I use a covered dish for the potatoes and for the stuffing and moth are hot when they go into the bowls. After the turkey is carved it gets covered with foil and if the table isn't ready It goes into the still but turned off oven. Gravy goes from the pan into the gravy boat, the rolls are wrapped in napkin in their basket....no problem!

Hot plates on a sideboard or table are helpful. We have a very large one that can accommodate quite a number of dishes, plus several normal sized ones that can hold a couple of dishes each.

We didn't even use them this year and most of the food was warm, though the turkey was @ room temperature by the time we sat down. Nobody complained; it's been rather warm weather here.

I just looked up hot plates and see they range from a single burner to a griddle. Imagine serving in the dining room right next to the table!

A couple of other ideas would be to have less variety, back to the basics.

And one more idea is that every plate gets everything, all that chatter delays serving!

"do you want white or dark, "what's that"....boys ask...."I don't want that......"

I love this brainstorming!!

We usually carry our foods to another one's home and serve it there, crock pots for some things, others just in insulated carriers and we do not have cold food. Does it take someone awhile to get all cooked and ready at the same time? There are warming trays that work well and the warming things you put water under the pans and it keeps some things warm. I have not used mine in a very long time. Somethings are put on the stove to give a bit of heat if needed, but we did not this time. Hope next meal is all nice and warm.

Sue

Look up "hot trays" and "portable warming drawers". The latter fold flat for storage and the former start flat. Add some Turkish towels for insulating covered dishes. There's also a kind of big puffy bag that's sold for where there's not enough power/fuel--a pot is boiled and set in the bag to finish slow cooking. That will retain heat beautifully, but it's big and hard to store. Doesn't need power, however. It's a version of what they used to call a "haybox", which is a chest filled with hay for insulating and keeping your pot warm. You can make a disposable version from the recycling bin--use a heavy cardboard box and newspaper which has been wadded up tightly (the trapped air is as important as the mass of the paper).

The main thing no matter what you choose is to keep the temperature above 140° F for safety. Below that and bad bacteria can proliferate.

Thank you for all the great ideas!

I agree -- everything really hot and in covered dishes ensure that you will be heating hot food. We've never had a problem with cold food. And we don't warm our plates either.

Two more tips, keeping food warm:

1. Food can get cold instantly on a cold plate. It is very easy to heat up many plates for serving. Put a slightly wet thin towel in between two plates and microwave. You can have a whole stack of really hot hot hot plates in minutes.

2. Go to Home Depot and buy a 4' x 8' x 1/2" sheet of rigid foam insulation board (cheap $$). Use any knife to cut the board, using packing tape or duct tape to make a box. You now have a very strong insulated box to keep food warm for many hours for traveling. Afterwards take the box apart for storage for next time, It take very little room to store the parts for the box. Keeps food cold also.

dcarch

Adapt to a buffet style rather than trying to keep food hot on the table. Warming trays, insulated serving dishes, buffet insert for a Nesco roaster oven, crock pots, etc.

Dcarch--Thank You! for the tip on how to warm plates in the microwave. I am definitely going to try that.

Years ago I went to serving buffet style for just this reason, By the time all the food was passed the food was barely warm.

I use a three sectioned hot buffet server for veggies, a war ing tray for the ham and turkey and chafing dish for the mashed potatoes, gravy is in a pretty stainless steel coffee thermos , stuffing in a crockpot......not cooked just served

People serve themselves quickly and its easy to get up when to serve yourself when you are ready for seconds,.......without bothering everyone else with passing .

i think making thanksgiving dinner out to be a big challenge is to a large part because of lack of organization. so many components can be completely cooked/HOT and just put on hold.

i had t-day dinner with sil's family... absolutely delightful people... SERIOUSLY... no sarcasm involved. BUT they totally lack organizational skills. i have the job/honor of making the gravy from the great brown gunk in the pan. when i ask for a jar or other air-tight container to shake flour and water in... it becomes an excavation into no man's land? once gravy is done, i dump into a sauce pan and put on literal back burner at lowest temp.

people were being called to eat (sorta buffet style) but no one planned for serving utensils or flatware or glasses before hand.

i would even invest in one of those "vintage" devices to keep several items hot at ones... they're in every thrift store.

What can I say except thank you for the additional comments since I last looked! GardenWeb is the absolute best place to get wonderful advice about anything. I am actually looking forward to our Christmas dinner to implement these ideas. Happy Sunday!

I agree with Dcarch's comment about warming the plates themselves. Your food could be piping hot, but if it hits a cold plate, it will cool in seconds. That's why restaurants' plates are always hot when brought to the table. Here are links to a couple of plate warmers. A bit pricey, but you will get a lot of use out of them. Perhaps it's one of those items you suggest when your relatives say "I cannot think of a thing to get you for Christmas/Hanukah/your birthday".

Waterbridge Plate Warmer for 6 Plates

Waterbridge Plate Warmer for 15 Plates

Oops! I meant warming trays, not hot plates. I've picked up many for only a few dollars each @ garage/yard sales, thrift & charity shops. I even have a tiny one I use to keep cups of tea warm while steeping. Cords are often interchangeable as well. You can use them to keep plates warm too, can't you?

