Home » Food, Frugal Tips, Headline


It’s Turkey Thawing Time!

22 November 2009 6 Comments

blackberryturkey

Picture by Brent and MariLynn

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away. Have you bought your turkey yet?  If so, is it frozen or fresh?  If it’s frozen, then you should be thinking about how much time it’s going to take to thaw that baby.

Here are some safe turkey thawing tips:

1.  If possible, thaw your turkey in the refrigerator. You should allow 24 hours for every 5 pounds of turkey.  Leave the turkey in the original bag and place it in a shallow pan, breast side up, to catch any water run off from the thawing process.

2.  If it’s not possible to thaw in the refrigerator, you can thaw the turkey in a cold water bath. This is a bit time consuming because you will need to change the water every thirty (30) minutes.   Why?  Because you want to keep the turkey in a cold water bath!   Leave the turkey in the original bag.  Make sure there are no holes in the bag.  Place turkey in the water bath breast side down.  Estimate a thawing time of 30 minutes for every pound.

Remember, you should NEVER thaw your turkey on the counter at room temperature!  This allows those awful bacterias to start growing and who wants to eat a turkey full of bacteria!

Till next time,

JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

Related Websites

6 Comments »

  • Lisa - Alterity said:

    We always go fresh…and it kinda happened by mistake. I started a business two years ago and last year it was just chaotic. The result? I forgot to buy the turkey! with two days before Thanksgiving, I had no other choice but to buy fresh. What a pleasant surprise this little mishap was! Not only did I not have to mess around with defrosting a turkey (i always get nervous that it is thawed too long in the freezer and everyone will get sick or it is not defrosted enough…and everyone gets sick!), but it was the best tasting turkey we ever had….juicy, great flavor, etc. For a few dollars more, it was worth it to me to have such a fabulous turkey. so, for now on, we are going fresh! you should try it if your budget can support it this year!

  • BK said:

    Good tips on thawing the turkey. I was just thinking if it should be thawed in room temperature and you answered my question. I’m sure no one wants to eat a turkey with bacteria.

  • Auntie E said:

    One year I bought fresh, we all had a bad experience! so I buy frozen and defrost it in the refrigerator.

  • Hillbilly willy said:

    Willy has the turkey thawing and the oil is ready to fry that bird.

    10-4 Willy

  • The Hawg! said:

    And I’ve just got to add this — if you’re going to fry the turkey, make sure it is completely thawed. Otherwise, that thing could shoot out of that fryer like a rocket. There’s nothing worse than a flaming turkey landing on your roof.

    And, no I’m not kidding — people burn down their homes every year by dumping half-thawed turkeys in deep fryers. Scary stuff…

  • Soul food said:

    That’s some good tips on thawing a turkey. Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner? I did. As usual, the oven baked turkey and pudding, but I don’t get tired of it :)

Leave your response!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.

>