Remember to defrost your turkey and to check on the progress

I was actually just thinking about the Annual Remember to Pick up your Turkey at the Honey Baked Ham store by .... thread.

That post was classic!

Yep as soon as I saw the subject line I thought of the "classic pea" stories.

1. The overbearing hostess that stated exactly what to bring and what type of spoon
2. The lady that didn't defrost her turkey
3. Already mentioned above - pick up the turkey at honey baked ham or the farm that is CLOSED on Thanksgiving day and you forgot Wednesday.

Oh I know there are more

Picked up my 24.5 lb bird today and it's already in the refrigerator defrosting. Tuesday I'll take it out and do the water bath with water change every 30 min until it's ready. Ten into the brine and we'll start it Wednesday night right before bed.

Put the whole thing in your roasting pan. It’s a pain to have in the fridge, but it will contain the mess. I’ve also used a 2 gallon zip bag, but I prefer the roasting pan. I use a foil pan for easy clean up and just toss it when I’m done. 

Yes!  We get a 22 pd. turkey (we like leftovers!) and we have to have it sit in the refrigerator for about 6 days!  I think our refrigerator is very cold.  I have to buy it tomorrow.  We just have one refrigerator, so it's a pain because the turkey takes up so much room.  So we usually don't buy our refrigerated Thanksgiving meal ingredients/food until Thanksgiving day while the turkey is cooking.

I had the same problem.  So you will have them defrosting for about 8 days?  Or will you start next Tues.?  I have only cooked 2 turkeys, and I forgot to write down when I started defrosting last year. 

8 days.

I buy fresh.. the butcher will cut in half length wise and my child will dry brine it.. one half at a time.have to pick up on wed, having dinner on saturday. my fridge is so small it gets tough..

I haven't done the big holiday dinners for a few years now--since DS & DDIL moved back up here.  I kind of miss doing them...(kind of)....

Oh, the joys of our mothers and mothers-in-law's food handling skills.


My MIL was generous to a fault and always jumped in to help with the meal on Thanksgiving. She used to cook one turkey for me and bring it over, then she would carve my turkey while I was doing other prep. One year, I looked over and saw her licking her fingers while she was carving. That was the last year I let her help with the turkey. I never told her why I started doing both turkeys the day before. 

I do think food safety is something her generation never gave any thought to. My mother used to put meat on the counter to thaw in the morning to cook that night. She's a finger licker too. My MIL was born in 1938 and my mom was born in 1940.