1tpS8XjWe know it can be a little stressful to prepare a scrumptious meal for family and friends on Thanksgiving.

Here are a few of our favorite tips from the blogosphere to make the big day a little less eventful:

  1. Set the table early: You’ve got enough to do on Thursday, designate Wednesday as dish day and set the table, as well as digging out all of those serving dishes you’ll need ahead of time. That way everything will be ready for the food on the big day.
  2. Use your dishwasher before your meal: If you’ve got a ton of potatoes but don’t want to spend time washing them, utilize your dishwasher for a speedier meal prep.
  3. Pace yourself: When you’re adding liquid to your stuffing mixture, add a small amount at a time. You can always add more, but it’s pretty hard to remove liquid from stale bread.
  4. Thickening gluten-free gravy: When you can’t just throw in some flour, try subbing in sweet rice flour or making an arrowroot starch slurry.
  5. Not all cranberries come in a can: Sure, some people love the gelatinous cylinder of cranberry sauce you can slice, but there are plenty of other ways to incorporate the tart cranberry into your meal, from cocktails to side dishes to dessert
  6. Skip the potato boiling: You want to make mashed potatoes from scratch but don’t have a spare burner? No problem, just microwave your spuds instead.
  7. Free up your oven and barbecue your bird: The outdoor grill isn’t just for hot dogs and burgers, you can cook your turkey out there and leave your oven open to other possibilities.
  8. Let your turkey take a dip in the deep fryer: If you have 30 pounds of lard to spare, you can dunk your turkey in a deep fryer for another outdoor cooking experience.
  9. Keep their little hands busy: You can’t expect the kids to sit still and behave during a lengthy meal held at an odd hour, so give them something to do at the table that won’t be disruptive. Try covering the kids table (or yours) with butcher paper and adding a DIY Crayon Centerpiece to the mix.
  10. Skeletal soup: Once the masses have wolfed down all the turkey, don’t trash the leftover bird bones. They’re the perfect start to your next cooking feat – homemade turkey broth.