The Thanksgiving Week Kitchen Kit

Oven space is the real constraint. Everything here exists to work around it.

There is exactly one oven and roughly six things that want to be in it. That is the whole problem with Thanksgiving, and no amount of planning makes an oven bigger.

So the useful gear this week is not fancier cookware. It is anything that cooks or holds food somewhere other than the oven, and anything that deals with the leftovers afterward.

The Deal Nest

Crock-Pot 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

Stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cider. Every dish you move to the counter is a rack you get back. Set it to warm and forget about it until you serve.

~$88Shop it

The Deal Nest

COSORI Air Fryer

A second oven that preheats in three minutes. Ideal for the things that need to be crisp and hot at the last second, when the real oven is full of turkey.

~$73Shop it

The Deal Nest

Variable Speed Hand Blender

Gravy without lumps, soup without transferring boiling liquid across the kitchen, potatoes without dragging out the stand mixer. Cleans in about a minute.

~$65Shop it

The Deal Nest

Mini Waffle Maker

The morning after is a real meal too, and leftover mashed potatoes make surprisingly good waffles. Small enough to leave out for the weekend.

~$26Shop it

The Deal Nest

Bodum Pour Over Coffee Maker, 34 oz

You will want coffee at odd hours all week, usually one cup at a time, usually while something else is happening. This does that without a pot going stale.

~$20Shop it

If the day is already underway and you can only add one thing, make it the second heat source. Every other bottleneck is downstream of the oven being full.