Preparing Thanksgiving dinner isn't for the faint of heart. You have to figure out how to cook this giant bird that no one makes at any other time of the year, plan around your entire family's food preferences and find the time to do it all before the big day. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time for family, relaxation and gratitude. Cooking the food should enhance the holiday, not take away from it.
That's why instead of doing everything by the book or trying to plan a perfect dinner, you should feel free to cut a few corners during your meal prep. Your dinner will taste just as delish, and you'll be able to enjoy the holiday more. It's an all-around win-win. Here are 19 hacks that will save you from ending up like this on Thanksgiving.
1. Make your own roasting rack
A roasting rack is essential for cooking that bird, but since you probably cook such fancy meat dishes rarely, you might not have one lying around. But you probably do have some aluminum foil. Just take a few feet of foil, scrunch it lengthwise into a one-inch thick rope and curl it into a spiral for an instant roasting rack.
2. Use a wine glass to cut out biscuits
If you're not a master baker, you might not have cookie cutters around the house, which makes it tricky get your biscuits out of the dough, not just evenly portioned, but at all. However, a wine glass will also do the trick. You don't want anyone arguing over who got the bigger biscuit, do you?
3. Cook your turkey in a slow cooker
Your oven is going to be very busy on Thanksgiving. Consider saving space and time by using other appliances in your kitchen to get the job done. A slow cooker is especially useful for cooking meats, and there are plenty of recipes out there for turkey, such as this one. The great thing about slow cookers is that you can let the meat do its thing in there for several hours while you take care of everything else on your to-do list.
4. Make a no-bake dessert
No-bake desserts are also handy for saving time, energy and cooking space in your kitchen since you usually only need to use your counter and the refrigerator to prepare them. You'll find thousands of recipes for no-bake desserts online, but here's one for pumpkin pie, because it is Thanksgiving after all.
5. Use your dishwasher for something other than dishes
All of the food you have to make for this big meal multiplies the prep time by a gazillion. If you've got a bunch of potatoes or other strong root vegetables to wash before you cook them, that could take forever. Just pop them in the dishwasher to get them all clean at once.
6. Don't wait for your turkey to thaw
Squeezing in time to thaw your turkey before you cook is always a major concern for Thanksgiving meals. But did you know you actually don't need to wait for it to thaw before you cook? The caveat is that it will take longer to cook it if it goes in frozen, but at least you don't have to separate the process into two steps.
7. Crimp pie with jewelry
If you've got some cheap costume jewelry you don't mind getting a little dirty, press a large pearl necklace around the crust to make it look like it came straight from the bakery.
8. Get rid of your lumpy gravy with a food processor
Everyone wants their gravy to be nice and smooth, but when you make it yourself, it doesn't always turn out that way. The quick fix is to just put that gravy in a food processor and let that appliance mix them away.
9. Keep food warm in a cooler
I know, I know. It sounds kind of counter-intuitive, but your cooler doesn't just have to be used to keep food cool. Coolers are insulated so they can also keep food warm when you don't put ice in them. This will help free up your oven so you can keep your kitchen traffic moving along.
10. Ice your turkey
One of the biggest challenges of cooking a turkey is making sure it cooks fully without having it get dry. However, a crazy simple solution to this is to put a bunch of ice on top of your turkey before you cook it. This little trick actually will make your turkey more moist.
11. Sharpen knives with a coffee mug
A lot of meal prep means a lot of slicing and dicing, which means your knife is going to get dull fast. But if you don't have a knife sharpener (who does, really?), you can just use the bottom of a coffee mug whose rough, unglazed surface will get you back to cooking in no time.
12. Save burnt cookies
With so much going on during Thanksgiving, it can be difficult to remember what's cooking where. The cookies you're baking may suffer the consequences of this by getting burnt. However, don't toss your cookies if they get a little black on the bottom. You can easily salvage these confections by using a grater to shave off the burnt part. It's like it never even happened.
13. Use the microwave
I'm a big fan of the microwave always, and you should be too, especially on Thanksgiving when time is of the essence. Just because you use the microwave to speed things up a little doesn't mean you're a bad chef; it means you're a smart one. This recipe for a cranberry chutney side dish looks yummy, and no one even has to know how you made it.
14. Peel a potato with your bare hands
Is there anything more tedious than peeling potatoes? Now you can avoid that arduous task by dumping boiled potatoes into ice water. Once they're cool enough to handle, which takes about five to 10 seconds, just take them out of the water and peel off the skin in one fell swoop.
15. Never have burnt pie crust again
Burnt pie crusts are just nasty. That's why you should always put a strip of aluminum foil around the edge so you can keep it nice and crispy.
16. Open a jar with duct tape
We've all encountered jars that just won't open. But instead of smashing the jar on the ground, all you need to do is put a piece of duct tape on the lid, and yank it off. Then you can also show off your strength to your family.
17. Make a truly edible cornucopia
Ah, the cornucopia, one of the great symbols of Thanksgiving that has decorated many a festive table. But why spend a ton of money on a giant centerpiece when you can easily create a cornucopia for each of your guests using an ice cream cone and some leftover Halloween candy? Genius.
18. Your eyelash curler doubles as a bottle opener
Bottle openers always have a way of going missing, don't they? If that happens on Thanksgiving, you're not going to have time to head to a store to pick another one up. You've got to improvise, and a better option than just using your teeth is an eyelash curler. But you'll probably want to get a new eyelash curler after this. But hey, at least you'll have plenty to drink.
19. Make your mashed potatoes fluffy
Mashed potatoes can often get runny or too heavy. To avoid that, add a dash of baking powder while mashing to make your potatoes nice and fluffy.
Now that you know everything there is to know to cook an awesome meal, head over here to see how you can DIY your way to a beautiful home for Thanksgiving.
Image: Tim Sackton / Flickr
