Most-Forgotten Thanksgiving Items, According to DoorDash

Anyone who has hit the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving knows it's chaos. Or worse—the morning of.

DoorDash crunched the numbers on what people order last-minute on Thanksgiving Eve and Day. Turns out everyone forgets the same stuff. Thanksgiving Eve is their biggest delivery day of the year, with orders up nearly 90% over a normal day.

Here's what people constantly forget so you can avoid the last-minute panic.

Forgotten Ingredients

The turkey gets all the attention but there are tons of side dishes and pies that need ingredients too. People forget stuff constantly and only realize it mid-recipe.

Check your pantry at least a week or two before Thanksgiving. Make sure you've got these.

Sage - Up 1,900% in DoorDash orders. Apparently, nobody remembers sage until they're making stuffing.

Nutmeg - Up 1,400%. Pumpkin pie needs it. People forget.

Peanut oil for deep frying - Up 1,300%. If you're deep frying a turkey, don't forget the massive amount of oil required.

Vanilla extract - Up 790%. The baking ingredient that somehow disappears when you need it.

Brown sugar - Up 400%. Pro tip: replace it with 1 cup white sugar and 2 teaspoons molasses if you're desperate.

Marshmallows - Up 370%. Sweet potato casserole isn't happening without them.

Pecans - Up 360%. Pecan pie, candied pecans, whatever. People forget.

Whipped cream - Up 310%. For pie. Always for pie.

Pie crusts - Up 300%. Store-bought or homemade, just make sure you have them.

Gravy mixes - Up 250%. Backup plan when homemade gravy goes wrong.

Alcohol - Up 80%. Wine and beer mostly. Makes sense.

Missing Cooking Tools

Thanksgiving cooking requires once-a-year tools that get shoved in the back of cabinets the other 364 days. Can't find the baster? Out of foil? Time to scramble.

Check these a week or two ahead of time. Put them all in a basket or bin so you know where they are when cooking starts.

Meat thermometer - Up 2,960%. This is the big one. Nobody wants to serve undercooked turkey. Or overcooked turkey. Just get a meat thermometer.

Heat bags - Up 2,400%. For keeping dishes warm while everything else finishes.

Trays and platters - Up 2,100%. You need something to serve all this food on.

Graters - Up 1,400%. For cheese, mostly.

Peelers - Up 1,400%. Potatoes won't peel themselves.

Cake pan - Up 1,200%. If you're making dessert from scratch.

Rolling pin - Up 820%. Pie crust time.

Aluminum foil - Up 720%. For covering dishes, tenting the turkey, everything.

Measuring cups - Up 560%. Can't wing the measurements on some recipes.

Can openers - Up 470%. Cranberry sauce emergency.

Kitchen knives - Up 440%. Hopefully people already have knives but apparently not.

When Thanksgiving Goes Wrong

Sometimes things don't work out. The turkey burns. Gravy's a disaster. Unexpected guests show up. That's why people order replacements last-minute.

Most common backup orders:

Turkey legs - Up 900%. When the whole turkey didn't work out.

Whole turkeys - Up 820%. Complete do-over situation.

Gravy - Up 630%. Homemade gravy is hard. Store-bought saves the day.

Bakery pies - Up 510%. When homemade pie fails.

Ham - Up 180%. Alternative protein or addition for extra guests.

These numbers suggest people are having legit Thanksgiving disasters and need emergency replacements. Not just forgetting ingredients – they are actively trying to save the meal.

Pre-feast Treats

Nobody wants to cook the night before Thanksgiving when they're already stressed about the big meal. DoorDash says Thanksgiving Eve is the most common restaurant takeout night of the year. Over 5 million orders in 2024.

Easy foods dominate. Cheeseburgers, tacos, sandwiches, pizzas. This makes sense. It saves energy for Thursday's cooking marathon.

How to Avoid All of This

Make a list. Check it twice. Go through every recipe you're making and write down every single ingredient and tool needed.

Do a pantry and kitchen check a week or two before Thanksgiving. Not the night before. Not the morning of. Give yourself time to shop without competing with everyone else doing the same panic shopping.

Put all the Thanksgiving-specific tools in one spot once you find them. Meat thermometer, baster, roasting pan, whatever you need. Don't leave them scattered around the kitchen.

Buy backup gravy mix and pie crusts even if you're planning to make everything from scratch. It’s your insurance policy for if things go sideways.

Stock up on basics like aluminum foil, measuring cups, and peelers. The boring stuff that's easy to forget until you need it mid-cooking.

DoorDash will be there for last-minute saves - their busiest day of the year for a reason. But avoiding the rush entirely by checking everything early makes the whole day less chaotic.

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