Wow, that’s a lot of work! Wonderful to get all of that done early. Would you mind sharing your recipe for your mother-in-law’s dressing?

That takes a lot of room to store 31 pans of it in a freezer. I love dressing too. Do you thaw it first in the fridge before warming it up or just put it in the oven from the freezer? Sounds like a good plan.

Sue

Just stocks and pie crusts in the freezer. Some cornbread and boule from baking during the harvest month of September when the weather cooled off.

I have three FoodAndWine magazines from back in the late 80's, their Thanksgiving issues. Shopping list tucked inside. I have most everything I need except for the final fresh produce. We are a good chopping prep team the night before, assemble and bake the morning of. I make many sides for veg/vegans gluten/dairy free, often decided on what looks good at the grocery or farmers market. Some traditional and often something new.

I don't like running around looking for an ingredient so I do have my cranberries already. Chestnuts, pecans in the freezer. Sometimes make the cranberry sauce and pies the night before.

Big list of do-aheads that freeze fine. If your stuffing/dressing is already in the freezer, I would put in your fridge a good 24hrs ahead of time. Depends on how dense/liquid and how cold your fridge is.

I always do a new veg and pre-snack app every year for fun so that is my main focus right now... to break the boredom of all the other stuff.

It does take a lot of freezer space. We have 3 stand alone freezers and then 3 refrigerator/freezers. If I think of it, I thaw them out ahead of time, otherwise we just put them in the oven frozen and add an hour to the cook time.

Here is the recipe, I'm sorry that it isn't specific but I tend to do a lot by taste and by proportion when doing large batches.

Maxine's Cornbread Dressing

1 Large pan of cornbread ( I use Martha White Buttermilk Cornbread Mix) made per directions.(For my pan, this is a double batch). I put a couple of tablespoons of oil and heat the pan and oil in the oven first. This gives a good crisp brown crust on the cornbread. I then use one regular loaf of bread that I have let go stale and tear it into chunks about 3/4 inch square. I try for a ratio of 2 parts CB to one of bread.

In sauce pan, melt a stick of butter, 1 1/2 cups diced celery and 1 1/2 cups diced onions and simmer until softened.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk 1 can of evaporated milk, 1 large can of cream of chicken soup, 4 cups of homemade chicken stock, 1 tsp kosher salt, 2 tsp of black pepper, 2 tsp poultry seasoning, 1 tsp sage. Combine this with the crumbled cornbread and stale bread and celery/onions. Add additional chicken broth until you have a very loose soupy mix. At this point taste and adjust the seasoning to your preference. Once you are satisfied, add 2 beaten eggs to the mixture. Bake at 350 for about 90 minutes until it is browned and firmed up.

By now, my daughter's MIL has cooked their entire Thanksgiving dinner and put everything in the freezer. On Thanksgiving, she takes everything out to thaw, reheats the vegetables, and puts them on the table for the afternoon so that everyone can fill their plates to eat while watching the games on TV or just graze. Nothing tastes very good, she reports, but no one seems to care. We do the opposite and cook almost everything that day. I will make the pumpkin tea bread and cranberry-orange relish ahead of time.

Looney, you officially have one more freezer than I do, and I always thought I had too many, LOL. I don't make that much stuffing, but I do raise beef and pork and chicken and my husband hunted deer this year with a bow, so that takes much of my freezer room. My daughter is celiac and can't have gluten, so I make two kinds of stuffing, a cornbread based one for her and my Southern sweetheart of a husband, but I've never seen one with evaporated milk added. I might have to try that....

I do much of my cooking just a day or two ahead of time. Desserts get made the day before as they "hold" fine, although whipped cream has to be beaten just before serving, I cannot get it to stay without breaking if I do it ahead. I've added cornstarch, powdered sugar, cream of tartar. It still breaks after about an hour, every time.

I sometimes make dinner rolls a month ahead and kept them frozen, then thaw and bake the day of the meal. If I make butterflake rolls I make them the night before, refrigerate the rolls and bake just before the meal. I make the Cranberry Jezebel the day before, and usually assemble the vegetable side dishes so they can be heated in the oven, including that sweet potato/marshmallow abomination that my girls love. My girls also want a fruit salad concoction that includes crushed pineapple, apricots, walnuts, cream cheese, orange jello and whipped cream. I make that the night before so it can thicken, if I have that, some years I just can't face it and just make a nice fruit mixture instead.

The turkey, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes and the gravy all get made the day of, as well as any fresh salad if I decide we're having that.

Appetizers always include a cheeseball of some kind, I think this year it's going to be pimento cheese and that will be done the day before, I'm still working on another appetizer, maybe artichoke/spinach dip, everyone likes that. We also always have a relish tray with homemade pickles, a variety of olives and crackers, usually deviled eggs because I like them. The pickles are all home canned, so those go in the fridge a couple of days before to keep them cold and crunchy, especially Chase's dills which are a favorite of Bud's, but he wants them cold. Deviled eggs get made the same day or the texture suffers.

I usually make my menu, then make a list of what I need to do and which day I need to do it, then I prioritize tasks. A couple of days before we'll add the leaves to the dining room table, bring in the extra chairs, make sure the tablecloth is clean, find the turkey platter, and pick up the turkey so it'll have time to brine.

My girls usually come early and help me get all the last minute stuff done.

Annie

Annie,

I'm jealous of your home raised beef, pork and chicken. We have a couple of farms that we buy from regularly. Please note I did have to go edit my recipe - somehow I left off the celery and onions.

Pies, rolls & cranberry sauce.

And I might make a green dish, just to balance out all the brown stuff - maybe green beans, peas or Brussels sprouts.

I'm not sure how many I'm cooking for yet, or even where I'll be doing the cooking. I have a pie. Sigh.

I will cook my fresh green beans and my pumpkin cake the day before. I don't make cranberry sauce, I'm the only one who likes it. :/

Haha - I'd love it if I was the only one eating my cranberry sauce - more for me!

I only do part of the meal. My cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole will be made a few days before; the pumpkin crisp will be made the day before and reheated before serving.

Beth, I went crazy and bought a big bag of cranberries at Costco last year. Yeah. So I made cranberry sauce and canned it in half pint jelly jars. Voila!! I have cranberry sauce whenever I want it. Except that I've eaten it all and now need to can some more...

Annie

Well now there's a thought Annie. I could freeze it. I never think of that when it comes to wanting something no one else does. I just figure I lose. But I don't have to, right? (assuming it will freeze well) Thanks!

I am using cranberries I bought last year and froze. I tried to buy them when they were at a pretty good price. So now I have used up two bags for this Thanksgiving and froze the sauce. I will take it out a day or so before Thanksgiving. I have the use of two refrigerators with their freezers and two big upright freezers. One refrigerator is not in my house and is in another little house I have here, so it is a bit of walking to go out to get things there. We did get the big 23 pound turkey out of the upright freezer last evening and hauled it out to the "club house" refrigerator to thaw. I read it takes 24 hours for each four pounds of turkey to thaw. We go back and forth the the club house on my golf cart. Now today is more prepping of things. I hope all are coming along. I do not plan to go back to the grocery any more before Thanksgiving!

Sue