Thanksgiving For Only 2
 

Normally, I do a big Thanksgiving dinner, but this year, with Covid-19, it's just going to be the DH and I. Actually, I'm kind of relieved, because that big dinner that we normally have is really getting to be too much for me to do every year. People help, but not that much. So, what to make for just 2 people? Anyone else have this dilemma? What are you making? Here are a couple of my ideas:

1. Skip the turkey altogether and go totally vegan.
2. Go mostly vegan for the sides, but have some kind of seafood as the main course.
3. Buy a turkey breast and do the traditional sides.
4. Just have a nice soup, a salad, a side, and pie with ice cream afterwards.

I'm really loving this freedom to make whatever I want this year. The DH doesn't care and will love whatever I do.

Thanksgiving for only 2
 

My local grocers offer a great option that I have used. They will put together a dinner for 2 which includes turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, cranberry relish, and pie. It is really quite good and much less expensive than doing it from scratch. So, I suggest you check with your local grocer and see if this is available in your area.

Thanks...great idea. Unfortunately, we don't live near a local grocer, so it would be tired and cold by the time we got it home. :( One year, we took everyone out for Thanksgiving dinner and that was a huge hit, but we can't do that this year with the pandemic. Besides, it was pretty expensive.

We have a great restaurant called Kelly's Country Cookin' that serves fantastic home made tasting food. You always get big proportions of food (enough to take home for a second meal). You can order a Thanksgiving plate from them & pick it up and take it home. I would love to do that this year since it will just be the two of us also. Not sure if DH will be up to going out & picking it up but we will see as time draws closer. The thought of not fixing a meal here would cause me to have no (or few) leftovers & I love, love, love leftover stuffing & gravy.

It has only been the two of us for years. I make Cornish hens and a ham steak I stuff the bird which gives me the stuffing I desire for the holiday DH love the ham. Mash potatoes and home made cranberry sauce with crescent rolls round off the meal. I also make a homemade pumpkin pie. This year a friend bought over enough pumpkin for 10 pies! I have learned to cook smaller for the holiday. Same thing for the Christmas holiday..

I wonder how many other people are simplifying their holiday dinners this year?

If I was doing it, I would go as "simplified" as possible -

Turkey breast
Instant mashed potatoes (some brands are very good)
Gravy - made by me - I make good gravy
Stove top stuffing with Jimmy Dean sausage added
Cranberry relish - made from fresh cranberries - much better than canned
Fresh vegetables cooked - maybe broccoli or green beans
Dill pickles
Purchased rolls

By the time we've eaten more than our fill of that, who needs dessert?

A friend of mine makes an awesome sweet potato something (so does Golden Corral restaurant) that is served as a vegetable, but I think it is more than sweet enough to be served as a dessert.

Served buffet style .

My hubby and I have done Thanksgiving for 2 numerous times over the past decade. A couple times we bought a boneless turkey breast, had that with stove top stuffing a salad and pumpkin pie. Sometimes we do the mashed potatoes and gravy and a veggie. A couple years we’ve decided to do seafood ( fresh Maine lobster flown in) with salad and dessert. We keep it fairly simple- low key. Often we are doing this because I work in healthcare and often have to work on thanksgiving so we plan ahead and prep early so he can just get things going before I get home. We enjoy our little Thanksgivings .

umm...it will be only one here....but my sister who lives next door just might give me a piece of homemade pumpkin pie. I have purchased a turkey and vegetable dinner for one from the Schwann's man (frozen food delivery service) which I am planning on having for diner one of these days....and if it is good....I just may purchase a few more and one will be my thanksgiving day diner....actually, as I usually help my sister do the family thanksgiving....I don't mind being lazy and just popping food into the microwave. We have been more in isolation than a lot of my friends....one friend is gong to an open house, then her grandson is going over to some inlaws....then he is going back and he and his parents are going to other inlaws and my friend is joining them there for an extended family diner....and this is just for Halloween tonight....That is all just too much contact with too many people for me. I am pretty high risk...just plan on watching tv tonight and keeping my outdoor lights off....No trick or treat for me.

DD is hosting Thanksgiving at her house this year for the family and in laws. We all have a big dinner together several times a month so it's not a big deal, just different food.

