Top Ways to Reduce Stress at Thanksgiving

The holidays are meant to enjoy your family and friends, not to stress over how much you have to do. Here are few tips to help reduce the stress, particularly in terms of prepping, cooking and cleaning.

Reduce Your Thanksgiving Stress

1)      Plan ahead. What aspects of Thanksgiving dinner can you make in advance and freeze? Soups, mashed potatoes, quiche for Thanksgiving breakfast.

2)      Take short cuts. Purchase pre-cut or pre-made sides where appropriate. Which vegetables take a long time to prepare – peeling, chopping, deseeding and more? For example, I use pre-cut butternut squash because peeling and cutting the squash takes a lot of time and energy. However, celery for a crudité can be prepared in 5 minutes or less. What side dishes can you purchase that will be close to home made?  Zing Meals can help with this if you want healthy, made from scratch, allergen friendly sides. See below for more details.

3)      Share the load. If Aunt Mary makes awesome sweet potatoes, ask her to bring them. People feel more appreciated when you ask them to bring ‘your favorite dish’ – that no one can prepare like they do! Most people recognize how much effort goes into hosting Thanksgiving dinner and are happy to help.

4)      Forego perfection. No one, (except maybe you!), expects everything to be perfect. They are coming to see you, not to judge if your house and the Thanksgiving feast are perfect! Figure out what is required and then reduce or remove what is not. Do you really need 3 different types of potatoes? Do you have to scrub every bathroom?

5)      Be flexible. Let’s face it, something will go wrong. Be prepared to accept what happens. It’s not the situation, it’s how you react to the situation that matters. My favorite questions to ask when something appears to be dire are: “Will I remember this situation 1 hour from now? Will I remember it 1 week from now? Will I remember it 1 year from now?” This helps to put the situation into perspective and helps you determine how to respond. We still laugh about the Thanksgiving morning when I prematurely opened the pressure cooker and had orange sweet potatoes all over the kitchen walls and ceiling an hour before guests were arriving! These events are what create memories.

6)      Be grateful. Studies have proven that gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression. Look at all of the wonderful people around your table and the beautiful food and give thanks for all of your blessings!

Local NJ Offers
Easy Thanksgiving Dinner

•  Overwhelmed with the thought of preparing Thanksgiving dinner?
•  Want to reduce the stress, yet still eat a homemade, delicious and nutritious meal?
•  Need a last minute healthy option, delivered to your door?

has the answer with freshly prepared Turkey Meals and Holiday Side Dishes.

1. Order a roasted turkey breast meal for 1, 2, 4 or more and round it out with holiday sides for an easy, gourmet freshly prepared dinner.
2. Order homemade, freshly prepared, yummy and allergen friendly sides to accompany your turkey, including:

• Various types of gourmet potatoes
• Gluten-free cornbread stuffing
• Yummy vegetables
• Cranberries with a twist, and more.

Holiday Recipe

Thank you for your continued support over the years and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!