Great Pretenders

Although I typically make most things from scratch, I have found a few shortcuts that even my mom couldn’t detect. My favorite one is using frozen Ore-Ida mashed potatoes. It saves me the time of peeling, slicing, and boiling. I can focus on making a spectacular turkey, and no one can tell the mashed potatoes aren’t fresh.
Mary Correa
Lakeland, Florida

Team Effort

My most reliable Thanksgiving shortcut is a great family. Everyone pitches in, everyone brings something, and everyone helps do dishes. We alternate houses for different holidays, so no one person has to be overwhelmed with every event. When all my friends are complaining about how much work Thanksgiving is, I just smile. We have a lot to be thankful for in my family.
Andrea Unrine
Highland Beach, Florida

Preppy Handbook

Start cooking days before. Homemade cranberry sauce one day; green-bean casserole the next (save the crunchies for Thanksgiving Day). Chop any vegetables for the salad on another. And sweet-potato casserole refrigerates nicely. Come Thursday, it’s assemble, warm, and enjoy.
Jenni Mitchell
Riverside, California

Getting organized ahead of time is the only shortcut that works. I collect all the recipes, organize them on a timeline, and summarize the ingredients for easy shopping. I put all the printouts in clear pockets (the kind used for filing) so it’s easy to refer to them without dirtying them. It helps me get the dishes and table ready at 3 p.m. every year all by myself (feeding six, plus two cats and a dog).
Polly Welch
Webster, New York

Anywhere but Here

Over the river and through the woods to my sister-in-law’s house we go!
Barbara Ainslie
Hartwick, New York

Leaving the country. My husband and I solved the problem of choosing which set of parents to celebrate the holiday with by going on an exotic vacation every Thanksgiving. To date, we’ve been to Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Egypt, and Lebanon. Part of the fun is deciding where to go next. This year we’re looking at New Zealand and Australia, Bali, or maybe even India. Sure, we miss the family gatherings, but we have a treasure trove of our own Turkey Day memories.
Jeanne Mell
Wilmington, Delaware

My family took a different turn last Thanksgiving. Instead of the weeklong preparation for the 30-minute meal and two-hour cleanup, my husband, my two kids, and I celebrated the day on our local ski mountain with a fabulous early storm. We got to spend the day as a family and then go home to heat the meal from a wonderful restaurant that had prepared a soup-to-nuts traditional dinner. Cleanup was taking the aluminum pans out to the recycling bin.
Melinda Halpern-Collins
Bend, Oregon

Go to the end of the block. Make a right. Drive to the next traffic light. Make a left. Second house on the right: Grandma’s.
Melissa McCabe
Los Angeles, California

Accept someone else’s kind invitation.
Suzanne Austin-Hill
Miami, Florida

Your Turn

What is your most reliable Thanksgiving shortcut? Share your hints here — and read what others have said.