Thanksgiving Countdown Guide: How To Plan And Cook Your Dinner In 2 Weeks

If you're like many families around America, your Thanksgiving menu doesn't change much from year to year. You eat all of the classics: turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, a variety of casseroles and pie. Whether you keep it simple, decide to try a particular brine on your turkey or get inventive with new casserole recipes, plan your holiday menu and write out your shopping list about two weeks ahead of the big day.

One of the best tips for Thanksgiving grocery shopping is to take a few trips to the store. When you're 10 days out, stock up on non-perishable food items: canned and frozen vegetables, chicken stock (if buying instead of making), stuffing mixes, pasta, rice, canned pumpkin and anything else canned, dried, frozen or preserved you may need.

The best part of Thanksgiving? The leftovers (and all the things you can make with them). Get ready to have tons of turkey and stuffing in your fridge by making sure you have enough plastic food storage containers for yourself and any guests you may have. If you don't, be sure to stock up online or at a local retailer.

Some of the best holiday pies are fruit pies like apple pie, cherry and blackberry. Luckily, you can assemble fruit pies (and pecan pies) as normal and freeze them unbaked before Thanksgiving. To do this, make your pies as normal but stop before adding an egg wash on the top crust, then place in the freezer uncovered until it's frozen and wrap it in plastic wrap. Don't freeze pumpkin pies ahead — you'll have to make those later in the timeline.

Speaking of thawing your turkey, you need to do so at least three days before Thanksgiving, and likely longer, depending on its size. The best way to defrost turkey is by doing it in the fridge. Remove it from the freezer but keep it in its wrapping. Make sure you have plenty of space on the bottom shelf of your fridge, place a baking tray with sides on the shelf, then place the turkey breast-side-up on the tray. You need one day for every 4 pounds of meat, and that does not count Thanksgiving Day itself. A 24-pound turkey will need six days in the fridge, while a 12-pound turkey needs half that time.

You'll have a lot of shopping to do two or three days before Thanksgiving. Stock up on fresh produce, herbs, eggs, milk and butter closer to the holiday so they don't crowd your fridge or go bad. And if you haven't done it yet, three days out is also a good time to stock up on drinks for the holiday, whether you choose to serve beer, wine, soda or cocktails that pair well with dinner.

Yes, you can always just pick up canned cranberry sauce at the grocery store, and that's fine and good. But if you want to go the extra mile, this simple sauce is perhaps the easiest Thanksgiving dish you can make, and it gets better when it sits in your fridge for a couple of days. And if you don't want to stress about making gravy using turkey pan drippings while simultaneously doing 100 other things in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day, you can whip up a make-ahead gravy like this mushroom gravy.

The best Thanksgiving recipes require a lot of chopping — you need tons of diced celery and onions for a classic stuffing and many casserole recipes, and turkeys should be stuffed with cut aromatics like lemon, onion and garlic. Do all of this slicing, chopping and dicing the night before Thanksgiving to save yourself tons of time to focus on bringing dishes together on the day itself.

Getting a lot of prep done on the day before Thanksgiving is what will help to make the holiday itself a breeze. Take the day before to bake your breads, whether you're making simple rolls or a more complex loaf. You can also take the day before to make some snacks to keep you and any guests fueled before dinner itself. Keep it simple. Think deviled eggs, a cheese ball or Southern sausage balls.

No matter how you choose to cook your turkey, this is one thing you have to do on Thanksgiving Day itself. If you're keeping things traditional and roasting your turkey in the oven, how long you need to cook your turkey will depend on its size. You need about one hour for every 4 pounds at 325 degrees, so a 12-pound turkey will take three hours, while a 24-pound bird can take as long as six. 

Don't judge just by time or by the color of your turkey's skin or a pop-up timer. You'll know your turkey is done when you insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh and the breast and it reads 165 degrees.

Stuffing is an integral part of Thanksgiving and is best when made day-of. Take your dried bread, add all of the onions and celery and other veggies you chopped up the night before, season them liberally and coat them in all of that scrumptious homemade chicken stock. A classic stuffing recipe takes about one hour from start to finish.

If you didn't do a make-ahead gravy and want to make the most of your flavorful turkey pan drippings, whip up a savory turkey gravy. Season with whatever herbs you desire — we like herbs de Provence, but thyme, tarragon or even oregano could be scrumptious.

Hosting Thanksgiving is a lot of work, so you deserve to tap into that bar you set up and dive into all of that turkey, casserole and other sides. After all of this, you deserve it.

More from The Daily Meal:

Our Best Holiday Recipes

How to Thaw a Frozen Turkey? And Other Thanksgiving Questions, Answered

The Best Cocktails for the Holiday Season

Easy Casserole Recipes for the Holiday Season

Pumpkin Recipes That Go Beyond the Traditional Pie