With two days to go before Thanksgiving, focus on your vegetables. Most of the labor and mess of vegetable prep—such as trimming, peeling, washing—can be done in advance. Get them to the point of being ready for the cutting board or pot. Also prep the mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole. (If you missed our make-ahead advice for three days out, catch up here.)

Vegetables

Carrots: Trim, peel and rinse. Wrap whole in a paper towel and store in a zip-close bag in the refrigerator.

Celery: Cut off the root end and wash the stalks. Wrap in a paper towel and store in a zip-close bag in refrigerator. (You can store with the carrots if there’s room!)

Greens: For leafy greens such as kale, chard, spinach, turnip greens, collards and beet greens, wash thoroughly and de-stem if needed. Wrap in a paper towel and store in a zip-close bag in the refrigerator.

Try this Kale Salad with Smoked Almonds and Picada Crumbs.

Green beans: Rinse and pinch off stem ends. Leave whole or cut for recipe. Wrap in a paper towel and store in a zip-close bag in the refrigerator.

Brussels Sprouts: Trim and wash. Halve them now if doing so for recipe. Store with a paper towel in a zip-close bag in the refrigerator. If shaving or slicing thinly, it’s best to just trim and wash now, then shave one day ahead. Store in a zip-close bag in the refrigerator overnight.

Leeks or Scallions: These are best cut right before cooking, but they can be trimmed of roots and washed well in advance. After trimming and removing the drier outer layers, soak briefly in a bowl of cold water and shake out. Leeks then should be given a second soak in clean water. Dab dry, then wrap in a fresh paper towel and put in a zip-close bag in the refrigerator.

Herbs: It's best to chop herbs when they're dry, so washing them in advance makes good sense. After washing, spread them out onto dry paper toweling, then roll up the towel with herbs inside. Store in zip-close bags in the refrigerator so they'll be clean and dry when you need them.

Mashed Potatoes

Made fully in advance, mashed potatoes re-heat well. Once made, let cool, then refrigerate in an air-tight container. If adding fresh herbs, reserve those for the day-of. To heat, put in a sauce pot with splash of water or milk, then heat over medium, stirring occasionally. Once fully hot, stir vigorously to smooth and aerate.

Pro tip: Mashed potatoes also freeze and heat well, so these could be made weeks in advance and be frozen. Let thaw partially in refrigerator before heating. At some point in the pot they’ll look awful, but once they’re fully hot, some vigorous stirring brings them back to beautiful.

Try our Croatian Mashed Potatoes, which use a low-liquid boil and require no draining.

Sweet Potato Casserole

This tastes even better baked ahead and re-heated the day-of; we think of it as two-step baking rather than ‘re-heating.’ Save garnishes such as nuts or crumbly toppings to add just before final baking. After baking, let cool and store in refrigerator. The day-of, remove from the refrigerator an hour or so before placing in oven.

Try our Sweet Potato and Shallot Casserole with Fennel Seed.

Pie Dough

If you made it yesterday, roll it out today into pie-ready disks. Store flat on a pizza pan in the refrigerator, covered. Or, to fit it on a sheet pan, place a rolled rope of aluminum foil across the center of the disk and fold in half with the rope inside to prevent a crease.

See here for an action plan for your third day of prep.