Holiday Dinner Preparation Tips for the New Bride

It's time to prepare and plan your holiday meals. Yet, the new bride sometimes needs a little help in holiday meal planning and preparation. Here are a few vital holiday dinner preparation tips for the new bride.

Plan Your Holiday Meal In Advance

Don't wait until the day of the holiday or even the day before to plan your holiday meal. Holiday meal planning takes time. In addition to advance preparation, you need to plan the meal beforehand. If your desire is to place a great meal on the table for Thanksgiving or Christmas, advance preparation and planning is a necessity. Menu planning takes time. Its necessary to plan for beverages, meats, sides and desserts. Entertaining or hosting a dinner can be major work for an individual. Preparing dishes in advance prevents stress, cleanup issues and even cooking issues that are sure to occur if planning in advance has not taken place. If your home is not equipped like a restaurant, advance planning, prepping and even cooking some dishes in advance is vital and something the tenured cook knows is a requirement for successfully holiday meals.

Advance Shopping

Years ago during an episode of "Designing Women" the ladies were discussing their holiday meals. While doing so, Charlene relayed an episode she observed in the grocery store the morning of Thanksgiving. While picking up a few items she needed to complete her holiday meal, Charlene observed a young woman who appeared to have been recently married shopping for her Thanksgiving Turkey. As we all are well aware, it takes at least three days to defrost a frozen turkey. Even giving yourself three days for the bird to defrost sometimes can be risky. If the turkey is a large one (15 pounds or more) you need to allow more than three days. After defrosting, you have to make sure you season it one day before the holiday. Brineing it for a few hours may be possible, but to guarantee a well seasoned delicious turkey takes time.

If three days or more is not allowed, you are cutting it quite close. At any level, a turkey purchased the day of Thanksgiving is not going to be served for dinner that day.

Precook or Bake Dishes in Advance

Some dishes can be prepared and either cooked or baked in advance. Those dishes that can be should be prepared and cooked or baked in advance of the holiday. After cooking, place the dish in your freezer. The day the dish is to be served, reheat it and place it on your dinner table. Some dishes taste extra good when the seasonings have been allowed to soak deep into every portion. The most common of these dishes are broccoli casseroles, cornbread dressing or even cornbread. There are numerous dishes that can be prepared, baked and placed in the freezer to be served later. There are other dishes that can only be prepared the day they are to be served. Your holiday menu usually includes one or more of each type. Decide which dishes can be prepared in advance and have those made up and ready for that special day.

Holidays are stressful just by their nature. eliminate as much stress as possible by planning and preparing in advance of that day. If not, you and your family might not enjoy the day as much as you should.