Preparation Guide for Thanksgiving (Helpful checklist and Tips)

It truly is hard to believe that October is over and November is already here! Yes, I’m one of the crazies who decorates before Thanksgiving. Trust me though, Thanksgiving gets almost as much time and energy as Christmas does, at least in regards to planning. Join me as I share my preparation guide for Thanksgiving that includes a helpful checklist and plenty of tips!

The first thing I want to cover is my Thanksgiving preparation checklist and timeline. We are only three weeks away from Thanksgiving (crazy, right?!), but that doesn’t mean you should begin freaking out if you haven’t started planning yet. The previous seven years, I worked as a teacher while working a part-time job and taking graduate school classes. My job was incredibly stressful and I had almost no time to plan out life events. There was almost no preparation for Thanksgiving, and definitely no checklist or guide!

A lot was done on the fly, and to say I was stressed is an understatement. Food was never prepared on time and I probably spent a lot more money than I should have. Now, not only do I have a job that involves very little stress, I also work a hybrid schedule. This makes grocery shopping a lot easier. I usually like to go early on Friday mornings when there are very few people and everything has been restocked (Try it sometime – I don’t think you’ll regret it!). Not only do I give you a rather detailed timeline and checklist, but I give you some tips that will save you money, time, and sanity along the way to help you actually enjoy the day without running around in a frenzy all week.

Table of Contents

Thanksgiving Planning and Preparation Timeline

6-8 Weeks Before Thanksgiving

Begin brainstorming ideas
Determine guest list
Create menu
Determine an approximate budget

4-6 Weeks Before Thanksgiving

Begin cleaning early and/or create a cleaning schedule
Create a food list (Look at every recipe and write down every food item you’ll need for that recipe)
Take inventory of the items you already have and cross them off your food list
Create a grocery list with needed items
Price compare grocery items online
Write down grocery item prices
Determine which items can be bought well in advance, like canned goods and frozen food. Buy those items as early as possible
Determine which items can only be bought 1-2 weeks out
Split your items up equally and incorporate them into your grocery list as early as 4-5 weeks prior to Thanksgiving week
Purchase your food items and store them separately from your regular grocery items (if you have the room to do this; if not, you can simply label the items you are using for Thanksgiving)
Make a list of supplies needed. This includes everything from dishes and utensils to tableware, butter dishes, and drink dispensers.

3-4 Weeks Before Thanksgiving

Begin to think of entertainment and ambience
Create a playlist to set the mood
Inventory the supplies you already have
Make a list of supply items you need to buy
Make a price list ahead of time for the supply items you need
Purchase the supply items you need
Create a cooking schedule

1-2 Weeks Before Thanksgiving

Consider baking pies and freezing them if you can
Have all non-perishable grocery items purchased
Clean out your cabinets
Clean out your fridge and freezer

Week of Thanksgiving

Gather any supplies you will be using and set them out (is possible)
Gather and organize ingredients
Thaw the turkey
Begin making/prepping food items that can be made ahead/frozen

Day Before Thanksgiving

Set up your table
Pick up any food you ordered
Bake those pies!
Declutter and light clean

Thanksgiving Day

Stick to your cooking schedule and begin cooking
Cook the turkey
Open bottles of wine to let them breathe
Get yourself ready
Enjoy your delicious food!

Download a FREE copy of my Thanksgiving Preparation Checklist!

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Tips for Planning Thanksgiving Dinner

Begin preparations early (6-8 weeks is a good starting point)

Life is always less stressful when you plan ahead! Planning for Thanksgiving two months ahead may seem early, but trust me, you will be glad you did. Even if you aren’t planning the nitty gritty details at this point, you can at least create your guest list, Thanksgiving menu, and begin brainstorming ideas for your table and other decorations you may want to use. If you are a routine person who likes to keep things the same year after year, consider creating a recurring menu that has some of your Thanksgiving favorites on it. Typical staples include mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce (It’s totally ok if you like the stuff from the can because I do, too!).

