You can cook ahead, but the stuffing needs to be in a pan not the bird.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/easy-tips-for-preparing-turkey-dinner-ahead-of-time/

DO NOT PARTIALLY COOK! Fully cook or take raw on ice and cook there.

ETA: I do ours ahead of time a lot. It is great and no mess, but we don't care about the skin and having a whole bird on the table. We also have never had the dressing in the bird. My grandmother always cooked it in a pan and that is the way we always do it.

If you want the pretty bird, whole, on the table, with stuffing inside, please get there early enough to cook it there. (And take everything chilled.)

Not a very conventional method, but a very practical method. I have use this method for many years:

Buy a sheet of 1" thick rigid foam insulation board from Home Depot, the kind with a silver surface side. If you don't have a table saw, use a knife to cut the board to make a box big enough for what you need. Silver side should face in. The box can be formed easily using duct tape or packing tape. It will be plenty strong. About 1/2 hour of work

The box will be able to keep your food hot and safe for many hours. You can make another one if you need to transport cold food.

After use, remove the tape and it takes not much room to store away the box parts.

Don't use this for food that can be overcooked, like vegetables. The box will keep food cooking continuously.

dcarch

A make-your own- ice-chest! My son uses big ice chests to keep his Boston butts hot. He usually cooks about 10 to 15 at a time and throws the cooked, hot, foil wrapped butts in a chest. I had forgot about that. He has those huge white chests, I can't remember the brand name, and they keep for hours.

You could easily cook a 15 pound non-stuffed turkey in less than 4 hours. You could probably even get a stuffed turkey done in that time.

But the kindest thing you could do for your hostess is cook it ahead of time, slice it and place in one or two baking pans, and re-heat it when you get there. Give the kitchen over to the side dishes.

FWIW, my holiday turkeys usually take about 2-2 1/2 hours to cook. I use a higher temperature than the standard - start at 450F, then turn down to 350F. I did a 15.6# bird this Thanksgiving and it was done in a little over 2 hours.

Will she even have oven space for you to cook the turkey at her place? I would ask her, and if she does, I agree with Carol that you can cook it fairly quickly if you start at 450°F (280°C).

It will only take you about 2 to 2 1/2 hours hours to roast at 500°F. If you are getting there before 1:00 you have lots of time to roast at Meredith's. (500°F regular heat NOT convection).

Thanks all,

I know I likely have enough time to cook it there, just trying to cut down on the comotion . It's her first Christmas hosting and she is a tad overwhelmed..

Has anyone actually done the cook ahead thing ?

Frying outdoors on location would be the quickest way.

Don't bother building a cooler. Fill a cooler with hot water, let it sit for awhile until you are ready to leave. Maybe wrap the turkey in foil. Plop it in the cooler and go! I would do the stuffing separately,though.

I have never roasted a turkey ahead. I have seen cooking programs that recomended roasting ahead, and carving bird after it has rested and cooled. When you are ready to warm the meat have very warm broth available to moisten the carved meat. You would have to research whether oven or microwave is best method. Boxed chicken or turkey broth will work. Might be good to lightly moisten carved meat the day you carve and wrap tightly.

"Sherry

A make-your own- ice-chest! My son uses big ice chests to keep his Boston butts hot. He usually cooks about 10 to 15 at a time and throws the cooked, hot, foil wrapped butts in a chest. I had forgot about that. He has those huge white chests, I can't remember the brand name, and they keep for hours."

What makes the foam board insulated box work better than ice boxes you buy is the foam board have a silver surface to reflect heat back to the hot object. Just like a thermos bottle. As a matter of fact I just did this: I put a container of hot water at 203F in the box, 4 hours later, .the water was measured at 187F.

That why it works very well for a big roasted turkey with stuffing, and a container of hot gravy

dcarch

Regarding making the box from 1 inch thick rigid foam insulation: I would be worried that it would crack if you picked it up the wrong way with the turkey in it.

And it's not cheap. A sheet of it costs over $20.

Chase, I do it all the time. First answer in thread. I use my glass lasagna pan.

Seems like the answer might be have the bird prepped and ready to go into oven before you leave, then get it in the oven ASAP, once you get there.

I say just make the stuffing on the side. you can have that ready to bake too.

