Each year, according to AAA, more than 46 million travelers hit the road for Thanksgiving. And there’s a good chance many of them will be in your kitchen, on your couch, and at your dinner table!
Getting your house holiday-ready and a Martha Stewart-worthy feast on the table can be exhausting. In fact, most hosts will spend 7 hours on the meal – and that’s just cooking! There’s prep work to do, shopping to finish, and cleaning to complete. By getting as much done well in advance of the big day, you can rest a little easier and spend more time with your family. It just requires a little extra planning:
- Ask for help – it’s OK! According to one study, more than 60 percent of us feel increased stress around the holidays. One of the best ways to reduce it, say experts, is to engage a support team in the planning stages and on the day of the event. That means asking your friends and family to help with the meal, even it’s taking one dish off your hands.
- Stock up on pantry- and freezer-ready ingredients. Make a list of every single ingredient you’ll need for Thanksgiving dinner, from French-fried onions to all-spice. Scour your grocery and big box store ads in the weeks prior to the holiday for the best prices and stock up well in advance. The last thing you want to do on Wednesday night is run to the grocery store for cinnamon like the hundreds of other procrastinators in town.
- Get your cooking gear in check. Just like you double check ingredients, double check that you have all of the cooking utensils, pots, and dishes you need. If your turkey roaster has seen better days or your lemon zester has disappeared into a kitchen black hole, now is the time to go to the supply store.
- Kick your cooking into gear. When you have a few free hours in early November, start your baking and cooking. Dinner rolls, pie crusts, and cranberry sauce can all be made and frozen well in advance. So can ingredients for side dishes, such as bread crumbs for stuffing and sauce for green bean casserole. Avoid freezing items like mashed or sweet potatoes which can become watery when thawed.
- Create an inviting space for guests. The week before Thanksgiving, clear out your coat closet to make room for coats, scarves and bags. If you have a guest room, change and wash the sheets, get out the guests towels, and give the room a good cleaning. If that guest room is usually your kid’s room, declutter as much as possible by storing toys away – and bribing your kids to keep it clean.
- Pull together a cleaning bucket. On the night before and the morning of Thanksgiving, keep your older kids and teens out of the kitchen by giving them cleaning jobs to do. Gather up a cleaning bucket with everything they need – glass cleaner, paper towels, dust spray, rags – so they are not digging through cabinets and getting in your way.
- Take a few shortcuts. Don’t stress out about decorations – a pretty centerpiece from the florist, a few candles, and some low lighting can quickly set the mood. If you’re not a baker, order pies from a local bakery. Ease the demand on your oven by cooking your own side dishes and ordering a prepared turkey from your butcher.
The easiest shortcut for Thanksgiving? Let Annointed Hands handle the housework for you so you can spend your time pie-baking, mashing and roasting! We can be in and out in one day, cleaning in every corner and hitting those areas you tend to forget (until a nosy in-law points them out!). From scrubbing your oven to sanitizing your bathrooms, we can leave every room in tip-top shape – and leave your guests wondering how you do it all!
Holiday appointments are filling up fast, so contact us today at 618.709.0238.