Get as organized as possible by using checklists, grocery lists, and inventories

I use a calendar, checklists, food lists, grocery lists, grocery price comparison lists, supplies lists, inventory sheets, and a cooking schedule. Maybe it’s overkill, but to me, using all of these is a sanity saver. I’m the type of person who needs to be hyper-organized or we’d probably end up eating an hour after we planned to. I begin with the big picture of something like a menu and then work my way down into the details, creating a food list with everything ingredient I use. From there, I create an inventory of what items I already have and won’t need to buy. Doing this helps me formulate my grocery list, which I then split up into items I plan to buy ahead and ones I can’t buy until one to two weeks out. In order to be financially conscious, I then price compare items to get the best deals.

I actually split up my Thanksgiving grocery items and give each item a date. I then incorporate those items into my regular grocery list. This has saved so much time and money because I don’t feel like I’m spending so much extra and I’m not waiting until the week before to purchase every item. After each grocery trip, I then keep my receipt, highlight each item I bought for Thanksgiving, check it off my food list, and then calculate how much money I spent on Thanksgiving food items during that trip. When all the items are purchased, I’ll add up everything to see how much I spent on Thanksgiving food. This year, we’re also having a Thanksgiving family celebration the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I’m adding those expenses in as well.

Create a cooking schedule.

If this is something you’ve never done before, I highly recommend it. It takes some detailed planning to do this, but it will keep you sane and moving on Thanksgiving day. Currently, I use a quarter-hour planner that I found on WorksheetWorks. You can decide the date, time range, how many days of planners you want, and layout options.

To create a cooking schedule, you’ll first want to look at your menu and its corresponding recipe. Some recipes, like stuffing, require you to prepare ingredients at least a day in advance. From there, you can begin to determine when things need to happen. This will help you when figuring out what recipes to prepare in advance. Items like pies and breads can even be frozen at least a week ahead of Thanksgiving. I first begin by writing down the steps to each recipe and then begin coordinating all of the steps. This is really important when you have multiple recipes going in the oven. Consider preparing mashed potatoes early since you can keep those warmed in a crockpot. Also make note of different oven temperatures and cook times when creating your cooking schedule.

Reuse items you already have.

I have only been hosting now for about a year, so I’ve only begun to procure items that I can use over again. In September I hosted a Cozy Fall Dinner Party for my family and I’ll be using the same centerpiece as I did for that party, so I won’t have to buy any new items. I also have leftover tableware items, so again, I won’t have to purchase any of those. For all my hosting needs, I created a “hostess bin” which contains party items like tableware, cups, seasonal serving plates, and decorations. I’m not at the point of separating things out by season, but it’s nice to have everything organized into one bin (not saying the items in the bin are actually organized!).

Source supplies from thrift stores.

It’s so tempting to click your way through Amazon. Let’s be real, buying stuff online makes things so easy; however, it’s not always cost effective. If you’re out running errands and you have your supplies list with you, stop in some thrift stores to check out what items they have. You will typically find china and tableware items that you can purchase for a fraction of the cost that you would in a box store and even on Amazon. Most thrift stores also support local organizations and ministries, so you can feel good about shopping there. It’s also a lot of fun to see what items they’ll carry. It’s like going on a treasure hunt because you never know what you might find!

Clean as you go.

I have found it is a lot less stressful to clean as you go. Maybe you’re telling yourself, “But I just don’t have the time.” Try rephrasing that and saying, “But I just didn’t make the time.” Did you scroll through social media? Watch TV or YouTube? Did you sit on your couch? Trust me, you probably had a few extra minutes in your day that you could have used to clean, but just didn’t want to. It’s truly about prioritizing. If you’re not taking the time to clean, it’s more than likely because you didn’t make it a priority in your day. You don’t have to be fanatical about cleaning, but if you just budget out a few minutes each day, you’ll notice how much cleaner your house appears to be.

Consider buying turkey that’s already prepared.

My mom has always been the one to cook the turkey in our family. I’m more of the cook than she is, but I’ve been slightly intimidated at the thought of thawing and cooking a large bird. She’s seriously become a pro at it. This year, however, she’s having a knew replacement at the beginning of November and won’t be in any shape to cook a turkey.

Because of this, and knowing I’m doing pretty much all of the cooking by myself (except for maybe the help of my future husband), I decided to buy pre-cooked turkey breast. But not just any turkey, no. We will be purchasing from Honeybaked Ham. We get our Christmas ham from them every year, and if their turkey tastes as amazing as their ham does, I may not ever cook a turkey! While we’ll be getting less meat than an entire bird will feed, we’ll be spending less money and won’t have to worry about wasting food.