We’ve had a few with just us two. We get a fresh turkey breadt and I make all the usual stuff because we love it and we like the leftovers. When we’ve gone out to eat instead, we miss having leftovers.

I would do as simple as possible. In the past on years that it is just the DH and I, I have gotten a turkey breast, did a small amount of stuffing, vegie, sweet potato, canned cranberry, gravyand of course pie - it was fine and just about perfect in the amount. I even cooked the breast in the crock pot. lol.

This year the kids will not be here (due to Covid) but I am doing something different. The local supermarket does a meal for 6 - but there is only two and we would be eating it for a month. However, a local B&B has been struggling during these unsettled times and has begun selling a once a week "Take Home Meals". We have done several of these so far to help them out and the food has been fantastic and often enough food for a second left over meal!! For their Thanksgiving meal for 2 - they are charging $40 and will be serving Turkey, stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Green Bean Casserole, gravy , rolls as well as pie. You pick it up in oven ready containers - pop it in the stove at 350 to keep it warm. My order is already in - https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png

That sounds like an excellent option! I wish I knew of something similar near me.
As it stands, I am leaning toward scallops in lieu of turkey. It is just two of us, and we both really like scallops. They are so fast to make and so yummy! I am thinking they would be good with a spoonful of stuffing, veggies and some pie.

Any brand of instant mashed potatoes is much improved if you use milk for all the liquid called for instead of water and milk.

Pork tenderloin for the three of with usual sides. We've done it the easy way for several years. No muss. No fuss.

I've been invited to Kentucky for Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure that is going to work with the COVID. If I don't go, it may dinner for one here. I am immunocompromised and so is my grandson who's living with my daughter until his visa comes through to move to Japan. He can't be exposed now. If she drives me to Kentucky, we will have a few exposures. Is it worth it? I don't see my son enough, but he will understand if we don't come.

We are having roast pork, rice and gravy plus vegetables. There will 4 adults and one Little man. It will be a breeze to cook. I am happy for our little family.

Think it will be Dinner for One this year. Two restaurants near me are serving Thanksgiving Dinner. Might make stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Love Scallops and if I include them, it will be a perfect dinner.

DD & I had our Thanksgiving (Canada) with chicken and stuffing, broccoli casserole and turnip and apple crisp. Enough for our meal and three freezer meals plus some cold meat for sandwiches. Worked for us! (we both live the sides and roast chicken)

It's always just my husband and I at Thanksgiving. We used to just fix some meal that we didn't usually have like lasagna or spaghetti with meat balls and Italian sausage. Now that I am on a very restricted diet, we usually both just fix what we'd like to eat. I usually fix a special green salad to go with it and a sweet potato casserole or roast potatoes. Makes a nice easy day.

It will be just my sister, mom, and me this year. The past few years the three of us went out for Thanksgiving but our favorite place has closed and since we are all high risk, we just can't go out this year. I told them I would make a turkey, dressing, and gravy. I will make cranberry sauce earlier to have with the meal. It is a holiday meal and skipping veggies one meal will not hurt anyone. Turkey, dressing, gravy, and cranberry sauce are my favorite parts of Thanksgiving anyway, and I only get it once a year, so why not just eat what you like. With the leftover meals, on subsequent days, I will add veggies and such. We like leftovers and have freezers that are perfect for making up meals for later.
That is my plan and I will stick to it!!!!

My son will be here so there will be 3 of us. I like turkey leftovers and none of us really will miss stuffing or gravy. So I plan to cook a turkey breast and serve it with mashed potatoes, jarred cranberry sauce, maple squash (already mashed in the freezer), squash bread (also in the freezer), frozen peas, and for dessert spiced squash bread pudding (again mashed squash from freezer). Can you sense a theme here? My son, the lawncare guy, "gifted" me with four huge squashes from a yard he worked at. I managed to give two away but kept two.

We will have breakfast, play golf and have a cobb salad with deli turkey in it for dinner. No pie, I'll make brownie or choc chip cookies which are his favorites. We do this every year as we have no family near us.

Being a singleton and have been for 40 years, I have not hosted Thanksgiving but joined with other family members. It has been wonderful to cook, serve and eat together with twenty or more other family members. But this year, I will be on my own. The family is not gathering. I am so excited to make what I want for this celebratory meal. I am anticipating the scent of turkey and pumpkin pie wafting from my oven and filling my home with memories. I will make a favorite bread, cranberry salad and set my table for the feast. Lonely, well yes a little but I plan on celebrating with thanks for all I have and plan a day that includes a nap and pulling out all my Christmas movies and music to get the season started.

