Thanksgiving Dinner Feeding Extra Guests
If you are going to be hosting Thanksgiving Day dinner, you know that you will have a lot of work cut out for you. Thanksgiving dinner is a large meal in which friends and family come over to eat. You will have to prepare for the possibility you will get plenty of guests. There are going to be last minute changes in which people not being able to show up due to recent circumstances, extra guests showing up last minute, and other things. Regardless, you have to make sure everybody gets fed. But, do not get anxious and panicky; doing so will ensure Thanksgiving dinner becomes a total wreck for the most part.
It you planned beforehand, you should not have many problems. If you decide to do Thanksgiving dinner in the last minute, you are going to have plenty of problems. When preparing Thanksgiving dinner, you have to prepare the main dish, the side dishes, and the desserts. You definitely got a lot of work ahead prior to Thanksgiving. But, the main question is: Are you going to be able to feed that many guests?
Would you be able to accommodate extra guests let alone those that arrive unexpectedly? You do not want to turn unexpected guests at the door.
The first thing you need to do is estimate how many people you think are going to show up. Then, make an overestimate. You want to overestimate, not underestimate, how many guests you are going to host for Thanksgiving dinner. If you underestimate, you may end up not having enough to feed everybody. It is always to overestimate than underestimate in these circumstances; if not many people show up, at least you got more than enough food to serve.
Talk to everybody you plan on inviting for dinner. If they are interested, find out how many people they are bringing with them. Remember, nothing is set in concrete as the number of people showing up will fluctuate. Still, it is always the best and safe bet
Obviously, you need to have a main course. Assuming you plan on serving turkey as your main meal, you are going to need a turkey that weighs at least ten pounds. You want to get a turkey that weighs that much or more; or, you can buy two turkeys which should be enough. Make larger side dishes to be on the safe side because they are rather popular. You will need to have large servings of mashed potatoes & gravy, macaroni & cheese, yams, mixed vegetables, stuffing, and other sides. For dessert, be sure to have a couple of cakes and pies on hand.
In short, prepare to do a lot of prepping and cooking. It helps you got some extra hands on deck in the kitchen; that way, you can focus on the main course and some of the side dishes.
You can even get guests to bring in dishes of their own. That helps out tremendously in terms of prepping and cooking. You can offer to let guests bring their own food to the dinner. In doing so, you ensure that nobody goes hungry and that the extra guests will be fed. Ask all the guests if they are interested in bringing their own dishes to share with everybody else for Thanksgiving dinner. Having plenty of extra side dishes and desserts helps you out a lot when preparing a holiday meal. There is nothing wrong with asking for people to bring their own dishes to share with everybody; again, no shame in that.
Make sure you have a contingency plan in case something goes wrong in the kitchen. The important thing is to be prepared.
