Grabbing a heat-and-serve dinner from chains like Cracker Barrel and Costco has saved me time.
We still eat Thanksgiving staples and the price is the same or less than our groceries would be.
Since I got married and later became a mom, I've loved cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family.
My husband and I both enjoy cooking, so in previous years, we'd start preparing days in advance and wake up early on Thanksgiving morning to get to work making dishes like mac and cheese, roasted turkey, and green-bean casserole.
In recent years, however, I've simplified the process and started ordering Thanksgiving dinner to-go from chain restaurants like Cracker Barrel or warehouse stores like Costco.
The cost is about the same as (or less than) our Thanksgiving groceries. Plus, by reheating premade dishes, we can enjoy time with family without hours of cooking and a massive kitchen clean-up.
My Thanksgiving dinners in the past involved hours of cooking and baking.I used to spend days preparing Thanksgiving dinner.
Terri Peters
I'm a self-proclaimed aspiring Martha Stewart, so I've always prided myself in cooking elaborate Thanksgiving dinners for my family from scratch.
I'd spend days doing food prep and writing out a detailed plan of when to make certain dishes, how to store them, and which time each needed to go in the oven.
Last year, after cooking a full Thanksgiving meal from Ina Garten recipes for an assignment ahead of Thanksgiving, I was ready for a break. That's when we first tried ordering a heat-and-serve Thanksgiving meal instead.
Letting a chain handle the meal for me has made the holiday run more smoothly.We really enjoyed our Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving.
Terri Peters
Because my family had eaten at Cracker Barrel for the first time last year and enjoyed it, we decided to order its heat-and-serve Thanksgiving dinner last year.
The $130 meal included everything from turkey to dinner rolls and actually cost way less than what I'd normally spend on Thanksgiving groceries.
Even better? The dishes tasted just as good as my homemade menu items and saved us hours in the kitchen.
The staples are still here — they're just cooked by someone else for a change.We still have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and other Thanksgiving staples.
Terri Peters
Our Cracker Barrel meal last year included turkey, gravy, and essential sides like mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and green beans — plus a few extras.
This year, we ordered a full Thanksgiving meal from Costco for an early Thanksgiving celebration with my visiting mother-in-law. We were treated to a full spread for eight guests for $180.
The dinner included staples like green-bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, corn, mac and cheese, and pumpkin pie. There was nothing we missed having on our dinner table.
I don't miss spending days in the kitchen before Thanksgiving.Cooking Thanksgiving dinner requires a lot of preparation.
Terri Peters
Although I could make mac and cheese from scratch the day before the holiday and pull out Crock-Pots from storage to keep mashed potatoes and gravy warm on Thanksgiving, it's nice not to have to.
In fact, I wish I could've told myself about this amazing holiday hack 10 years ago, as it would have saved me so much time in the kitchen.
Outsourcing our Thanksgiving meal has freed up more time to spend with my family on the holiday.We can now participate in activities on Thanksgiving day that I wouldn't have been able to before.
Terri Peters
Instead of cooking elaborate Thanksgiving meals, my family all pitches in with heating up our premade dinner, which takes a matter of minutes compared to the days of cooking in years past.
With that out of the way, we can spend time doing things as a family, like running Turkey Trots, playing board games, or even going to the movies.
My kids are teenagers now, and with their busy schedules, we rarely get a day all together in the house. I'm thankful that I don't have to spend the day cooking and can actually hang out with my teens instead.
I may not always order Thanksgiving dinner to-go, but in this season, it's a perfect fit for my family.I love focusing on my family instead of the food during Thanksgiving.
Terri Peters
Although I may return to cooking family recipes on Thanksgiving in the future, there's something lovely about letting an outside party handle the meal so I can focus on my family instead.
While my kids are teenagers with jobs, school schedules, and social lives, I'd prefer to spend the holiday being present with them instead of frantically managing the kitchen.
For this reason, I'll continue to order Thanksgiving dinner from chains for the foreseeable future. After all, homemade pies and mashed potatoes can wait — but making memories with my kids can't.