Like several of you, I am doing a turkey breast and small amounts of all the traditional sides. Turkey breast is on sale this week so I better get busy and make a list.
It will be different this year cooking for only two.

Three for the table here. I will do the full blown turkey. Love the extra meat which I freeze in ziploc bags and use in recipes that call for cooked and cut up chicken. Each of us will get one favorite item. For me it's roasted brussel sprouts, for DH its cranberry pie and for my son it's rolls. Yes he is a carb lover like me and could eat an entire pan on his own. I may make a mock sweet potato casserole out of kabocha squash/pumpkin. i already have some cooked, mashed and frozen.

Toverly, I would like your recipe for Cranberry Pie.

If it were me, I wouldn't go. Perhaps a well planned, fun Zoom meeting would be better. That way, you could all eat and chat, "together."

...pulling out all my Christmas movies...Just like Chevy Chase! I hope that you have an old turban and fur stole to wear. :D

Actually, I think that sounds wonderful! I'm thinking that I don't have to make all of those dishes that each person, "just has to have." I can make, or not make whatever I want. It's very freeing to think about the possibilities!

After making 45 big Thanksgiving dinners this year will be a shock to us since we’ll be just two as well. But like you I am feeling okay with that. I am actually thinking of shrimp & grits for us 😋 might do chicken breasts, stove top, cream of chicken soup in the crock pot if I feel the need for something a bit more traditional 🤣 enjoy the day whatever you decide!

This will be the first year that Thanksgiving won't turn into a family reunion with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, and great grandkids traveling from all over Texas. I'm thankful that all are well! It will be the immediate family this year.

One year, for small group, we cooked shrimp because the Pilgrims had seafood!

My least favorite is going out to restaurant-no leftovers.

Cute leftovers story:
When youngest was about 3, we asked if she, too, would like a turkey sandwich. she said, "Eww, no. I hate turkey! Give me some of that chicken we had yesterday!"

Gladly, it is from Southern LIving about 20 years ago.

12 oz (3 -31/ cups cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp orange extract or 1/4 cup orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp melted butter ( I omit this, it's for looks not flavor)
2-3 eggs
9 inch unbaked pie shell

Grind cranberries and raisins in food processor. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bake 375 for 45 minutes.

I like vanilla ice cream with it, husband likes it plain. If you take it to a pot luck (Probably not this year) don't let a child get a big slice. It is tart.

Toverly, thank you very much. It will be served on Thanksgiving.

Toverly, that sounds wonderful. I have saved it to my recipe file because this year I will not need a second pie. Ice Cream sounds grand with cranberries. Yum.

We are going to be doing a local a carry-out, as the large family dinner is going to be happening

So, I have been so relieved that I got out of Thanksgiving dinner this year for a wide variety of reasons, but then my dau asked me if I would make her hubby a birthday dinner today. Uhhhh...OK...I guess. I thought that meant that she would come by early and we would make something casual and easy today. We like cooking together. I also thought that would mean eating outside and wearing masks.

No...she isn't helping me at all. They will arrive in the evening and he hates politics, so no watching the election coverage and no eating outdoors. She invited her brother too and the whole gang is spending the night. They're bringing beer...lots of beer and not much else.

:::sigh:::

I don't know how I got wrangled into this. I've been cooking all morning and I'm exhausted. The house is still a big mess. I've been sideswiped!

Thanks for letting me vent.

Only have Thanksgiving Day once a year. We will all have a big get together with Turkey and all our trimmings. Lots of pumpkin pie and other desserts. Get to see Grand (all grown) and some Great Grands. Wouldn't miss it for the world. We have done this for about twenty years. Not giving it up for anything. It's a Family Tradition.

I've never celebrated Thanksgiving w/o turkey in my whole life. This year we are going to our son who has our little Cupcake, Arden. He and our DIL are going to quarantine for 2 weeks as we are. If we didn't I wouldn't feel comfortable going but my kids are as serious as I am about this virus. I can't wait to get my hands on my little one :)