Cooking the turkey...a day ahead of time.

That's a great idea, problem is, I doubt a 21 pound bird would fit in my crock pot. Maybe I will talk my husband into purchasing a smaller bird next year..lol

When I am having Thanksgiving here at home I make my Turkey the day of Thanksgiving. I use oven bags which cut the cooking time down to about 2 1/2 hours. So I can either make it earlier, or have it be one of the last things I make. With using the oven bag, it makes 2 to 3 times more the amount of broth for gravy. Which we love. There is plenty for basting the dressing that I place in separate casserole dishes. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

No we don't do things a day ahead, rather we do them a month ahead! LOL IN Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving in October. :) We went out for Thanksgiving dinner since there are only two of us. That was great, because we didn't have to do any of the prep, nor did we have to do any of the cleanup.

My neighbor also puts her turkey in the crockpot to keep it warm and it always makes it nice and juicy. I know a couple of people that cook the turkey the day before Thanksgiving. I have never done that though. We always cook it on the day of Thanksgiving. This year though I will be cooking a spiral ham instead since we already had two Thanksgiving dinners in the past 7 days. Now we are turkeyed out.

I've actually never made a turkey of my own, so I really don't know how I would do it. I'm not a fan of turkey, except in certain preparations. With that said, I did make a light turkey dinner for the family last week, but the way that I cooked it only involved baking some turkey slices that had been wrapped around dressing and covered with turkey gravy. This is my perfect alternative to making Thanksgiving dinner because it is both simple and delicious.

Thanks giving in Canada was a month ago, lol. But the turkey a day early is a good idea, only we'd be tempted to pick at the meat too soon! It's okay, since we cook the pies ahead of time then all we have to do is stick the turkey in the oven and cook the veggies.

I will start many preparations today, but not sure as to when I will actually start cooking it. I think that my daughters are going to help me cook so it should be a fun day and I have lots to do so I guess I should get ready to start getting things gathered together.

Working today, so I have to do my turkey tomorrow. But the only other thing I need the oven for is the green bean casserole, the rolls, and the pies. I'm making yams straight out of the can.. just heat them in the microwave. Totally skipped the squash this year, but squash and yams are so similar, you don't really need both. I've never really had any problems letting the turkey sit while we baked the green bean casserole.. gives it time to cool off before it is carved.

I don't do the whole turkey meal anymore. But when I was doing it, I did just the opposite as you. I'd do the sides on the day before and the turkey on T.Day. It was easy to just heat up the the sides in the oven after the turkey was done. I also saved making the giblet gravy til T.Day too. This year, I don't know what I'll be having. Maybe a bologna sandwich? I'm going to the grocery this morning so I may grab a turkey leg and roast that.

My son in law usually cooks the turkey.I usually cook the dressing and a cake.Most always ask for my strawberry cake.We all bring a few items each.Can't wait to get started eating.I have my cornbread cooking to make my dressing now.