Thanksgiving Meal “Easy Button”

Happy Holidays everyone! We genuinely hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving shared with family, friends, and yummy food.

We had an amazing day – my Mom and Dad, also known affectionately as Grammy and Grampy, came over for the 2nd year in a row. Last year, we had to celebrate Thanksgiving on Wednesday because of my work schedule. It was a great feeling knowing that we didn’t have to worry about that this year! Although John might disagree, last year he had to work and my parents and I prepared the entire meal, which was ready for him when he got home. Can you say lucky?!

Well, he wasn’t so lucky this year (I am just kidding, by the way)! I know he was happy to help prepare dinner and spend time with the family. We kind of hit the “easy button” this year. Last year, we bought an all natural turkey from Sprouts and it was seriously the best turkey we’ve ever had. They don’t freeze their turkeys and they are all hormone, antibiotic and preservative free. Around Christmas time, we saw an advertisement that they were offering a full holiday meal, but we were too late in ordering and they sold out quickly. This year I was basically stalking Sprouts. As soon as I saw them available, we reserved ours immediately. It couldn’t have been easier! We reserved it via their website, set our pick-up time for 11AM on Thanksgiving Day, and chose our local Sprouts. They didn’t even require a credit card or deposit to reserve the meal, which was surprising! Here are the details:

All Natural Turkey Meal (Feeds 6-8) – $69.99

• 12-13 pound all natural, never frozen turkey
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Stuffing
• Cranberry sauce
• Creamed kale and spinach
• 1 dozen Hawaiian rolls

There are a ton of restaurants and grocery stores that offer prepared meals, but I have yet to find such a low price (and natural, healthier products) anywhere. You would be hard pressed to buy everything and prepare your own meal for less than $70, so this is a steal in my opinion.

We supplemented our meal with some of our favorites: homemade sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie. And although everything is fully cooked, the side dishes still have to be heated, so there was some cooking involved. The turkey had to be heated for about 2 hours, but everything else could go in the microwave. It was really a stress free holiday and we all got to focus on spending time together. This is Rosslyn’s first holiday season and we want to try and cherish every moment. We even let her try some mashed potatoes (a first for her!).

I know everyone has their own traditions, but if you want to try something new, I can’t recommend this meal from Sprouts enough! I think at Christmas we will try their prime rib roast meal. We already knew how good the turkey would be, but we were really surprised at how good all of the sides were. I wasn’t sure if I would like the creamed kale and spinach, but it ended up being really delicious! I am also really picky about my stuffing and was pleasantly surprised with how good it was.

Overall, we had a fantastic day and I’d say Rosslyn’s first Thanksgiving was a complete success! Here’s a picture of our little turkey: