Everyone always says you can make pies ahead of time and freeze them, but is that really true? Determined to get ahead of the busy holiday oven schedule, we blind taste tested two of our most popular holiday pies to see if our editors could tell the difference between the pies that had been baked ahead and frozen and those that were fresh from the oven (and cool!).

I made the Caramel-Pecan Pie, a Southern Living classic:

Anne, our Senior Food Editor, made Classic Pumpkin Pie from Cooking Light:

We both made two pies, freezing one ahead and making the other fresh the night before the tasting. The good news? The pies came out looking and tasting nearly exactly the same. The Caramel-Pecan Pie was slightly sweeter after a week in the freezer, but the crust, consistency, and flavor all garnered raves at the taste test.

This little experiment inspired me to see what else freezes well. I’m off to make sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potato casserole, and squash casserole.

What do you make ahead during the holidays?