Use this printable Thanksgiving meal planner to organize your holiday menu and plan your cooking schedule in advance.
Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, Keri Houchin earns a commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Thanksgiving is all about dinner. Whether you’re technically eating in the middle of the day or later in the evening, it all revolves around the dinner table.
If you’re hosting for the first time, it might feel a bit daunting to plan the big day. I’ve been hosting Thanksgiving (or Friendsgiving, since we celebrate with friends and not our extended family) for many years.
I used to worry about every detail, but after a while, I realized that with a little planning, Thanksgiving Day doesn’t have to be too stressful.
Thanksgiving planning tips
The areas where I usually get stuck are when I’m trying to do too many things by myself on Turkey Day. One of my favorite Thanksgiving dinner hosting tips is to hand some prep tasks off to guests and my family.
It’s also important to do most of the meal planning several days or even weeks ahead of time. I put together a one-page printable that makes it simple to do just that.
1. Make a menu.
Start by making your Thanksgiving dinner menu. It should include everything – appetizers, entrees, side dishes, bread, desserts, and drinks. Each of those categories might be one item or several. Maybe you don’t need appetizers or you always have a salad course. If you’re making separate food for kids, write that down too.
Make sure you’ve considered your guests’ dietary restrictions and allergies. It’s easy for less-common allergens to sneak into recipes without you noticing. Check the label of every ingredient.
2. Plan the cooking schedule.
Decide what time you want to eat and count backward to decide when each dish needs to be started. Check the cooking time and temperature for every dish that cooks in the oven (or other appliances). Plan it out so you don’t have too many dishes competing for the same space at the same time.
Some recipes, like pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce, can be made a day or so ahead and refrigerated. Alternatively, ask guests to bring some of the food. Most people have a favorite dish or love the one they grew up with. Let them bring it and check that item off your to-do list.
3. Make a shopping list.
Make a big shopping list as you plan out the menu. In a perfect world, you only need to go to the grocery store once, a few days before Thanksgiving.
It might be helpful to stock up on some things earlier, like baking supplies or frozen cranberries. If you’re cooking a whole turkey, keep thawing time in mind. A fresh turkey costs more, but a frozen one needs to be thawed for a few days in the refrigerator.
Thanksgiving meal planner
I made a cute and simple printable Thanksgiving meal planner to organize everything on one page. It’s simple but will make a huge difference if you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner.
It includes space to write out your meal plan, make a shopping list, and map out what your cooking schedule is for Thanksgiving Day.
If you want to plan even more detail, grab my printable Thanksgiving planner. It includes 9 pages to plan the menu, cooking, decorating, activities, and more.
Get the printable
This prints on a regular 8.5×11-inch page, but you can scale it smaller or even use it in a writing app on your iPad. All printables are for personal use only.
What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia but this plan will be just as helpful for Xmas!
Thanks, Stella! I may need to put together a general holiday meal planner for my non-US readers.