If you are in charge of cooking dinner this Thanksgiving, you should know that it is not an easy task. Between roasting a juicy turkey to finding room to cook all the side dishes on the stove to rolling endless amounts of pie dough, you are probably going to appreciate some help. Here are some Thanksgiving dinner shortcuts to save you time.
Related: Talking Thanksgiving Prep with Nicole Sassaman
Thanksgiving Dinner Shortcuts to Save You Time
Tablecloth
Many of us think that we have to spend all kinds of time ironing the tablecloth so it looks perfect for Thanksgiving dinner. News flash: no one is going to see the center of the table once the centerpiece and dishes are in place. So, all you really need to do is to iron the sides and the corners.
Turkey
The turkey is the one thing that takes the most time on Thanksgiving. Why not save yourself some time and buy a turkey that is already pre-cooked. You an order one ahead of time and just heat and serve. You won’t need to deal with cleaning, stuffing, seasoning and basting.
Sides
Did you know that you can save 45 minutes of precious time by ordering your holiday sides from your grocer’s deli or a local restaurant? You can order everything from mashed potatoes to yams to stuffing and you won’t have to spend time peeling, slicing and dicing. The good thing about these sides is that they are already cooked so all you have to do is heat and serve.
Related: Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipe: Grilled Peppers Hors D’oeuvre
Green bean casserole
If you need to oven to cook the turkey or something else, make your green bean casserole in the slow cooker. Just throw all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook for about 7 hours on low setting.
Pie crust
Making homemade pies take so much time with all the rolling you have to do with the dough. Instead, use frozen pie crusts to make your pies. You can really use any pre-made pie crust but the frozen ones already come in a pie pan. Display your pies on Thanksgiving-themed plates for a nice touch.
These Thanksgiving dinner shortcuts will save you oodles of time in the kitchen on the holiday, which means more time for you to relax with your family! After all, that’s what Thanksgiving is really all about!
These are great tips for shortcuts to save you time at when preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I bake my own turkey but I use a cooking bag which save a couple hours anyway. I am going to try the green bean casserole in the crock pot this year because it would be so full of flavor in the crock pot. Thanks for sharing the tips.
The Turkey Dish is so easy and cool. Thank you for sharing.
I never thought of buying a pre-cooked turkey. Normally we fight for space in the freezer for the weeks coming up to Thanksgiving or Christmas. My family usually brings over sides, but its always at our house every year. I never really get a break from doing it anymore. Great tips here though! Our cheat is just buying the buy, not making it ourselves! LOL!
Great ideas! I like to make only the turkey breast that saves time and also money since anyway my family only likes the white meat
I have made greenbeans in a slowcooker, I love this idea. I am ready for these shortcuts.
Aren’t they awesome and life savers?
I am trying to get my Mom to agree to cook us Thanksgiving this year being as she just moved into a spanky new place. Lol.
These are great shortcuts! I would have never thought to throw the green bean casserole into the slow cooker!
Time saving? Yes please! I love the one about using frozen pie crusts. I batch pretty much all I do and I always have some frozen in the freezer.
Such great tips, just in time for Thanksgiving. I am certainly going to try some of these this year.
These are all cool tricks for such a busy day. Thanks for sharing them!
This is A great way to save time, i love celebrating thanksgiving. Thanks for your tips.
Love this, love thanksgiving and love the short cut tips! I am definitely going to use some of these!
This year we try to host. so i really love your tips and save more time. Thanks for sharing
Ooh great ideas. I’m hoping to make this a Thanksgiving to remember! I wouldn’t mind cutting down the prep time though/.
Great time saving tips. Safeway has a entire dinner you can buy and you only have to cook the turkey for 2 hours and then heat everything else up.
This year I am so happy someone else will be making the turkey and I am excited to help someone else clean up.
we usually go to my aunts house but this year I am hosting here and we are super excited for that.
I would have never thought to make my green bean casserole in my slow cooker. Thanks for the tip and all of the others. I’ve got to make several dishes this weekend (green bean casserole is one of them) for our reunion and now I know how to juggle it all.
I usually host some friends and family at two different meals so I can use all the time saving ideas I can get. Thanks! I have thought about getting the sides premade. I think I will do that this year.
We host every year, so I love your tips to save some time! I will try some of these.