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With all the cooking around Thanksgiving, we wanted to know: Which shortcuts work, and which really don’t?

Thanksgiving Shortcut Don’ts

Don’t use pre-made gravy in a jar. It’s the easiest way to ruin your turkey. We sampled six supermarket gravies, and none of them were acceptable. Tasters found them bland at best—and strange, salty, and foul at worst. In a word, awful.

Don’t buy canned cranberry sauce. The canned stuff is not that terrible, but why bother buying it when a homemade version is easy to make and tastes so much better?

Don’t resort to boxed stuffing. We tasted eight brands and they all were a far cry from the real thing. Just a little more effort pays off a lot.

Don’t use frozen green beans. It sounds like a time-saver, but don’t be fooled; they’ll create a mushy green bean casserole. Buy fresh beans instead.

Thanksgiving Shortcut Dos

Frozen dinner rolls. Our favorite is Pepperidge Farm Stone Baked Artisan French Dinner Rolls. It was the only brand in our taste test fully cooked at the factory in a stone oven, which yielded the crispiest, lightest rolls.

Frozen peas. All of the frozen peas we tested were sweet and fresh, with a bright green color. Our favorite is Birds Eye Frozen Peas.

Ready-made pie crusts. Our favorite is Wholly Wholesome 9″ Certified Organic Traditional Bake at Home Rolled Pie Dough. This dough tastes “subtly sweet, rich,” and “tender.” It’s an acceptable substitute if you don’t have time to make a homemade crust.

Canned pumpkin. Our favorites are Libby’s Canned Pumpkin and One-Pie Canned Pumpkin. Whichever brand you choose, be sure to check the label carefully: make sure you’re getting the plain pumpkin and not the spiced and sweetened versions.

Cook’s Illustrated Best Thanksgiving Guide:

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