Even if you cook the turkey well, it will be a flop because it is such a gross bird.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly if it's just the immediate family making all that food is just not worth it. Take a nice walk and make a crockpot soup and it doesn't have to be a big deal.

Completely disagree. We are a family of 3. Just because we are a small family doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving celebration like others do. Yesterday we had Turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and a frozen veggie medley. Tonight we will have Turkey sandwiches and green bean casserole. Maybe this weekend we will have Turkey chili. None of the food is going to be wasted.

+2! We are a family of three and we do allllllllll the works. We also love leftovers. I had turkey and stuffing for breakfast this morning and apple pie for lunch…

The size of your family has nothing to do with whether it’s “worth it”. It’s a meal to enjoy, not a performance to be canceled if there isn’t a big enough audience.

A big fat no to Turkey leftovers...ugh.

Did Cornish hens again this year. All the cooking for my thanksgiving meal was done in 1 hour to perfection. Prep the night before was 15 minutes. We were 8 people - my family and two couples. Sorry but we get apple pie and cheesecake from Costco and jazz it up with vanilla icecream and some nice spiced caramel drizzle.

Turkey tastes terrible and I have no desire to recreate a meal that starving pilgrims from Europe ate.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, op! Sometimes things work, and sometimes they don’t. Sorry yesterday was a “they don’t” day for you. Pull out whatever lessons you can, and hopefully next year will be better!

This. I hope you’ll be able to laugh soon remembering this thanksgiving flop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly if it's just the immediate family making all that food is just not worth it. Take a nice walk and make a crockpot soup and it doesn't have to be a big deal.

Completely disagree. We are a family of 3. Just because we are a small family doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving celebration like others do. Yesterday we had Turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and a frozen veggie medley. Tonight we will have Turkey sandwiches and green bean casserole. Maybe this weekend we will have Turkey chili. None of the food is going to be wasted.

+2! We are a family of three and we do allllllllll the works. We also love leftovers. I had turkey and stuffing for breakfast this morning and apple pie for lunch…

The size of your family has nothing to do with whether it’s “worth it”. It’s a meal to enjoy, not a performance to be canceled if there isn’t a big enough audience.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly if it's just the immediate family making all that food is just not worth it. Take a nice walk and make a crockpot soup and it doesn't have to be a big deal.

Completely disagree. We are a family of 3. Just because we are a small family doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving celebration like others do. Yesterday we had Turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and a frozen veggie medley. Tonight we will have Turkey sandwiches and green bean casserole. Maybe this weekend we will have Turkey chili. None of the food is going to be wasted.

Honestly if it's just the immediate family making all that food is just not worth it. Take a nice walk and make a crockpot soup and it doesn't have to be a big deal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scale back. Roast a turkey breast and add a Honeybajed ham as a makeweight. Fois gras anything is the stuff of professionals. But one pie, make another.

This is s my advice. Have something safe. If everything turns out well, then great. But if not, there is something to eat.
I always have canned or frozen corn or beans on hand, at least. I personally love honey baked ham for their Turkey, if we are having guests. If not, I try my hand st cooking; and DH and the kids can heat cereal if all fails.

Why do this if you know you can’t cook? For real? There are so many options that don’t include torturing yourself or your family and then forcing your kids to eat cereal on Thanksgiving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t say this in a mean way, but it sounds like you just can’t cook. Why torture yourself on Thanksgiving?

Um, excuse me?

To be more clear - why bother with the headache and stress if everything is going to be inedible? Go out to dinner. Go to someone else’s house. Order a meal from Wegmans. At least the nasty meal can be blamed on someone else, and the cook didn’t slave all day over food that no one wants to eat.

Sorry to hear that the meal didn't go well. It happens. The Thanksgiving gods were with me this year, but two years ago, the turkey was dry, I overworked the pie crusts, and the mashed potatoes were gummy. I know what I did wrong with the pie crusts, but I prepared the turkey and potatoes the same way I always do, and they were just not up to par - I can't explain why. It was disappointing, but we had good meals the rest of the weekend, so it evened out.

As soon as the new supermarket circular deals take effect on the Friday before Thanksgiving, I get the store loss-leader frozen turkey that is on sale at 49 cents a pound. I have tried fresh turkeys and fancier brands, but the cheap frozen turkey with the pop-up timer tastes just as good as the other kinds to us.

Anonymous wrote:Scale back. Roast a turkey breast and add a Honeybajed ham as a makeweight. Fois gras anything is the stuff of professionals. But one pie, make another.

This is s my advice. Have something safe. If everything turns out well, then great. But if not, there is something to eat.
I always have canned or frozen corn or beans on hand, at least. I personally love honey baked ham for their Turkey, if we are having guests. If not, I try my hand st cooking; and DH and the kids can heat cereal if all fails.

Do yourself a favor next year, get a turkey fryer (infra red, really easy) and all other sides are pre packaged. Honestly I've never had stuffing better than stouffers, etc. Get the idiot proof meal items.

Anonymous wrote:It might be old fashioned but I love (Butterball) with the pop-up

After buying and cooking many expensive free range organic etc etc turkeys,I have finally conceded that Butterball is best. Those people know what they’re doing.

Anonymous wrote:Turkey is not an easy thing to cook (any hunk of meat that large is going to be harder). Stuffing actually placed inside a large bird is also a bad idea because og basic temp issues and because honestly the only thing that should be inside a bird is an onion and lemon. By making stuffed turkey traditional we are basically setting people up for failure.

All the best food experts and outlets have been telling people for DECADES not to stuff in the traditional way. People do as they will, so they’re setting THEMSELVES up for failure. People on here keep arguing pro-stuffing even though countless experts from Alton Brown to the New York Times say not to. There’s “tradition” and then there is willful stupidity; don’t blame one for the other.

Anonymous wrote:I bought an expensive turkey at WF not fresh. Not edible.

They should all be frozen, even if they thaw it for you at the store. I prefer to thaw it myself so I know when it happened.

All the meat and poultry you buy at the grocery store has been frozen.