How to organize a stress-free Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving is now less than a week away. Still not sure what’s on the menu? Or how you’ll get it all done in time?

Here are some easy tips for getting organized — and for getting the turkey on the table in time.

Plan your menu:

Once you know when dinner is — and how many you’ll be serving — start planning.

Will you be doing all the cooking? Can you delegate a dish or two? What about a potluck? Will you be serving food while guests are seated at the table or buffet-style? Will there be cocktails and hors d’oeuvres beforehand?

When selecting side dishes, Serious Eats recommends choosing a combination of make-ahead and last-minute dishes, and ones that use a variety of cooking methods: stovetop, oven, slow cookers, no-cook, etc.

To keep prep manageable, A Sweet and Savoury Life advises choosing a balance of straight-forward reliable recipes and just one or two show-stoppers.

Not sure where to start? Here’s Epicurious’ Thanksgiving menu planner. It will help you choose dishes based on number of guests, your culinary skills, and how much time you have.

Make a detailed list. Before you shop, check your pantry and freezer for ingredients you might already have.

Make sure you have enough serving bowls, platters and utensils. If you know there will be some additional cooks in the kitchen come cooking day, label the platters with Post-It notes so everything will go smoothly when it’s time to serve the food.

Now’s the time to make room in your fridge and freezer, too.

Shop early:

If turkey is on the menu, buy it now — or pre-order one from your butcher. You don’t want to be birdless when they’re all sold out later this week.

Learn how to select the perfect turkey at Serious Eats. If you’re buying a frozen turkey, make sure you give it enough time to thaw.

You can stock up on cocktail ingredients, non-perishable items and canned goods as soon as your menu is confirmed. A few days before Thanksgiving, pick up the fresh ingredients. (See The Kitchn’s guide to storing fruits and vegetables to keep them fresh until you need them.)

Prep early:

If you can make it ahead, do so.

Make and freeze your pie dough, whip up any soups or dips — they usually improve over time — and cranberry sauce.

Dry out bread if you’re making bread crumbs. Pre-assemble casseroles.

Wash, cut, chop or shred any vegetables the day before. Clean and dry salad greens. Anything that can be reheated for Thanksgiving dinner can be made the day before, too, such as mashed potatoes.

Set the table a day or two early if you can so that you don’t have to worry about set-up while you cook.

Stay organized:

Don’t just make a day-of generic to-do list, add a timeline to it.

Use something like Real Simple’s One-Day Thanksgiving Checklist to keep you on top of your cooking.

Epicurious has a great Thanksgiving Planning Checklist that begins six weeks before Thanksgiving. (Don’t worry, you can catch up quickly. You probably already know who’s coming for dinner, right?)

And Instructables offers tips for using a spreadsheet to keep everything super-organized. You’ll be able to keep track of who’s bringing what, the steps involved in each recipe’s preparation, and what still needs to be done.

How do you stay organized when cooking for a crowd?