We were living in a house that had a small kitchen and cooking a big meal in there could be quite stressful. Having small children and a husband at home chanting "is it turkey time yet" did not help the matter. Not only did cooking ahead save me on time on the big day but I also found that I wasn't stressed out and better yet... my kitchen wasn't the ominous towering inferno of dirty dishes. I had time to enjoy my friends and family and pulled off a huge dinner and made it all look near effortless -how? Simply because I was organized.
♥ Start making your plan at least 2 weeks ahead of time. Plan everything from beverages, to dinner napkins, table linens and of course the food being served.
♥ I find that grocery shopping at least 3 days ahead of time to be the key.
♥ Be sure to have plenty of those inexpensive plastic food storage containers on hand (Glad and Ziploc are the best). They work great for storing prepped veggies, storing leftovers and sending leftover desserts home with guests.
♥ You can bake desserts up to 3 days ahead of time. Depending upon the items being made is how you will have to store them.
♥ Prep that green garden salad a day ahead. Ziploc plastic bags are great for this! All those great veggies can be cut and ready to go at a moments notice. Heck you can do this while watching TV.
♥ You can prep veggies up to 2 days in advance- store in plastic containers in fridge.
♥ You can make things like mashed potatoes and home made rolls a day ahead of time. Heat them up either in the microwave or in the oven for a few minutes. How many of us have burnt the rolls because we were busy attending to "other items" ? Seriously, bake them in advance when you aren't stressing about your guests being comfortable and the food all making it to the finish line (the dinner table) at the same time.
♥ While the turkey is in the oven, give the floor the last quick sweep or mop (depending upon how messy of a cook you are you may have to do both) before the guests arrive.
Easy Clean Up after the meal
♥ Those same plastic containers work great for soaking flatware and serving utensils. No stuck on food particles for you this year! Put a few drops of dish washing liquid and fill with hot water and there you are!
♥ Rinse the dinner dishes and stack them on a cookie/baking sheet. Keeping them in stacks makes for easy loading of the dishwasher or hand washing.
♥ Do this same thing for the used glassware. Use a paper towel to wipe off lipstick marks.
♥ Those plastic containers are great for storing those leftovers. Be sure to get them tucked into those containers as soon as dinner is over to prevent salmonella.
♥ Soak as many dishes as possible. You may find that you will need to run the dishwasher 2 or even 3 times to get through everything. That's okay, that's why you rinsed and stacked the dishes- having them organized like that makes them quick and easy to load in the dishwasher.
♥ Now grab yourself a glass of wine and get in there with your family and friends and enjoy the evening!