And my issue is that for most holiday & party dinners, I cook most of the dinner @ my house, then we drive 5 minutes to my mother's house for the meal, which doesn't start for at least 45 minutes. I wrap things in towels and use covered pyrex to keep things warm while traveling. I sometimes plan on slightly undercooking, then reheating in the microwave or on the stove before serving.

Friedajune, I have those plate warmers and they are fabulous. They come in some lovely fabrics.

As an aside, I found them online, years ago , on the manufacturers own WEB site. As it turns out I was amazed to find out it was an "at home" business literally around the corner fro me when we lived in Oakville, Ontario. The owner walked over with my delivery! !!!!

Waterbridge plate warmers

There are also stone or iron trivets that you can heat up and place on the table, under dishes. I recently ate at a restaurant that served communal food (Indian) in this fashion.

We have an electric buffet server, but the warming trays are convenient when you are not doing a buffet. (We also have a warming drawer in the kitchen).

I also have a few enameled cast iron gratins and baking pans/casseroles that I can heat/cook food in, which retain heat and keep the food warm on the table (and look great). A warming gravy boat is also a great thing as cold gravy is an appetite killer.

Wow more fabulous ideas, many many thanks! Ginny

We don't warm plates either, as I set the table the night before, including flatware and napkins. I have an incredible collection of old covered Pyrex, FireKing and Anchor Hocking and I tend to use those for serving dishes for things like sweet potatoes and vegetables. I have the oven on "warm", put the side dishes into the Pyrex with lids and everything stays there until time to serve, along with the dinner rolls. When the turkey is ready to slice Elery does that while I move things from the warm oven to the table, while cold stuff comes out of the refrigerator. The turkey is not sliced at the table, it gets dismantled in the kitchen then placed on the table on a platter with the other dishes. Everything manages to be serving temperature at the same time. Of course, the fact that some family members cover the potatoes, stuffing, turkey, and sometimes the vegetables all with hot gravy helps with the temperature thing, LOL.

I do press everyone else into service handing them dishes and platters and we all sit down together. As long as no one gets into a very long thankful prayer or a dissertation on what they are thankful for, it's not cold when we're ready to eat.

Generally everyone eats so much that dessert isn't until an hour or so after the meal, with coffee. That gives me time to clear up the table, fill the dishwasher, remove the desserts like chocolate cream pie from the fridge and put them on the counter so they are serving temperature by the time everyone is ready for dessert. I've also got everyone, including the 4 year old, "trained" to move their dessert plates to the sink when they are finished, so the kids play while the adults drink coffee and talk. I'll put away the clean dishes in the dishwasher and clean up the dessert plates later, after everyone leaves.

Yes, it takes some organization and some cooperation on the part of other participants, but my girls are more than willing to help and Elery is a veteran pot scrubber!

Annie

Wonderful summary of your dinner. It sounds lovely and something you enjoy. Thank you for sharing with us.

When we used to go to large family holiday meals, we always said the blessing first and then told people to start eating as they were served. There is no possible way to pass things around for 22 people at one table and have the food still be hot on ones plate.

We do put the dressing and the Brussels sprouts in silver dishes with lids and pass them with their lid on to keep them warm. I bake the sweet potato casserole right before going over and we still put it in a warm oven, covered in foil, to keep warm. I put it in a nice white soufflé dish so it looks nice on the table. Rolls are in a silver bread tray, wrapped in a white linen napkin. We never use a plate warmer as I'm not sure how good that would be for antique china, plus my daughter always sets the table a day or two in advance.

As a new bride, I learned to set the table FIRST! It doesn't matter if one gets delayed cooking the meal, but if the table is set after the guests arrive, it looks very haphazard and like they really weren't expected. It's so easy to do this ahead of time. Butter can go on the individual butter plates just before the guests arrive, and the glasses can be filled with water/wine etc by someone as one is getting ready to serve the meal.

I still enjoy cooking but it takes a LOT out of me these days. My greatest pleasure is setting the table and then seeing it every time I walk through the dining room. It makes my heart sing! But we all know I was born when dinosaurs still roamed the earth...

Ginjj, I agree with you. I want hot food arriving on my plate hot. DH is a slow carver, and our family can be 11 for a holiday meal. We count who wants only white, only dark, and a combination. I have a large kitchen island/table, and the carving occurs there. Once all that is almost done, the other dishes are pulled from the ovens and the stove top to serve from the island. Sometimes we all serve ourselves and then take our plates to the dining room table. Other times, we just give everyone some of everything and leave the extra food for seconds on the kitchen island. While the food is being served in the kitchen, someone lights the candles on the dining room table and pours the wine. With letting the turkey rest for 30 minutes, it is plated warm but not hot nor cold. I suggest that one big help would be assigning someone to the toddler's care so that the mother can concentrate on the meal prep.(That is a real challenge for DD also.) Also, some people do not understand how to schedule a meal so that everything is warm and done at the same time. Written schedules for all the prep is important with the time noted for each task/dish. Still others have no appreciation for warm food. Perhaps with this year under her belt, your daughter will understand what she needs to do next year. It would not hurt for you to tell her about some of your struggles to master holiday meals and instruct her while you do so. Share some of the tricks too.