What to Do One Month Before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving favors the prepared.

I love Thanksgiving. I love preparing for it, I love cooking for it, I love inviting people into my home and feeding them. If you’ve never hosted the holiday, you may not fully appreciate just how much preparation it takes. It is not a small amount.

I probably over-prepare—I am famous for my Thanksgiving spreadsheet, after all—but that makes me the best person to write this series. This week, we’re focusing on what to do the month before Turkey Day. It may seem like a bit much, but I’m a bit much, and tackling a few tasks ahead of time can make crunch time feel less crunchy.

Here’s a quick overview of what I hope to accomplish a whole month before Turkey Day:

Draw up the ideal menu and guest list (and put it on your Thanksgiving spreadsheet)
Clean the oven
Test out any new recipes
Make and freeze some pie crusts
Sharpen those knives

Draw up your ideal menu and guest list (and put it on the spreadsheet)

Write out everyone you want to invite and everything you want to serve, along with anything you wish to outsource to guests (or local businesses). Be sure to include the romantic partners of your guests, as well as any children. Send an email (or group text) to the guest list to get a rough headcount, and ask everyone what they’d like to bring. If you plan on ordering anything, like pies or sides, reach out to the vendor or shop and confirm their cutoff dates for orders. Put it all on the spreadsheet.

Need Thanksgiving recipe ideas?

Check out our collection of Thanksgiving recipes here.

Clean your oven

Do not underestimate the revitalizing power of a thorough oven cleaning. Clean it now, and free yourself of one big, gnarly task come game time. (There is nothing worse than staring down a dirty oven the week of Thanksgiving.) If you plan on using your grill, give that a good scrub down, too. No one wants to deal with a grease fire on Turkey Day.

Test out any new recipes

Thanksgiving day is not the day to try new things. If you want to serve a new mashed potato, pie or dinner roll, test it now. Ovens are tricky things, and yours might run slightly higher or lower than the recipe developer’s. Doing a little test run will also help you identify any potential pitfalls, and decrease your general stress level on the holiday itself.

Luckily, our newest Thanksgiving recipes are ready now, so you can try them now, before the big day:

We also have Thanksgiving collections for you to browse:

Make and freeze a pie crust or two

It is never a bad idea to have an extra pie crust in the freezer. This is doubly true during the holiday season, especially if pastry work isn't your forte. Raw pie dough freezes exceptionally well, and keeping a couple discs stashed away can spare you a trip to the store, and perhaps some tears.

To freeze your pie dough, shape it into a disc and double wrap it as tightly as you can in plastic wrap. Then, just chuck it into the freezer. Try to make the disk as flat as possible, so it thaws more quickly. Transfer to the fridge to thaw a day or two before you plan to bake it. If you have extra space in the freezer (and extra pie plates) you can roll, fit, and crimp pie crusts on the plates, wrap well in plastic wrap and freeze, then unwrap and toss into the oven to bake.

If you need a pie dough recipe, try our Flaky Pie Pastry; if you want to skip the pie pastry and make a tart instead, you can make and freeze our Almond Tart Shell or Whole-Wheat Tart Shell just as easily. If you’re a fan of the Hot Water Pie Crust, please note that we do not recommend making and freezing this one ahead of time. It’s easiest to work with when it’s freshly made, because the high amount of moisture can cause large ice crystals to form during the freezing process, adversely affecting the texture of your dough.

Sharpen your knives

No one wants to tackle Thanksgiving prep with a dull knife. Not only will it slow you down, it also puts your fingers in harm’s way. I don’t care if you sharpen them yourself or outsource the job, just get it done. Then grab a honing steel and use it every time you use your knife. If you’re doing a lot of knife work, you can even stop mid-task to hone. (Unlike sharpening, honing simply realigns the teeth of your blade, so you don’t have to worry about wearing it down.)

Need a knife sharpener?

Snag one here!

That’s all for this week! Be sure to check back in next week for what to do three weeks out!

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Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.