Monday Night Nerd

It’s almost November, time for turkey, stuffing and friends & family.  I cook at my house – but we never really have a huge amount of people.  Now that my mom is in Florida for the winter, it’s just  my in-laws and immediate family.  Total 8 this year. 

Over the next two weeks I will show you how I am managing my Thanksgiving holiday with the help of  Microsoft Excel (after all this is Monday Night Nerd for a reason :))

My menu will be scaled down from past years of having over 15-18 attendees… but I will still be making the same items: Turkey, stuffing, Mashed Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes, Green beans & corn.  Dessert is pumpkin pie & Crème Brulee (oh! so yummy!).  Same menu each year – occasionally I have switched things up added or deleted but the staples are always there. (I haven’t paired everything down yet so when you look at the shopping list don’t panic J)  Also , there are 2 Green Bean recipes until I make a final decision.

I have my standard items w/ ingredients in excel already – (download here). This will be the start of my grocery list. The second tab helps me plan the cooking schedule so I can plan the timing of the food to all come out at the same time. 

This is my starting point.  I save it and use it year over year. (and my turkey cooking calculator comes with me year over year too :))

*I have my headers already filtered and sorted by grocery item so as I start checking shopping lists for prices I can just add them in.  (if you need a brush up on filters – see earlier weeks Monday Night Nerd post - here.)

Over the next 2 weeks I will be checking ads, cutting coupons (there are always baking items, Pillsbury crescent rolls, can & frozen veggies coupons in the papers this time of year).  OH! and Stay tuned.  I will be posting recipes, etc… as we get closer!