How To Plan Thanksgiving Weekend Meals For Your Family Reunion

Are you hosting a family reunion for the Thanksgiving weekend this year? If so, you may be feeling a bit stressed over what to feed your guests. Here are some ideas that might make your job easier.

Breakfasts

Of course, if your guests are staying at a hotel during the Thanksgiving weekend, a complimentary breakfast might be available to them. If not, or if you have family members staying at your home, consider keeping things simple.

Set out different boxes of cereal with yummy accompaniments on the side. The accompaniments might include yogurt, raisins, cranberries, different kinds of nuts and cut up fruit. Think of offering almond milk, cashew milk or coconut milk for those who might be lactose intolerant. Another good breakfast would be to offer commercially prepared individual hot meals like sausage pancakes, biscuits with cheese, eggs and ham, and breakfast burritos. 

No matter what you serve for the breakfast main course, setting out a bowl of assorted fruit, fruit juices and hot beverages will be a good addition to the meal.

Lunches

Will your guests be going out to see local attractions or will they be staying home to eat lunch? If they are going out, think about taking them to restaurants that are favorites with the local residents. That will give your guests a flavor of your town's personality.

For lunch at home, consider setting out several different types of artisan breads, cheeses, cold cuts and fancy spreads like basil pesto, jalapeno jelly and honey butter. If there are children in the group, one fun thing to do is to have a children's buffet. Chicken nuggets, pretzels, bowls of grapes, mini carrot sticks and frosted animal crackers are a few of the things that the children could easily serve themselves.

Dinners

Of course, what you plan for dinners will depend on the evening event. If you'll be doing something like going to the theater, think of serving something like soup that has been heating up in the crock pot all day. That will just mean that your guests can serve themselves so you'll have the time to get yourself ready for your evening out.

Are you staying home to watch a movie? If so, consider ordering in something like pizza or Chinese food that you can eat in front of the television set. Another idea is to let your guests know ahead of time that you'll all be going out to eat the evening meal.

When it comes to the main event, often the host can hardly enjoy it because he or she has to work really hard to prepare the meal. This year, consider having your Thanksgiving feast catered. Catering isn't just an easy way to go, it's also more affordable than you might imagine. By the time you buy turkey, a roast, a ham or whatever else you planned to serve, plus all of the side dishes, the cost might be very close to what you will pay caterers. Can you imagine how great it will be to have professionals set things up, serve your group a delicious meal and then clean everything up at the end of your feast? You might find yourself calling the caterers for other special events, too.