Early Food Shopping

• If you are making sauce from scratch, buy the shelf-stable ingredients several weeks ahead of time. Dried pasta keeps for years and fresh pasta holds up well to freezing. You can also purchase the bread, butter and garlic for the garlic bread. Fresh Parmesan or Romano cheeses are normally part of a pasta meal and last for a long time in the refrigerator if properly packaged and stored. If using bottled salad dressings, they can be safely be purchased ahead of time.
  
  

Make-Ahead Dishes

• Many of the main parts of a pasta dinner can be prepared in advance. Tomato-based sauces, like marinara, Bolognese and puttanesca, improve in taste when made ahead of time and frozen or refrigerated as the herbs and spices have time to marry with the tomato flavors. Meatballs can be prepared and cooked ahead of time and reheated with the sauce on the day of the dinner. Make the garlic bread, tightly wrap it in foil and freeze it. You can just pop it in the oven to reheat about an hour before dinnertime.
  
  

Day-Ahead Shopping List

• The day before the dinner, buy the salad and antipasto ingredients. You can purchase prewashed bags of lettuce and salad greens or buy them in bulk and wash and package them yourself, so you just have to mix them with the other ingredients right before the meal. If you are making a traditional Italian dessert, like tiramisu, this is a good time to purchase the dairy products for the recipe.
  
  

Dinner Day Tasks

• The morning of the dinner, make the tiramisu and refrigerate it to let the tastes mingle. Set the table. This gives you a chance to check the dinnerware, glassware and silverware for spots or chips and make adjustments. Place the pasta pots on the stoves with the colanders or pasta straining tools nearby. Make the antipasto platter, lightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Take it out about one hour before the dinner guests arrive to bring it to room temperature. If you are serving fresh pasta sauces, like pesto or Alfredo, assemble the non-perishable ingredients on the cabinet tops for easy access. If you are using chopped food in recipes, prepare it in advance to reduce preparation time.