thanksgiving turkeys

Start shopping, thawing, and cooking this weekend to save yourself some stress on Thanksgiving Day.

The good news? The guests won'd be here for another 18 hours.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—You've hopefully started your Thanksgiving planning and stocked your cabinets and fridge with most of what you'll need for side dishes. Now it's time to tackle Thanksgiving turkeys.

Think Wednesday, not Thursday.

At my house, I roast my turkey the day before I plan to serve it, partly because I detest worrying about the timing of getting the turkey done just right and on the table with everything else, and partly because of stress from my childhood. My father was a wonderful, talented man, but carving a turkey wasn’t one of those talents. And yet, he came from a time when the man of the house carved at the table. Period. My mother and I suffered through his painful (sometimes literally so) and colorfully narrated attempts every year, so perhaps I’m extrasensitive about carving at the table.

So I decided to always 1) carve the turkey in the privacy of my kitchen, and 2) roast the bird-de-resistance long before my guests arrived then reheat as much of it as I need at mealtime. In addition to saving my sanity, this gives me time to pick the turkey over for sandwich and stock makings. After-dinner cleanup is super-easy and stress-free, as there aren't any bits of meat that need to be picked off the bird, and there's no need to cram the partially eaten thing into the fridge.

When shopping, plan for about 1.3 pounds of turkey per person at the meal. And, one last precooking-turkey tip: If your bird is frozen, put it into the fridge to start thawing 4 or 5 days before you plan to eat it. Yes, it really will take that long!