Thanksgiving at our house usually means extended family coming into town, a turkey on the smoker, and plenty of time spent in the kitchen.
A few years ago, our daughter and I decided we were going to make smoked mac and cheese completely from scratch. We shredded the cheese, made the roux, mixed everything together, and spent about two hours getting it just right. And when we say “we,” let’s be honest. She was making it. Dad was helping. It came off the smoker looking perfect. Then the cheap, flimsy pan buckled.
Two hours of work, and our beautiful smoked mac and cheese, landed on the floor. We can laugh about it now. In fact, that Thanksgiving has become affectionately known in our family as the “Floor Mac Thanksgiving.” At the time? Not so much.
But there’s actually a pretty good Thanksgiving lesson buried somewhere underneath all that cheese: you don’t get extra points for making everything yourself. The dishes that mean something to your family? Make them. If Grandma’s dressing has been on the table for 40 years, nobody should mess with Grandma’s dressing. If smoking the turkey is part of the experience, fire up the smoker.
But Thanksgiving doesn’t have to mean spending the entire day in the kitchen trying to make twelve different things from scratch.
A less stressful Thanksgiving starts by deciding ahead of time what deserves your time and what doesn’t.
Finalize your menu and guest count early. Decide which dishes are traditions, which ones someone else can bring, and which ones you’re perfectly happy letting someone else prepare. Do as much as possible before Thanksgiving morning, and leave that day for the things that genuinely need your attention.
Working in the prepared food business, we spend a lot of time thinking about what makes feeding people easier. One thing we’ve learned is that getting help doesn’t replace the traditions that make a family meal special. It gives you more time to actually enjoy them.
So this Thanksgiving, make the recipes that matter. Ask for help with the ones that don’t. Prepare what you can ahead of time. And for the sake of avoiding your own “Floor Mac Thanksgiving,” use a sturdy pan.
When everyone finally sits down to eat, make sure you’re sitting there with them because the goal isn’t to make the most impressive Thanksgiving meal your family has ever seen.
It’s to actually be there for it.
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