Hosting Thanksgiving? This Timeline Will Help You Plan Your Feast

As part of our 52 Days of Thanksgiving, we’re giving you all the tools and tips to pull off the best Thanksgiving ever, from setting a stylish table to curating the ultimate menu. Sign up for emails here to unlock the secrets of planning the most memorable feast of the year.

---

We’re still two-ish months away from Thanksgiving, but for many holiday hosts, planning has already begun. The biggest question? How to manage several dishes—and guests—at once. To ease some of that anxiety around planning and executing this major feast, we asked two experts—Food52’s Food Stylist Anna Billingskog and Resident Erin Jeanne McDowell —for their best Thanksgiving hosting advice. Based on their tips, we created the following timeline to help you tackle planning, prepping, and cooking for the big day.

2+ Weeks Before

• Get planning. “It's always great to do things ahead if you can, but I also think realistically, a lot of folks at home don't necessarily have a ton of freezer or long term storage space,” said Erin. “I think the most important thing isn't making things ahead of time, but rather making a plan ahead of time. Get your menu finalized, assign guests any dishes they need to bring potluck style, make a detailed grocery list. I even like to plan which platters and serving utensils I'll use. Having all those things in place makes it a lot easier to just focus on the cooking when it's finally time to prepare the meal.”

2 Weeks to 5 Days Before

• Start shopping. Anna recommends shopping for dry ingredients, nonperishables, and frozen ingredients about two weeks before the big day. However, for fresh ingredients, you can wait a little longer: “Honestly, I wouldn't recommend shopping more than five days out for fresh things—but that’s just me!” she said.

3 Days Before

• Prep pie dough. Erin says that pie dough can be prepped and kept in the fridge, wrapped tightly, up to three days ahead of time—any longer and “the butter may begin to oxidize, which can cause the dough to turn an unpleasant, grayish color,” explained Erin. Alternatively, if you have the freezer space, you can make pie dough weeks (even months ahead), and keep it frozen. “I wrap disks tightly in plastic wrap, then store in an airtight container to give extra protection against drying out or freezer burn,” she said. “Defrost it in the refrigerator overnight before using.”

2 Days Before

• Parbake pie crusts. For pies that require you to parbake the crust, Erin recommends completing that step the day before you finish baking them (which we’ll be doing the next day—see more on that below).
• Season your bird. If you want a flavorful turkey, don’t wait until the last minute to season it. Whether you’re brining it or using a dry-rub, Anna recommends starting the process two days in advance.
• Start prepping sides. “Tip your green beans, and blanch and shock them,” said Anna. “Cube and dry out bread for stuffing. Peel and slice your potatoes, if you must—just hold them covered in some cold water so they don’t oxidize.”

The Day Of

• Cook the turkey. Perhaps this is obvious, but the most important thing to make on Thanksgiving day is, probably, the turkey itself.
• Make fresh sides. This includes salads, but also roasting the Brussels sprouts, mashing the potatoes, and assembling and baking the stuffing you started prepping in the days before.
• Finish up dessert. Though your pies are baked, you might still need to finish those final details that are best made right before serving, like a batch of fresh whipped cream.

More from Food52

• Our 52 Most Popular Products of All Time
• 10 Dansk Pieces Made for Fall Entertaining (and Curling up at Home)
• Our Favorite Fall Baking Recipes
• 19 Essentials for Setting a Modern Farmhouse Table

---

How do you prep for Thanksgiving? Share in the comments!