Be proud that you asked! The fab cooks who know everything can natter with each other all they like, but this isn't a private forum, and are always pleased to help.

There was a great thread about making turkey gravy without the turkey at Thanksgiving. I'll find it and post a link.

Meantime, there are all kinds of solutions: You can use turkey (or chicken!) stock and make gravy from that. You can roast turkify it by adding some drippings or pan juices from your holiday bird instead of trying to make pan gravy which you know won't be enough. Or you can add stock to your pan gravy to extend it.

You can roast some turkey pieces and aromatic vegetables ahead of time to make the extra pan drippings you need.

You can buy quarts of fresh made gravy from a lot of better grocery stores and restaurants that have take away holiday meals, not just Costco.

If you can find a jarred gravy that suits you for the ingredients, you can always doctor it with your own seasonings and herbs, and some of those pan drippings.

It'll be a little more work than if they'd had the gravy you like when you were at the store, but there are all kinds of ways to solve the problem.

Here's the prior thread on making turkey gravy ahead of time, including recipes and directions:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5828327/sure-fire-make-ahead-turkey-gravy#n=55

I'm another one who sneaks in a package of McCormick's with my drippings. Gravy, for me, is one of life's eternal mysteries LOL.

When do you need it? Christmas Day?...that is a week away. And we all have our own favorite gravy...some like it with a blonde stock, and some, like us, like a darker rick gravy but without ofal. A darker roux. (I guess that means not liver tones)...

I've heard TJ's is a good one but I make my own so have not tasted. Well, DH makes it, at all functions...I provide the stock. I know how but usually need the help, so it is a necessary collaborative assisted help.

Does Costco still have the organic chicken stock? Pacifico brand I think.

Simmer a quart of stock on a back burner. Low and slow. !/2 hour 45. Reducing it a bit. Use your heaviest enameled cast iron, low heat for 20 min....add a stick of butter, melt slow, not sizzling, add a 1/4 cup of flour slowly. Wisk like a crazy person. 3-4 minutes.

if you freak out, take it off the heat. It will look like a cookie dough in seconds. Thick and not unlike a dough ball. (you want that)...Add stock from your back burner stock a bit at a time and keep wisking. Back on low heat. Than add more stock slowly.

This is total time maybe 20 minutes.

I do make all my own stocks now but years ago we used boxed stock.

This one Thanksgiving was excellent. Pan drippings added last minute. And a pint frozen for a holiday meal...

The make ahead gravy that I make from some great magazine (which now I can't remember) is really, really great - BUT - last year we purchased an entire 'take home and reheat' turkey dinner from Publix. It included gravy which I thought was delish.

So my advice would be find a high-end grocery store (or a local diner/luncheonette) and ask if they sell their gravy by the quart. We have a wonderful little luncheonette that sold entire turkey dinners to take home and reheat and I know that they also sold quarts of gravy. So just look around the corner in your very own town.

Janie Does that magazine recipe have you make stock from vegetable and turkey innards and then add a roux of butter and flour? If so, I have used that one for years and everyone loves it.

Call me different, but this my favorite turkey gravy: use a teaball with couple whole cloves. Boil turkey necks, liver, gizzards, and add to boil. Cut the meat from the neck, chop up the rest, add a bay leaf. Salt and pepper to taste. Thicken with flour. That's the family favorite turkey gravy. Found the recipe when I was a newlywed from a 50's Good Housekeeping cookbook

I made this make-ahead gravy at Thanksgiving for the first time on the recommendation of a friend. Oh my goodness, it was delicious. And, easy. Highly recommend!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/make-ahead-turkey-gravy-with-onions-and-sage-5486134

Making real gravy is easy. You need a good broth. Make it from the oddments from the turkey for best flavor and use your pan drippings from baking the Turkey which ought to be resting for a half hour to forty five mins before you serve it. Put some fat in a pan or pot-turkey fat from the drippings is best, Whisk in some flour-how much depends on how much gravy you are making and how much fat you are using. About one tablespoon of fat per tablespoon of flour with a half cup of broth times what ever. It is important to cook the flour in the fat. When it shows some color whisk in your liquid. Cook to thicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Done. If you like other flavors by all means add them. Thin your gravy to your choice. If you want traditional giblet gravy nib up what ever parts of the giblets that appeal to you. They will be essentially flavorless at this point but decorative. I have been told that you can get lumps. I have never been able to figure out how. The whisk is your friend here.

Gravy has a history of being difficult. You can find old spoons in antique stores that are worn down on one side from stirring gravy in one direction with a "silver" spoon. to prevent lumps. A whisk will mix the roux you have made thoroughly through your liquid so that lumps are avoided. Gentle heat.

An even easier option is cornstarch, with a good strong broth.

Buy some turkey wings and backs, if your store has them. Stick them in a pan in the oven. Roast them until you get good brown drippings in the pan. Cook the wings long enough that you get a lot of brown in the bottom of the roasting pan.

Sprinkle some flour (I use Wondra) over the bottom of the pan, add some water or even better some vegetable water, stir the flour into the drippings until you get a paste, then put on the stove and add some water and stir until it starts boiling and add water until you get the consistency you want.

When your turkey comes out of the oven, add the gravy from the wings to the drippings under the turkey. Or just use the wing gravy.

So easy and flavorful. I also add some garlic pepper to the gravy to punch up the flavor but any vegetable water (potatoes, green veggies, etc) work even better than water.

My mother taught me, never to throw out the vegetable water, it helps to make great gravy.

