Micro Thanksgiving Ideas
If the recipe requires baking, here’s your time to shine! Use ramekins, mini pie tins, small bundt cake molds, or other small oven-proof dishes to create single-serving sides (like mac and cheese, creamed spinach, mini pies, or green bean casserole). They look super cute, too. Pop them in the oven as needed, or even freeze some for a fresh holiday meal whenever you want. Because it’s just you, consider mixing your prep work into your Thanksgiving week meal plan. Can you make a spinach salad one day and prep the creamed spinach that afternoon? Can you roast some sweet potatoes for a grain bowl and mash the rest as a Thanksgiving side? Is the grain from your rice bowl a good stuffing addition? Be strategic, and look for ingredients that can do double duty to limit waste and your kitchen workload. Several Thanksgiving meals as well as components are also available online. Homesick? Order some regional specialties, like spicy Cajun deep-fried turkey from Louisiana or Southern-style mac and cheese from Nashville’s Loveless Cafe. Meat eaters can consider swapping out an oversize bird for individual cornish hens, a roast duck, or the turkey pieces mentioned above. You can also swap out poultry and splurge on another luxury meat, like lamb shanks, filet mignon, or a nice veal chop. Lobsters? Why not! Wagyu steak? You deserve it. Consider making a whole fish your Thanksgiving signature. Drop off goody bags for close-by friends and family, or consider purchasing dry ice at a local ice cream shop to overnight your homemade specialties to a distant loved one on Friday morning. They’ll never forget the Saturday they unboxed a chilled homemade turkey leg and individual serving of corn pudding.
