I love making Thanksgiving dinner any time. It is a lot of work if you are making most of the meal, so here are some recipes that you can freeze ahead of time. Just thaw and throw into the oven! Or thaw on the counter and eat!
Honey Wheat Rolls – You can bake them and freeze in a ziplock bag up to one month. Be sure to thaw at room temperature overnight before serving. Or, you could make the dough (in the bread machine – so easy!) and then portion out the rolls, flash freeze, and place in ziplock bags. You would have to thaw the frozen dough overnight and let rise for 30 minutes before putting in the oven for freshly made rolls that you still made yourself.
You could also accompany them with some yummy Cinnamon Honey Butter. You can freeze that, too!
Cranberry Orange Bread – Bake and then allow to completely cool. Wrap in saran wrap and place in a ziplock bag in the freezer up to one month. Just thaw on the counter overnight and you have delicious cranberry orange bread.
Sweet Potato Casserole – Line your 9×13 casserole dish with foil (leave about a 2″ lip for easy lifting later). Make the potato mixture, but don’t bake it. Put the potato mixture in the lined pan and cover. Freeze for about 2-4 hours. Lift the casserole from the pan and wrap the top with foil and the entire thing in plastic wrap twice. Freeze up to one month. Make the topping and place this in a small baggie with the casserole and freeze as well. The day before Thanksgiving, thaw in the fridge and then bake as instructed.
You could do this with regular mashed potatoes as well.
Pumpkin Pie – Pies like mincemeat and pumpkin freeze very well. Most fruit pies will also freeze well though it is recommended to bake cherry before freezing. As with most baked goods, they will taste best if consumed within 4 weeks. To freeze your pie: Assemble you pie and place on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer. Double wrap in plastic and/or foil and then place in a ziplock bag. Most importantly – cook pies from frozen. Do not thaw them. It’s easier on you this way anyway!
Dutch Apple Pie – Another Thanksgiving Classic!
Cherry Blueberry Pie – This is my favorite.
Instead of a typical cranberry blob out of the can, here is a cranberry yogurt coffeecake. Good for breakfast or a side/dessert.
And of course…. we can’t forget the Roast Turkey!
lots of great ideas:)
I buy an extra turkey during the holidays and keep it in the freezer for our family reunion. I then just thaw it so I can roast the turkey the day before the reunion. Carve it as usual and put in oven proof dishes (I use a 9×13″ baking dish). Pour on 1 or 2 cans of chicken broth, cover with foil and refrigerate. You can put it in the oven to reheat before the reunion, a lot of the broth will be absorbed by the turkey and it will be moist when you go to serve it. This works for Thanksgiving too. If we have additional company (more than our usual meal group), I roast the turkey the night before and do the same for it.
Cool! Thanks for the tip! I will have to try that.
[…] created a “Freezer Thanksgiving” post last year, but since then I have added many more recipes. Target has frozen turkey on sale this week for 79 […]