Comments on: Seven Tips for a Thrifty Thanksgiving

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:56:24 +0000

Unfortunately I only cook a turkey breast. Can I use the carcass from the turkey breast to make a stock? I am 51 and new to cooking. Thanks.

Wendy

By: MVP

MVP — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:39:18 +0000

I must disagree with you on the wine. My entire family are wine connoisseurs (no, we’re not drunks, we just enjoy wine), and we don’t consider it an “extra” item on the Thanksgiving table. There’s rarely a partially empty bottle leftover at the end of the night. On the contrary, sometimes we don’t have enough! But it doesn’t require several expensive bottles. You can save by getting 1.5 liter bottles of GOOD wine or choosing a few of the many delicious, inexpensive wines on the market. I’d just suggest offering both white and red choices and having plenty on hand – general rule of thumb is 1/2 bottle per person for the entire evening. Rose goes great with turkey too!

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:14:47 +0000

My great grandfather makes a mean turkey soup. It is very tremendous. :)

By: Vincent Scordo

Vincent Scordo — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:26:51 +0000

Hi Trent,

Drinking bad wine is a sin, but I’m a wine guy! I think holidays are special times and it’s kind of a sin to present guests with both bad wine and mediocre food. On the wine part, you can find some great bottles of wine in the 10-20 dollar range (and I would buy a bottle or two extra, it’s not cool to run out of wine at a party). See my wine guide here: http://www.scordo.com/blog/2008/11/wine-buying-101—how-to-choos.html

On the food part, and given that it’s a holiday, it’s nice to go to a good market and get high quality ingrediants, see my market shopping guide here: http://www.scordo.com/blog/2008/11/how-to-buy-fruit-vegetables-an.html

Good post, Trent! Enjoy the holidays!

Best,
Vince
http://www.scordo.com/blog/blog – a practical living guide.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:54:37 +0000

I made turkey soup last year from a carcass that was going to be thrown away.

It was tremendous!

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:05:04 +0000

Hey, Trent, I think you forgot to mention that in addition to the wine, you need to add water to that carcass! :)

By: Lisette

Lisette — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:56:44 +0000

Great tips.

Can I add my own, in terms of writing? In the first hint (about freezing leftover turkey) you use the word “tremendous” three times. Repeating words makes any writing feel stilted. Just by going over your writing before posting (and using a thesaurus if necessary) you’ll catch a lot of those repetitions.

By: Lolita

Lolita — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:29:35 +0000

One other thing to note on picking “natural” decorations. Be sure to microwave the stuff you pick up for at least 30 seconds. They can have nasty little bugs in them that you won’t see until you’re sitting down to eat. Microwaving will kill any insects that might be lurking.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:03:08 +0000

Great tips for Thanksgiving, I never thought about making soup stock from the carcass before!

Growing up, we always had Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house with about 35 or so relatives – pot luck was the way to go – and we always had different dishes to try!

One more thought on leftovers – don’t freeze everything, turkey sandwiches are fantastic the next day!

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:10:59 +0000

A suggestion about stripping the turkey carcass: do it right away. It is so much easier when the carcass is warm, but it is also so easy to put away in the refrigerator to wait until later. :o)

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:46:18 +0000

I heard from a UK government source (wish I could remember which one!), that shopping for a turkey dinner averages 40% less than a regular grocery shop if you factor in leftovers and the number of people you feed.

By: ReddH

ReddH — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:03:47 +0000

What a great idea on having people bring their own leftover containers!

You know what else would be neat would be printing out a few recipes for items using leftovers and send those home with your guests too.

By: Frugalchick

Frugalchick — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:09:38 +0000

Using the environment as a decoration is a wonderful idea! I’m picturing in my head a simple white table cloth with orange and red leaves scattered on top would look pretty. It would be free too if you gather the leaves from your backyard.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:49:18 +0000

@ Jenzer:

putting turkey broth in with the meat when freezing sounds like a brilliant idea. I’m going to try it too.

By: Jenzer

Jenzer — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:30:17 +0000

I use the broth I make from the carcass to freeze the leftover turkey meat. After putting pieces of boned, skinned meat in quart-size zipper freezer bags, I fill the bags with cooled broth before sealing them shut. By covering the meat this way, it’s much less susceptible to freezer burn, and it’s more moist when thawed out later.

By: mary

mary — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:23:00 +0000

Great suggestions — except for the last one. To talk about family issues that involve taking care of elderly parents etc.,right after a huge-family Holiday bash is very idealistic, but when have the holidays not been rife with external pressures and private angst, money woes and seething resentments: Most family members have spent months in therapy just to be able to “get through” a dinner with the “alkie” uncle or controling mother-in-law; Wine is flowing as are the zanyx and anti-depressants — While a lovely but alas, naive belief that people have the capacity to suddenly shift from the post-holiday frazzle and the next day to actually maturely discuss a loaded-issue like parent-care! Careful! Where there’s a “will,” there’s often not at way…
Save it for the lawyer’s office — or a Sunday afternoon with advance notice by the parents outlining exactly what they want to discuss.
To leave it out of the holiday mix seems a more realistic thing to do. Most families I know could never navigate that last suggestion, in particular, at the holidays.
Hate to be a Scrooge! But good luck with this difficult issue.

By: Doctor S

Doctor S — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:06:57 +0000

I think I am still eating turkey that we froze from last year! If it is one thing I love all year around, that is those hot turkey dinners. We have been deep frying the turkey for almost 13 years now and it tastes great even after freezing for 5 months!

By: Saver Queen

Saver Queen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:25:29 +0000

I have childhood memories of my Dad scraping people’s leftovers into the soup pot!

By: Gig

Gig — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:02:51 +0000

I make a turkey every 2 months or so…we have a turkey meal the first night, then it’s cut up for inexpensive and healthier meat for brown bag lunches and soups. I always make broth from the carcass, but I like to store it for freezing in glass canning jars. (BTW I never use wine to make the stock) Much easier than a ziplock, they come in different sizes and they’re totally reusable. Tops from certain other products like some peanut butters are the same size as the mouth of the small mouthed jars so I save them making it easy to secure the top. Otherwise I just use a canning top and ring (however if the broth is hot when you put it in and put the top on it could seal as if you were canning, wait until it’s fairly cool). Just be careful to leave at an inch or two of space at the top or when the broth expands from freezing, it’ll crack the glass.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:48:48 +0000

I’m surprised by the suggestion to make Thanksgiving a potluck. My grandma ingrained in me if you are invited to a house for dinner, you never show up empty handed. Are there some households that expect the host to supply everything? I could not show up without at least a bottle of wine in hand.