Once, I wrote an essay on my birth mother who lived by her lists. They were always neatly written in spiral notebooks, and when she was done with an item she would mark it through with a straight line. Well…the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as they say.

But my lists have moved on-line, and because I am my mother’s daughter, I rebel against using lists for daily life – except in the case of Thanksgiving dinner.

Because I love Thanksgiving so much, and that’s the time of year I like to get out all my favorite Bon Appetit Magazine recipes that I use year after year, I’ve made myself a shortcut to organizing the menu, guestlist, and ingredients I need. Because it’s Excel, this ingredient list automatically adds up the quantities needed and creates a shopping list. Then I save the file for the year and modify it for the recipes of the next year.  

Just before my trip to the grocery store, I check the cupboards and refrigerator, see what I already have, mark them as “have”, then filter the list and print it out – and off I go to the grocery store. No more coming home and realizing you are missing any items and no panic sending someone to the store on Thursday morning. Whew!

My Excel spreadsheet also has a list of day-by-day tasks to make everything easier. I just follow the plan. This makes Thanksgiving morning more about decorating the table and the whole day about having fun with guests and eating good food.

If you would like a copy of my menu for this year, and the Excel file to help you organize your Thanksgiving dinner, please visit my website, janellstrube.com and on the Contact page, leave me your name and email address, and let me know that you’d like me to send you my Thanksgiving 2023 menu and shopping list.

Looking forward to hearing from you and – Happy Cooking!