Kitchen

[jlkz]

Friend's daughter a few years back ordered the whole meal from Wegman's: too SALTY.

[jlkz]

For several years my elderly Aunt & Uncle hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at a quasiFrench / Chinese wonderful restaurant. When going out got too difficult for them, we picked up all the entrees from this restaurant and took it to their home. Excellent food, great variety of entrees. If you live in the Norristown area of Montgomery County, try LaiLai. Elegant and excellent. Happy stress-free holidays.

[Krissie22]

We did this from Whole Foods a couple of years ago. Expensive but good, though like others, I prefer my own sides.

Another option is restaurants that are now selling Thanksgiving meals. I have a Mimi's Cafe nearby, and you can buy a whole dinner with sides for as many as you want, and it's delicious, so maybe you have a restaurant or two near you that offers this.

[HonnyBrown]

Before I got married, my single friends and I would get together on holidays. One year, the guy hosting did a fried turkey and his house caught fire.

Another friend offered to host and was able to get a Thanksgiving dinner ready to eat from a nearby market last minute due to a cancellation and good timing.

It was fine. Some of us brought sides and desserts and that saved the dinner.

[RickyRocky]

A few years ago, my mother-in-law passed away right before Thanksgiving, leaving me no time to grocery shop or cook the Thanksgiving dinner. I ordered the whole dinner from Bob Evans. It was delicious.

[SuesCat]

I did this one year when the in-laws invited themselves over at the last minute (two days before T-day.. their other offer fell through!). I ordered the meal from StopNShop (turkey wasn't frozen, but already seasoned, cooked in shrink wrap, just required reheating).

We have a tiny galley kitchen and MIL is always my shadow and there's just not room for that here when cooking a big festive meal! Day before TG i picked up the dinner in a nice neat box, brought it home. Transferred all sides into my serving bowls. 'Got rid of all the packaging and boxes to the trash! On TDay i just had to reheat in microwave, "cooked" the turkey prior to their arrival, and had it on the cutting board just in time for dinner! 'Needed no "help" in the kitchen . No one was the wiser and 'said everything was delicious! The mashed potatoes were weird, though.. too many preservatives, kind of watery. Everything else was good enough. I made extra (boxed) stuffing and homemade gravy from boxed broth.

It was great we all got together, and saved me a lot of stress and strain! Our best to you this Holiday!

[Kachina624]

On 10/26/2014 Skylands said:

Grocery store will be very mediocre at best

I've had several experiences with this food and mediocre would have been a step up from what I got.

[Mary Bailey]

MIL bought dinner from a grocery store twice and at best it was tolerable.

My sister does the turkey(s). Everyone else brings siides & deserts. Home cooking but nobody does everything.

[Marimsw]

I would try ordering from a restaurant in your area. Many restaurants now offer the complete meal for 10, for example, that you pick up the day of Thanksgiving. I am near a large metro area though, so not sure if this is widespread. I found this out a few years ago when my daughter worked at a restaurant. She had to work on the holiday and said so many people had ordered the dinner package or multiples of the package. This was a nice steakhouse type of restaurant so I'm sure the meal was probably delicious.

[ciao_bella]

About 8 years ago, I had had knee surgery about a week before Thanksgiving. I couldn't hobble around with crutches trying to make a turkey dinner so was planning on just ordering Chinese food and calling it a "Chinese Thanksgiving..LoL) My daughter was listening to a local radio host and the radio station was giving away..complete Thanksgiving dinners..which included a 12-14 pound cooked turkey, stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes, two vegetable side, spaghetti squash and a pumpkin and a pecan pie. All you had to do was call the radio station when you heard the "word of the day".. which was pumpkin. If you were the 7th caller (or whatever number they chose) you win the prize. Since I couldn't do much but sit with the knee elevated, I listened to the radio while I read, etc. A few days before Thanksgiving, I was listening and heard the host say the "word of the day".. Without hesitation, I dialed the station number...and YES, I was the lucky winner. The entire meal was made at a well-know, much frequented diner. All that you had to do was go and pick up the meal between 12-3pm which my son did.. The radio station gave you a confirmation number that had to match the number at the diner. Several winners were picked (one each day for about a week before Thanksgiving.

Needless to say, the turkey was delicious and even the sides were very good. It turned out to be the one time I hadn't cooked for Thanksgiving. To this day, we often chat, laugh and remember that one Thanksgiving that mom didn't cook..