Updated Sep. 14, 2019.  Originally published Nov. 18, 2006.

As Thanksgiving approaches (here in the U.S.), many people will be preparing for hosting Thanksgiving Dinner. If you find yourself inclined to panic, try these tips — and this printable Thanksgiving meal planner — to minimize holiday stress.  (By the way, these same principles will work for Christmas dinner, a Passover seder, or any other large holiday meal.)

1. Schedule your meal preparation.

Beginning with the longest-cooking item on the menu (for most people, probably a turkey), count backward from the time you hope to eat. If your turkey will take six hours to cook and you want to eat at 6:00, you will need to have it in the oven by noon (or, rather, a little earlier, to allow for unstuffing, slicing, etc.). Write this down!

One by one, add each remaining dish to your list.

(Don’t forget to allow time for preparing the stuffing and stuffing the turkey, which actually come before the turkey starts cooking.)

GET THE THANKSGIVING MEAL PLANNER

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2. Be sure you have appropriate serving dishes and utensils.

I like to make note on my schedule/checklist of what dishes I will use to serve each item on the dinner menu. This way, if you need to buy or borrow something, you know that and have time to sort it out.

3. Buy enough turkey (early enough!).

A good rule of thumb is 1 pound per person. (Although there is more meat per pound on a larger bird than on a smaller bird so, if it’s a very large bird, you can get away with a bit less.) In general, expect it to take 15-20 minutes per pound to roast a turkey at 350 degrees, plus 25% if it’s stuffed.

Theoretically, it takes a day to thaw a frozen bird in the refrigerator for each five pounds. It has always taken longer for my turkeys to thaw, so I recommend giving it an extra day. (It’s not fun trying to prepare and stuff a half-frozen bird!)  If you’re not planning that far ahead, your best bet is to find a fresh, not frozen, turkey, so it doesn’t need thawing.

4. Don’t delegate any critical part of the meal to someone you aren’t confident will actually show up.

If you are inviting guests for Thanksgiving dinner, and they are helping provide the food, consider how dependable their presence is.  If you have reason to believe a particular guest is very likely to bail at the last minute, ask this person to bring an extra drink, dessert, etc. — something you could do without if necessary.

5. If you want a really moist turkey, cook it “upside down”

…That is, breast side down. The turkey does not come out as pretty this way but if your family usually carves it before bringing it to the table, this doesn’t really matter. With a smaller turkey, you can start it breast side down and flip it after an hour-and-a-half or so; with a really big turkey it just isn’t feasible to flip it.

6. Don’t get too stressed cooking the meal to enjoy it!

If dinner is late, it’s late; you’ll still eat. 🙂  Just roll with it, and enjoy the meal and the company.

BONUS: My Printable Holiday/Thanksgiving Meal Planner

This printable holiday meal planner makes it easy to keep track of the “countdown” as noted in #1 above.  Follow the instructions at the top to fill out the chart, then stick it on your refrigerator or otherwise keep it handy to use as a meal preparation checklist throughout the day on Thanksgiving (or Christmas or Passover or whatever holiday you’re cooking for).

It can also be filled out on the computer before printing, which you might want to do if you make the same things every year and want a “pretty” copy to just keep in your household notebook.

GET THE HOLIDAY MEAL PLANNER