Here's when you should start cooking every dish for Thanksgiving

The INSIDER Summary:

Cooking and hosting Thanksgiving dinner can be stressful.

Between turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and many more side dishes, it can be overwhelming to determine an efficient cooking schedule.

INSIDER worked with Dan Holzman, chef and co-owner of The Meatball Shop, to come up with a Thanksgiving timeline that will help you figure out when to start cooking every dish.

Keep reading for our detailed timeline and prep schedule.

Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays of the year in the US, at least when it comes to food.

Hosting Thanksgiving dinner can be stressful no matter how many guests you're expecting, given that there's a seemingly endless menu of classic side dishes, pies, and of course, a huge turkey.

INSIDER spoke with Dan Holzman, chef and co-owner of The Meatball Shop mini chain in New York City, about the best way to plan out your Thanksgiving menu, as well as when you should start cooking each dish.

"If you are the type of person that loves to get stuff out of the way, there are a bunch of dishes and prep work that you can do ahead of time," Holzman said. "But from an efficiency perspective, there's a lot of down time in between roasting a turkey or even making mashed potatoes."

Here's what you should be prepping beforehand:

One week before:

Make and refrigerate cranberry sauce.

Prepare turkey or vegetable stock (if you are using homemade).

The day before:

Bake all desserts, including pies.

For stuffing, prepare dried bread one to two days in advance.

With proper planning, however, it's possible to make a full dinner primarily the day of. It's also possible to avoid most of the hassle and stress typically associated with the food-centric holiday.

With that being said, keep reading for our timeline of when you should cook every dish for Thanksgiving dinner.

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