Got this one from Flylady
1—The Turkey. Yeah, it freezes, but the quality will not be the same.
This is one place where I will say make it fresh the day of. I make it
the easy, juiciest most delicious way if I do say so myself. And the
best part? You don't stuff it and you don't baste it. If you need the
recipe (and you do!) go to savingdinner. com for the Thanksgiving
Menu-Mailer—it' s totally FREE, with recipes, grocery lists, timelines
and even decorating hints for your table.
2—Cranberry sauce. Go ahead, knock yourself out! Again, I have a great
recipe for it and it freezes beautifully. For the record, I've bought
bags of fresh cranberries and frozen them in the bag I bought them in,
used them about six months later and they were great too. Or you could
save yourself some trouble and buy the canned variety.
3—Stuffing. I can tell you from personal experience that stuffing
freezes fairly well. It can dry out a bit, but if you'll thaw it
overnight in the fridge, then drizzle a little melted butter and broth
over the top, cover it with foil and heat thoroughly through, it will
work fine and no one will be the wiser.
4—Gravy. Good gravy, yes! Gravy is a wonderful thing to behold and it
freezes fabulously. Here's a secret for you that I have in the
Thanksgiving Menu-Mailer—extend your homemade gravy with some
storebought stuff. Oh yeah, that's the best cheating secret out there.
No one will know (your secret is safe with me!) and you too, will own
the Endless Gravy Boat. This is important stuff when you're worried
that your father-in-law is going to hog all the gravy!
5—Pies. You can freeze your pies—or you can buy them frozen, LOL. This
is one place where I would either have people bring them or buy frozen
myself. Having had a Thanksgiving baby myself (my son was born
November 21st, 16 years ago!), I remember doing Thanksgiving and
having my mom bring the pies.
6—Mashed potatoes. Definitely a non-freezable item. I would make these
fresh in the morning and put them in my crockpot on low all day. BUT,
and this is the big BUT; TEST YOUR CROCKPOT FIRST with a pot full of
taters (you can make cream of potato soup out of them later) to make
SURE your crockpot won't burn them. All crockpots are not created
equal and it's through trial and error that we learn our own
crockpotty appliance's nuances.
7—Veggies. You can freeze sweet potato casseroles and green bean
casseroles too. Those are not my particular favorite Thanksgiving
veggies, but if they are mainstays at your table, rest assured, they
freeze fairly well. May get a little watery on top, but easily
blot-able with a paper towel and a little finesse.
8—Rolls and Butter. By all means, freeze the both of them. They freeze
well, thaw well and quality does not suffer.