Decorate and set up ahead of time.

For dinner parties, I learned a great tip is to set up your table a day in advance. It’s a genius idea! That way, when I running around and cooking all morning, I know the table is already set. I set up the tableware and centerpiece and also set the dishes on the table that we’ll be serving the food in. This helps to determine how much space on the table we’ll need for all of the dishes. I also set up everything on the counters that we’ll need to have ready, like drink dispensers and appetizers.

Price compare your grocery items.

I cannot say it enough: Price compare your grocery items for your Thanksgiving dinner! Price comparing takes a little extra time, but can save a LOT of money in the long run. Most grocery stores have an online search component where you can find prices in real time. When I price compare, I look at three stores: Walmart, Aldi, and Giant (a local grocery store chain). I determine which item is going to cost the least amount and obviously plan to purchase it at that store. If I’m only finding very few items at one store (fewer than 10-15), I’ll end up skipping that store and I’ll then find those items at the next cheapest store. Keep in mind, if you are planning ahead, be careful, as prices can change regularly. You want to price compare your items as close to the date as your planning to purchase them.

Separate Thanksgiving food items from regular cooking items.

When I make my weekly grocery list, I place an asterisk next to the Thanksgiving food items. This helps me cross-check my Thanksgiving food list and keep items organized. Once I bring the items into my apartment, I separate them and place them in a separate spot. Some items, like baking ingredients, I feel don’t need to be separated because I’ll be baking other holiday treats throughout the season and it’d be silly to keep those separate, but specialty items like fancy honey mustard, novelty crackers, and chili sauce get their own spot in my cupboard. If you don’t have the space to separate them, take a sticky note or label and write “For Thanksgiving” on the item.

Do as much cooking ahead of time as possible.

While cooking ahead is such a stress reliever when Thanksgiving day arrives, it does take some planning. This is why it’s important to create calendars, lists, and schedules, so you can prepare for when you plan to cook certain food items ahead of time. As I previously mentioned, foods like pies can be baked at least a week in advance, mashed potatoes can be made the morning of and kept warm in the crockpot, stuffing can be prepared the evening before and baked the day of, and most food can be cooked and then kept warm in the oven at around 200 degrees F. You can plan to have as much food prepped as possible and keep it warm the last 30 minutes while you finalize the details before serving everything.

Delegate and get others to help.

Yikes, this might be a tough one for some of you to read. Trust me, it’s tough for me! When it comes to events and hosting, I don’t like to delegate. I like for things to be just so, exactly the way I envision them, from the decorations to the food and everything in between. However, delegating saves you a lot of time.

A good tip is to find what someone is good at or find a recipe they’re know for and have them own that specific thing. If your Aunt Joan makes the best dinner rolls you’ve ever eaten, have her bring them instead of you taking the time to make them. Have children help set the table and decorate and complete simple tasks that won’t make you stressful. Ask one or two people to come early to help with any last-minute tasks like mixing drinks or setting out bread, butter, and condiments.

Consider making it a (semi) potluck.

If you’re a control freak like me, this also might be hard for you. But if you’re willing to give up the control freak tendencies to save you some time then do that. Save your absolute favorites for yourself and have others bring seasonal favorites. You can ask for them to use a specific recipe (if you are comfortable doing that) or you can trust them with their own version! Drinks are a great thing to have others bring, especially ones that involve alcohol, ensuring you’ll not only save time but also a good chunk of money.

Create a Thanksgiving Preparation Calendar.

Similar to my cooking schedule, I print out a physical calendar from Print-A-Calendar for the months of October and November. I keep a separate one because my daily planner is already filled and it would become really confusing for me.

In the calendars I print out, I keep things pretty generic and write down overall tasks like “Pick up the turkey,” “Bake pies,” and “Set the dinner table.” I keep it generic because my more detailed lists and schedules allow me to take a deeper dive into each task, but I have a calendar with generic tasks on it to keep me organized with what is occurring on each day.

Well, there you have it! I hope you were able to get some ideas for how to create a detailed preparation checklist and timeline for Thanksgiving. When it comes down to it, the farther out you can plan, the more at ease you’ll feel when that turkey gets placed on the table. More than anything, have fun with it and make planning your own!

Preparation Guide for Thanksgiving (Helpful checklist and Tips)