Do you have a Williams-Sonoma handy? (Or are you willing to pay for expedited shipping?) I have a friend who swears by their turkey gravy! She buys several jars at a time.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/make-ahead-turkey-gravy-with-onions-and-sage-5486134

Watchmelol - this is the recipe I use. (But I still stand by my thoughts for Socks to buy gravy from a local diner or small restaurant or good supermarket, I don't think she's looking to make it this time.)

Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

From Cooks Country Magazine2006

Makes about 2 quarts

For more flavor, after roasting the turkey you can skim the drippings from the pan and add them to the gravy just before serving. This recipe makes enough to accompany a large turkey and still have plenty for leftovers.

6 turkey drumsticks, thighs, or wings

2 carrots , chopped coarse

1 head garlic , halved

2 ribs celery , chopped coarse

2 onions , chopped coarse

Vegetable oil spray (I just toss all with a little oil)

10 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 cups dry white wine (I only use 1 cup)

12 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Table salt and ground black pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place giblets, neck, drumsticks, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in roasting pan, spray with vegetable oil, and toss well. Roast, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

2. Transfer contents of roasting pan to Dutch oven. Add broth, wine, and thyme and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced by half, about 1 1/2 hours. Pour through fine-mesh strainer into large container (discard solids), cover stock with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until fat congeals, at least 2 hours.

3. Using soup spoon, skim fat and reserve. Heat 1/2 cup fat in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until bubbling. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until honey colored, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in stock, bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Gravy can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.) Reheat gravy in saucepan over medium heat until bubbling.

I have never used an instant or prepared gravy. The ones I have tasted don't taste right to me. I simmer the neck and giblets with whatever seasonings I add...but the main difference is I thicken it with cornstarch. It stirs in easily and makes a beautiful, glossy gravy.

I use cornstarch when making roast gravy too. The only time I use flour is when making milk gravy, when I brown it in the skillet with a little drippings, like for fried chicken or chicken fried steak. (I despise that wall paper paste that a lot of restaurants pass off as milk gravy. It is nothing but a lousy white sauce.)

This is a fantastic question! As someone who has faced, and failed, this challenge, I have enjoyed reading the thread. If I had to do it again, I'd do the roasting of the turkey wings/legs to get the extra gravy. When DH decided to cook a turkey in the smoker a few years ago, I decided to make the gravy by doctoring up a jar of premade stuff. It just fell short by a long shot even with a lot of extra ingredients for flavor. We ended up not bothering with the gravy, and butter is a wonderful condiment on potatoes. :)

If you have a Wegman's nearby, they have a very good prepared gravy.

Wegman's gravy

Love this: a dark rich gravy without ofal. That's me!

Thank you everyone for the helpful suggestions and great recipes.

I buy gravy from Bristol Farms, not one everywhere but the gravy is delicious.

I thought of Bristol Farms, but Whole Foods is closer, so I got a test container today. Our local butcher shop (yes, a butcher shop), roasts turkeys and will be making gravy Sunday, so I'll get a tester of that one as well. Making gravy for a large group is overwhelming to me, so thanks for the suggestion, C Marlin.

Take out the neck and gizzards from the inside of the turkey, put in pot and cover with water. Let simmer 30 minutes and hour, whatever. You can even through in some onion, celery and carrots if you want. Strain into bowl, let cool. Can do that a day ahead and refrigerate. Buy two or three packets of McCormick's gravy mix and follow directions except use the cold liquid from the turkey innards instead of water. I use to stand there making the roux and stirring, and stirring etc. Tis is so easy and tastes just as good. You can also add some turkey drippings if you want After cooking the turkey neck etc. and cooling, it takes 1 minute to make the gravy.

I've been doing this for many years after I bumped into a friend in the grocery store shopping for her Thanksgiving day fixings. It was someone whom I considered a very good cook and in her grocery cart sat a couple of pkg. of McCormick's gravy mix. I said if she can do it, I can too! Makes life so much easier when there are so many things to do at the last minute.

Making it the day before with drumsticks or wings takes away all of the stress. One less thing to worry about. I had enough leftover to freeze to use with the 15 lb turkey I’m contemplating making before the end of the year.

I know the OP asked about a turkey gravy mix; but I just have to post this recipe. It is the only one we have used for the past several years, and it is so good - no one can get enough of it. I made my notations to be in Italics.

FAMOUS TURKEY GRAVY

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/turkey-gravy/

This is the old recipe from years ago on the site, 11-6-12. The recipe currently posted on the site is a bit different. We just stick to the old one.

Turkey drippings from turkey gravy packet (if included with turkey)

1-3 tsp. Wyler’s chicken bouillon granules I use the BTB

pepper, to taste

1 – 2 c. milk be sure to use only 1 cup

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/3 c. water

Leave drippings in roasting pan or Dutch oven (remember to read above about roasting pans) and carefully place on your largest stovetop burner over medium heat. Remove any grease or fat from turkey drippings with wire mesh strainer or slotted spoon.

If a gravy packet is included with your turkey add that to the drippings– if not, no biggie.

Whisk up any little browned bits that may have cooked to the roasting pan… these add extra yummy flavor. Bring to a simmer. Sprinkle in bouillon granules (start with 1 tsp and add more later if it needs it) and pepper, to taste, then add milk (depending on how much gravy you want– we like LOTS of gravy so she usually adds about 2 c. of milk). Add more bouillon if needed for flavor. Keep tasting it as you add bouillon until you get the flavor you want. Bring back to a simmer.

In a separate, small bowl, combine cornstarch and water. Whisking constantly, slowly add cornstarch mixture a little at a time until thickened. REMEMBER…. make the gravy slightly thinner than what you usually prefer because it will thicken a little as it cools.