Thanksgiving: The best tips to keep you sane at your family gathering

Thanksgiving is both like and unlike every other meal you'll eat the rest of the year. You cook food. You eat it. But you also make a lot more of it, often with a lot more pressure – and a lot more mouths to feed.

Here's my pep talk: You got this!

Now check out these tips to help you realise it.

Planning your meal ahead

Make as much as you can in advance. You can make almost everything ahead of time. At the very least, you can start prepping ingredients, but I think that if you're going to start, you might as well finish.

Find a helping hand

Ask for help. You may be tempted to be a hero and do everything yourself, but real heroes – those who manage to keep their sanity in check – know when to delegate. Get people to help you pick up supplies, set the table and clean up.

Of course, one of the best ways to lighten the load is to turn Thanksgiving into a potluck. Have each guest bring one dish (or more!).

Guests, your job is to have your food as prepared as possible in advance, ideally completely done with no need for the oven. Bring a vessel for serving (even a humble Dutch oven or casserole dish can do the trick), as well as a utensil. Also, label them to ensure you get everything back.

Get your kitchen space organised

Clear your fridge. Now is the time to start eating down the fridge. Not only will you need space for your ingredients, but you'll also want to free up real estate for any food you make in advance. And who hasn't had to do major reshuffling when it comes time to storing leftovers? I'm the kind of person who thrills at packing everything as tightly as I can into a suitcase, so a little refrigerator Tetris is my kind of game. Use a combination of racks and baking sheets to facilitate stacking of dishes. You may surprise yourself at your ingenuity.

Utilise your oven

Learn how to make the best use of your oven. Working ahead can free up oven space on the holiday, of course. Otherwise, take a methodical approach to maximising this busy appliance. Learn which dishes are baked at similar temperatures, but don't be afraid to go with an average, especially for foods such as roasted vegetables that have plenty of wiggle room. Even your turkey can be cooked on a spectrum of temps. Move around your racks, and use the convection feature if you have it, to better circulate the hot air.

open image in gallery

Prepare appetisers before meal

Set out some snacks before the meal. No, you don't necessarily need to go overboard on fancy bites. This is definitely another task that can be outsourced, but no matter who is in charge, it's not a bad idea to give people something to nosh on if they're waiting around before the meal. You know, so you don't have to swat away their hands as you're preparing or keep ordering them out of the kitchen. Go as simple or complex as you want. I'd vote for something like roasted nuts or an assortment of cheeses. Oysters or shrimp cocktail are worth considering – especially if someone else is handling. Don't forget the drinks. Something you can make it batches is great, or turn it over to your guests for a DIY Old-Fashioned bar.

Keep some foods at room temperature

Not everything has to be hot, or even warm. Don't underestimate room-temperature food. Almost any side will be just fine if it's not straight out of the oven. Tent your turkey with foil (you want to let the meat rest before carving anyway). Ditto the mashed potatoes. The biggest exception would be soup, but keeping that warm on the stove top or in your slow cooker is typically no problem.

Use takeout containers

Have containers to send leftovers home with your guests. This is why you have that stack of takeout containers teetering ominously in your cabinets. Now is the time to offload them. If you don't have anything like that, spend a few bucks at the supermarket or big-box store. (Or delegate this to a friend; see above.) That way you can send your friends and family off with whatever leftovers you don't want to keep for yourself, without worrying whether you'll get the containers back.

The Washington Post