Does the thought of Thanksgiving stress you out? It has stressed me out in the past, but as I learn to plan ahead better and be more organized, Thanksgiving is becoming more of what it was intended to be rather than a day full of wondering if the food will get on the table on time or if I have all the serving utensils I need.

Here are a few tips to help you plan ahead for Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday rather than stressing out.

1.  Finish up your fall cleaning

You don’t want to washing curtains and windows the day before Thanksgiving. It will more likely than not be too cold; plus, there will be more important tasks to accomplish the day before Thanksgiving.

You want your heavy cleaning tasks to be complete to have something completely off your mind.

You may not have time or energy to deep clean everything, but I encourage you to have as clean a kitchen as possible.

Tip: give yourself a deadline to have the fall cleaning complete. You will want to give yourself at least a week between ending fall cleaning and beginning to do major Thanksgiving preparations.

2. Clean out your refrigerator.

This involves two steps. First, sort out your food in the refrigerator. Make a plan to use up food that is near expiration. Compost what is not usable.

You want your refrigerator as empty as possible to store the food you will be cooking.

Second, deep clean your refrigerator so that it’s ready for the holiday season. Of course you will want to wipe it out on a regular basis between now and Thanksgiving.

3. Plan Your Menu.

You want to know exactly what you will be cooking and baking. List all the ingredients for all your recipes, from the spices to fruits, vegetables, oils, and flours.

Evaluate your menu to make sure you don’t have too large of a variety of foods. From my experience, it’s better to make two apple pies and two pumpkin pies rather than a pumpkin pie, an apple pie, a pecan pie, and a French silk pie. Don’t overdo it with the cooking to the point that you will not be able to enjoy the holiday with your loved ones.

It’s better to have a large turkey, mashed potatoes, two sides and two desserts (plenty of each food) than to have a turkey, a ham, seven sides, and fifteen desserts. It’s easier to make a huge pot of mashed potatoes than it is to make mashed potatoes and two types of rice dishes.

Remember that Thanksgiving is about being thankful, not about impressing your guests. Plus, they may be thankful that you invited them. It’s not necessary to go overboard.

4. Plan for leftovers.

Yes, that is right. After cooking all that food, you should enjoy it for more than one day. Plus, you should give yourself a day off cooking afterward. Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving food? Plus, you aren’t a robot. 🙂

5. Check your pantry and freezer for the ingredients that you need.

If your pantry is like mine, something might be hiding in there. You can use up what you have and have less food to purchase if you use what you already have. You don’t want to be wasting food.

6. Make sure all your silverware, plates, napkins, and table linens are ready before Thanksgiving.

Take an afternoon to do inventory in this area. Plus, you can wash, dry, and iron your table linens and napkins ahead of time so that you aren’t doing that last minute either. While you may be tempted to order new things, using what you have usually works. You don’t want to order something and it not come in time for Thanksgiving–unless you are ordering two weeks in advance!

7. Shop for your needed ingredients at least a week before Thanksgiving.

Once you know what you already have, you can do your shopping. To avoid unnecessary stress, have what you need ahead of time. For example, last year, the week of Thanksgiving, stores were having quite the challenge in keeping dairy products in stock. Most of those can be purchased ahead of time quite easily (another reason for having room in your refrigerator!).

You can also order your food through Misfits Market to be delivered to your home before Thanksgiving. You can use my link for $10 off your first order. Do make sure that your food will arrive by the time you need it before ordering, though. You may want it to be delivered the week before Thanksgiving.

8. Thaw your turkey in time to roast it.

Better Homes and Gardens has an excellent guide on that. If you find yourself waiting til a day or two before Thanksgiving to thaw your turkey, you can put the turkey in a large stockpot with cold water and change out the water once every hour to thaw your turkey more quickly. If your turkey is fresh, then you do not need to worry about thawing it, of course!

9. Bake your pies the day before Thanksgiving.

Having your pies baked will lower your stress levels by having one less thing to bake/cook the day of Thanksgiving. With everything else that needs to be done on Thanksgiving day, you will be glad you don’t need to bake pies. Plus, your oven will be free to roast the turkey.

10. Prepare all your serving dishes and utensils the day before.

Find them, wash them, and put them close to where they will be used. Doing this will eliminate last-minute stress and will make the serving process go more smoothly.

Here are a few bonus tips:

11. On Thanksgiving Day, have a simple breakfast.

Breakfast can be leftovers from the night before or something like breakfast burritos made ahead and frozen. Just re-heat them in a toaster oven or frying pan, and you are ready to set the table.

12. On Thanksgiving Day, wake up early to roast your turkey.

The turkey is the food that takes the longest to cook; you want to stay on schedule by getting it into the oven as early as possible.

13. On Thanksgiving Day, set your table immediately after breakfast.

By having your table ready to go, you will save on stress later in the day. Also, if your family has an eat-in kitchen, consider using that on Thanksgiving morning. That way, you can set the table for Thanksgiving dinner the night before!

Bonus tip: Use my friend Bethany’s beautiful undated planner to plan out when you will be doing all these tasks.

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