CWSotW: how much turkey do you need?
With food and energy prices as high as they are, no one* wants to buy too much turkey and spend too long baking it.
To help, Butterball has created several turkey cooking calculators to help cooks plan how much turkey to buy, based on the number of adults and children eating, and whether you want leftovers, as well as how long to let the bird defrost safely (in the fridge) and how long to bake it in the oven.
There's also Thanksgiving turkey food-safety tips to help newbies, or anyone, avoid the hospital during the holiday season.
If you would like a more detailed planning estimate for meals including side dishes, check out this Thanksgiving Calculator on Instructables.com, although your own mileage may vary based on your family recipes.
* No one, that is, except me. I love turkey. I love turkey meals and sandwiches after Thanksgiving, and I'm ready to eat it again by the time Christmas rolls around. No need to concoct strange turkey-based dishes to "use up" leftovers from this glorious meal ... I enjoy the remains best in their original form. (ed note: oooh. me, too, Liz, me too.-- DD)
(photo: Doug Kapustin/Baltimore Sun)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Consumer Web Site of the Week, Food, Holiday shopping
Comments
What does "CWSotW" stand for?
DD: Consumer Website of the Week!
Posted by: John H. | November 19, 2008 10:08 AM
Liz, do you have any simpler, more user-friendly 'turkey calculators" like, X (number of guests) = Y (lbs of turkey to buy) ?
IMHO, the Butterball and Instructables calculators both looked too complicated to work with...
Lemme see what I can find! --- lfk
Posted by: Terry | November 19, 2008 12:42 PM
Terry --- most estimates I'm seeing online, such as allrecipes.com's Thanksgiving guide, suggest 1 to 1.5 lbs. of turkey per person, depending on how much you want left over.
The Butterball calculator takes more factors into account, such as whether you desire leftovers (yes, please!) and whether you're serving adults or children or a mix of both.
Posted by: Liz Kay | November 19, 2008 1:13 PM
At 29 to 50 cents a pound, Turkey is currently one of the cheapest things out there. I'd recommend making the biggest Turkey you can and eating the leftovers.
Fantastic point, Jason ... and even if you make more than you can eat within a reasonable time, it'd be worth freezing to add to meals in the future, as well! --- lfk
Posted by: Jason | November 20, 2008 11:22 AM
Thanks, Liz--re your simplified turkey calculator. That's exactly what I needed!!!! :)
Posted by: Terry | November 20, 2008 12:56 PM