If you would have asked 20-year-old me if I would someday create a daily planner, shopping list, cooking schedule, and curated recipe selection for Thanksgiving meal prep, I would have told you HELLLLLLL no. Why would I do that? I hate to cook. I can’t cook. Every meal I make is tasteless or causes Vince to choke. That’s absurd.
But here I am, in my early 40’s, geeking out over the fact that this Thanksgiving I am going to be organized AF with my Thanksgiving Binder. I need to work on a name for this thing though because just calling it Thanksgiving Binder is making me ew. Everything must have a cool name or at least some pun or alliteration……
Mmmm, let’s think through this.
[me pausing to brainstorm. brb]
Ok, I’m back. Spent 10 minutes writing out words I liked in my brainstorm book and then went to ChatGPT with some instructions/ideas. With it’s help, I think I’ll name the book “The Gobble Guide.” Not bad, right? Gotta love the double Gs. Alliteration is AWESOME.
OK, so I made the Gobble Guide. Now, as I have already established, I am absolutely NOT the person to take cooking advice from. But I am pretty damn awesome at planning and organization. I love me some spreadsheets. I love knowing a plan for the day. This guide does that. It takes the guesswork out of when to cook what. It reminds me of mistakes I made in prior years (like not taking out the turkey 1 hour before cooking it…like seriously, who remembers to do that until it’s too late?). It documents everything I need to buy at the grocery store in order to cook each recipe I have. It details out oven temperatures, for heaven’s sake.
I love this thing. This is true adulting, folks. Getting geeked out over a meal planner. I am actually excited for turkey day so I can start following my plan and checking off to do’s. The dopamine hit it get when completing tasks and checking them off is semi-addicting.
Along with keeping me organized and satisfied during Thanksgiving prep, the Gobble Guide is also going to serve another purpose. When I was making my planner last year, a simple orange file folder with a shopping list and printed out recipes, I realized this collection would be a perfect gift to hand down to my daughters someday. Someday in the future when I’m not the one preparing the turkey, and they are hosting this day at their houses. Having their little family gather around the table. A time when I am no longer here. Because that day will come. Hopefully not for quite some time. But it will. And, by collecting my crazy into a book for them, they will have an easy way to recreate the holiday of their childhoods. They won’t have to question “how did mom do this?” Or “what was the recipe mom used to make the sweet potatoes.” It’s all here. In the Gobble Guide.
It will be my gift to each of them on for their wedding days. Or, if they don’t get married, maybe when they turn 30 or something. I’ll print the planner out nicely in a book, buy them every utensil and kitchen item they need to make the recipes, and gift it to them in a basket. Because apparently every gift now needs to come in a basket.
Maybe they will never use it. Maybe it will sit on a shelf. But that’s ok. I think they will recognize why I gave it to them even if they never host the only holiday where we eat the mascot (seriously f’in weird, right? Like shouldn’t the symbol be the cornucopia or something? Not the meat we eat. That’s like us eating rabbit on Easter). This is not just a guide, it’s a time capsule. It’s a little bit of me, in a book. If I had a mom, I would want that.
Shit, ok. So, I didn’t think as I started writing this post, I would be crying. But here I am, trying to hold back the tears as I finish this up. Writing is so cathartic and surprising. I never know how things are going to go when I start typing out my thoughts and feelings…
So, there you have it—The Gobble Guide: part meal planner, part time capsule, and 100% proof that as an adult you find odd things satisfying. Whether you’re geeking out over spreadsheets, chasing that dopamine hit from checking off your to-dos, or imagining a future where your kids are hosting Turkey Day without you and crying into a bowl of gravy like I am, this guide is for you.
And honestly? I hope it becomes more than just a planner for you too. Maybe it saves you from forgetting the turkey thaw. Maybe it inspires you to start your own tradition. Maybe it just gives you the organization you need to start drinking mimosas on Thursday without fear of messing shit up because even you can follow a checklist buzzed up on champagne.
I know I can😊
If you’re ready to get next level organized, grab your access below. I’m sharing my templates, shopping lists, and timed schedules. Happy Thanksgiving planning! May your casseroles never burn and your turkey never turn out dry.
