Whole Foods Holiday Dinners

Since my husband had surgery the day before Thanksgiving, I tried out the holiday catering services offered by our local Whole Foods grocery. Whole Foods was more expensive than other local stores, but their proximity to my house and absolutely delicious sounding menu items won me over.

Whole Foods had a huge variety of foods available, from soups and appetizers to different main courses to desserts. Ordering was quick and pleasant at the in-store holiday table – the menu coordinator was helpful in answering our questions about portion size, and she had tasted all the food on the menu. We picked up and paid for everything right before Thanksgiving.

It was nice to have an easy meal to prepare on Thursday. The free-range turkey was oven ready, so I just followed the heating instructions and checked temperature. I didn’t even need to baste it! The side items we ordered were easy to prepare, too; about 20 minutes before eating time I popped a large collection of stuffing, vegetables, and casseroles in the oven, and heated gravy and mashed potatoes on the stovetop.

The prepared Thanksgiving dinners I’d had before were good but not outstanding, so Whole Foods’ feast exceeded my expectations. The turkey was moist and delicious, and so meaty that we still have leftovers. The glazed carrots were just sweet enough without being overwhelmed with maple and cinnamon. We tried two kinds of stuffing – sage and sausage, raisin, apple – and both were moist and flavorful. The squash casserole was a very pleasant tasting combination of winter squash and cheese. The only items that were just “meh” were the corn pudding (not as sweet as I would have expected, because it included red peppers) and the green bean casserole (we were not as crazy about the crispy beans as we would have been with softer ones.) Still, there was nothing unappetizing in the whole meal.

For dessert, we had pumpkin pie (voted by the Washington Post to have the best taste of all the pumpkin pies they tasted), apple pie, and blueberry crumble pie. All three were plump and tasty. I’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite, but I did really like the tart/sweet combination of the blueberry crumble.

I’d highly recommend Whole Foods if you’re thinking about outsourcing your December holiday meal. I wonder if I could swing a repeat…