I forgot to mention I never stuff my turkeys. I like stuffing with a crispy, buttery crust, and the turkeys cook faster and more evenly too, I believe.

Thanks Sherry I saw your post and took note of it...just didn't realize you had done it but I see you edited it....that makes me feel a bit better about doing it.

The only thing I don't get is why the bird shouldn't be stuffed. I would take the stuffing out right away and put in a separate dish.

Actually I don't know why I am fussing about this. There will only be 6 of us and 3 probably think Swanson frozen turkey dinners would do.

If there are only six (I usually am cooking one 16 to 20 pounds), why don't you get a small turkey. It will cook faster and you can still stuff it. Someone on here said they spatchcocked theirs. I found this when I googled. You could still put the stuffing under it, couldn't you?

https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/how-to-spatchcock-cook-turkey-thanksgiving-fast-easy-way-spatchcocked.html

I also have an extremely small kitchen and only one oven.

ETA: I haven't tried this with a turkey. I do a chicken on the grill kinda like this, but not turkey.

@ things......cook it at your house and keep warm in a "cooler"...or cook it there at 475...really turkey cooked in a very hot oven is wonderful!!
You could also spatchcock the bird and spread in in a pan on top of the stuffing and cooke it there at 375....but I vote for hot oven, whole bird

"graywings123

Regarding making the box from 1 inch thick rigid foam insulation: I would be worried that it would crack if you picked it up the wrong way with the turkey in it.

And it's not cheap. A sheet of it costs over $20."

Actually, it is very very strong. The box geometry makes it very strong even it is constructed with duct tape.

$20 gives you a very useful tool to transport a holiday turkey prepared ahead of time, but just like it came out of the oven when served. A tool you can use year after year, and does not take much room to store when it is not in use.

dcarch.

as lindac mentions, the bird can be spatchcocked and cooked over the stuffing, ala Julia Child. I did that one year and it was fast and the stuffing was still good and basted with the juices from the turkey by using the leg/thigh quarters when baking the stuffing. https://houseofyumm.com/julia-childs-deconstructed-thanksgiving-turkey/

If you don't care about the presentation of a whole bird, this works well and it might be easier to carry a "deconstructed" bird instead of a whole one.

No matter what you decide, have a wonderful time.

Merry Christmas!

Annie

Chase, One thing we haven't asked. Do you want crispy skin? Crispy skin you need to cook there. If you cook ahead, the skin will get soft. We don't eat the skin, (I will, and love it, but no one else). so I can cook a lot of different ways. If you cook there, make sure, it is completely thawed if using a frozen turkey.

I have this and LOVE it!

https://www.thermoworks.com/ChefAlarm

Also this.

https://www.thermoworks.com/Classic-Thermapen

I vote for the 'deconstructed look'

buy a couple extra legs and you can say you got the idea watching football on Thanksgiving ... those mutant five-legged birds can feed a small Army ...

As much as it goes against my idea of how it should be, I'm going with the cook ahead, slice and warm option. Some things are just way more important than other things and this will be the least stressful option all the way ' round.

I'll let you know how it goes.......thanks all

ETA ...but I am cooking the stuffing in the bird d@mn it .......if there is no report back from me you can assume that was a bad decision.

You can use the high heat method and it goes much faster which is what I did this year. Link

It came out really great. (I also brined my turkey for a few days).

Good plan and glad it came out well. A dozen ways to pull off traveling with a bird but sounds like the hostess had less stress with you showing up all prepped....and you prepped in your own kitchen alone to focus.

I would selfishly keep the carcass bones and a cup or two of meat, toss in the freezer for stock and soup later...

I confess, I may have done just that !'

Sharon, I'm glad it came out well, and I'm sure you and your family had a wonderful time with those perfect grandchildren.

Good call on that carcass, that's what I'd have done too. Elery swears he does not like turkey soup, but it's nice to have a couple of pints of stock for gravy.

Annie

Annie. It came out surprisingly good .....and yes a pot of stock is on my to do list tomorrow.

...and because you mentioned them...not that Nana is over the moon or anything. Ethan almost 4 and baby Callen almost 7 months

Edited to add.....apparently I'm in trouble for posting a picture with Cal' s mouth not wiped after his banana.......