Let’s Blog Off: Reducing Stress for Thanksgiving

Ahhh, here we go again, another Tuesday Let’s Blog Off. This week’s Let’s Blog Off revolves around “what’s your favorite part about Thanksgiving? If you have a tradition you’d like to talk about, list some things you’re grateful for, a recipe you’d like to share or an embarrassing story you’d like to get off your chest, now’s your chance.” As per our custom, we will be including a list of all the great wordsmiths out there that have joined the challenge at the end of the article.

The Holiday Season & Stress:

Ahhh, the Norman Rockwell scene that so many people try to exemplify – the perfectly cooked turkey, the spotless table, friends & family all gathered together & oh god please just let me survive the day & not drop the turkey, or burn it… Can you say stressed out? Oh and then the kicker, Christmas is now less than 30 days away & I might not get all these dishes cleaned by then.

Turkey Day Cooking Stress & Help:

Then we get to the oops; is the turkey still frozen, not fully cooked inside but burning on the outside – well fear not, many companies have full blown call centers just setup to handle all those calls, and if all else fails… well there’s an app for that (Food Network TV app).

Butterball Turkey: 1-800-BUTTERBALL
Fleischmann’s Yeast (Baking): 1-800-777-4959
Hershey’s Chocolate: 1-800-468-1714
Honeysuckle Turkey: 1-800-810-6325
Kentucky Legend Ham: 1-866-343-5058
Land O’Lakes (Baking): 1-800-782-9606
Libby’s (Canned Pumpkin): 1-800-854-0374
Ocean Spray (Cranberries): 1-800-662-3263
Perdue Farms: 1-800-473-7383
Reynolds Product’s: 1-800-745-4000
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline: 1-888-674-6854

Proper Planning Prevents…

In all honesty, you cannot plan for everything & in some cases; you can waste time by over planning or over analyzing it. With that said, this is not just a simple meal you can whip together, but with just a little pre-planning, you can help prevent the dreaded frozen turkey, or missing spices.

Holiday Checklist – Getting ready for the Holiday’s
- Monthly breakdown of items found in our Monthly Maintenance Checklists to help spread out the work that needs to be done: September, October, November, December
- Gift & Holiday Card Specific Tips & Tricks
- Decorating, Event Planning, & Post Holiday
2009 Thanksgiving Article: Thanksgiving Day – A quick moment for safety & to say thanks
- Turkey Safety, Tips & Tricks
- Deep Frying a Turkey & the Good Eats system
- You’re pets & leftovers
De-cluttering your home – getting ready for the Holiday’s
- Getting rooms ready for visiting guests
Cleaning out & organizing the pantry (7 tips)
Organizing the Refrigerator & Freezer
- Organizing & getting ready for the Holidays
- Keeping food fresh
- Tricks for dealing with Holiday leftover’s

Some closing thoughts:

While this is not the article I had envisioned early on; I hope some of these items might be of help to you or someone you know to help your Thanksgiving dinner & holidays run a little smoother. To all those of you who have served, are currently serving, or for those who have a family member in the service we wish to first & foremost say thank you & wish you all a safe & Happy Thanksgiving.

To all our customers, friends, colleagues, those of you reading this, and of course the great group below that makes “Let’s Blog Off” so special – we thank you for another great year & wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.