
- Creating a warm and welcoming environment with scented candles and calming overhead lighting.
- Providing multiple types of chargers, a reading lamp and a trinket dish on the nightstand.
Build a Playlist
In the same vein, you certainly won’t have time to run between the kitchen and the sound system all day long. Consider the guest list, schedule of events and the tone you want to set throughout the day. Then, build lists accordingly.
If you aren’t particularly into music, or if you’re just not up to this task with everything else on your plate, you can always opt for a pre-made list on Spotify, Apple Music and beyond.
Plan the Tablescape
You’ve likely thought long and hard about the food you’ll prepare, but what about the dishware you’ll enjoy it on? Dinner and serve ware can make or break an event. Looking to build your dishware and decor collection on a budget? Head to flea markets and secondhand stores for your own unique tablescape.
While you’re at it, collect some tasteful linens, flatware, centerpiece materials and even a few fun extras, like festive place cards. After all, a stunning backdrop will only help your dishes sing.
Prep the Food
Want to have more time to enjoy with family and friends on the delicious day? Think about preparing any food possible throughout the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Chop the celery, shred the carrots, make the pie dough and mix the brine well before it’s time to cook them. Be sure to cover and refrigerate your prepped items properly so that they stay fresh for the feast.
Thanksgiving Dinner Hacks – During the Event
Once you’ve successfully prepped, it’s time for the main event.
Use Square and Rectangle Pans
This Thanksgiving, we’re thankful for geometry. When you opt for square and rectangular pans, you’re able to fit more in the oven. That’s precious real estate when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner.
Holiday pies may be the only exception, but if you want to get creative with dessert as well, experiment away!
Tidy as You go
Professional chefs across the globe live by the “clean as you go” rule, one of Julia Child’s core principles. Essentially, tidying a bit as you cook ensures your workspace stays sanitary and makes cleaning up at the end far easier.
A few of Julia Child’s specific recommendations include:
- Leave a pot of simmering water on the stove to sanitize your cooking tools quickly and easily.
- Keep bleach easily accessible to disinfect anything that comes in contact with raw meat.
- Wet a kitchen towel and keep it on hand to wipe up any spills or residue before they dry.
You can even take a page from Rachael Ray’s book and keep a small trash receptacle on the counter, making it easier to toss and go without dripping across the kitchen floor. Essentially, with just a few small tweaks to your cooking habits, you could enjoy a cleaner kitchen both during and after Thanksgiving dinner.
Use Your Meat Thermometer Like A Pro
Did you know that there’s a right way and wrong way to use a meat thermometer? While it may seem self-explanatory, proper use of a meat thermometer is critical when it comes to food safety.
To properly measure the temperature of your meats:
- Ensure you have the right kind of thermometer on hand. Bimetallic and bulb thermometers are both standard, manual thermometers, but they tend to take longer to measure, may be less accurate and can break easily. Digital instant-read thermometers and digital probe thermometers are more expensive, but they’re far more sophisticated.
- Fine tune your thermometer. Whichever you choose, ensure the thermometer is clean, dry and ready for action. Calibrate the thermometer by dipping it in a cup of ice water. Ensure the readout is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. If the thermometer is off, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions to troubleshoot.
- Once it’s in working order, insert the thermometer in the thickest area, being careful to avoid fat or bone. To get an accurate reading, you’ll need to insert it at least half an inch but, if you have a large or thick piece of meat, like a whole turkey, you may need to go deeper.
- Watch the readout as you insert the probe. You should see the number dropping as you near the center of the meat so, if it starts to tick back up, you’ve gone too deep.
- Continually check the temperature of your meats. For something as large as a turkey, you’ll want to start temperature checks about 30 minutes before it’s supposed to be done.
- Cook until you near the temperature indicated in the recipe. When in doubt, refer to a food safety chart.
- Keep in mind that meats will continue cooking even after you remove them from a heat source, a phenomenon called carryover cooking. To avoid overcooking your bird, consider removing the turkey when the temperature reaches five degrees less than the typical doneness temperature.
- Let the meat rest for five to ten minutes so the temperature can continue rising.
- Carve and enjoy!
Thanksgiving Dinner Hacks – After the Event
Unfortunately, once the pie is sliced and the plates have been licked clean, you’re still not quite done.
Box up Leftovers
In the spirit of giving, consider sending guests home with some of the leftovers. Be sure to give each guest an extra helping of the dish they seemed to enjoy the most, and label everything, to prevent any mix-ups.
Pro tip? Instead of giving away all of your Tupperware, invest in some disposable takeout containers. By standardizing the containers, you can better ensure that each guest receives a similar amount of food and, if you’re worried about waste, there are now dozens of eco-friendly options on the market. Plus, you won’t be running around town tracking down all of your containers!
Properly Dispose of Turkey Drippings
Once the turkey has been picked clean, you’ll need to ensure that the drippings are taken care of. While it may seem obvious, you should never put any grease (or potato peels, poultry skin, or bones) down the garbage disposal.
Instead, pour them into a can or jar with a tight lid (if you added some pickles to your appetizer spread, you might have the perfect receptacle all set). Place the can or jar in the fridge until the grease solidifies. Then, toss the whole thing in the trash can – lid on.
Store Holiday Decor
Before you pull out the stockings and holiday lights, ensure your Thanksgiving decor is properly stored away. Your future self is sure to thank you.
Our top tips for effective holiday decor storage include:
- Round up any decorative items and make two piles: decorations that you love, and decorations that need a new home. Keep only those pieces that are truly special and sell or donate the rest.
- Mindfully package decor. This may include wrapping in tissue paper, newspaper or bubble wrap.
- Commit to a storage method, whether that’s stacking plastic bins or classic cardboard boxes.
- Develop and implement an organization method. You could color coordinate holidays or even organize by room, taking a photo of your set up and taping it to the corresponding bin so you can easily pull out and recreate next year.
- Make the most of your space. Store small decorations in larger ones, neatly wind strings of lights and fold festive linens.
- Add labels to each box. These should indicate the corresponding holiday as well as list out contents.
- Stash boxes in a safe place. Ensure they’ll stay clean and dry until next year.
Thanksgiving Dinner Hacks – Start Planning for Next Year
When all the leftovers have been stashed away and the final dish is clean, take some time to determine what went well and what went wrong. Make a list and store it somewhere safe. After all, it’s never too early to start thinking about Thanksgiving 2023!
Published on November 21, 2022
