How to Prepare Thanksgiving Food Safely

These tips will ensure you serve fully-cooked turkey, bacteria-free stuffing and safely packaged leftovers!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. When shopping for your Thanksgiving ingredients, buy the turkey no more than two days before you plan to cook it. Also, select the turkey at the last as your go through the grocery store. This ensures it will be exposed to room temperature and other contaminants for the least amount of time. You can also ask to bag it separately before putting it in your cart so as not to contaminate the rest of your purchases. Be sure to head straight home and immediately refrigerate it.
2. Store uncooked turkey on a platter in the refrigerator to protect any dripping juices from leaking onto other foods.
3. Remove the neck and giblets.
4. Before you begin prepping the turkey for the oven, clean the counter space and cooking equipment thoroughly.
5. Immediately clean everything (from sponges to hands) that comes in contact with the raw turkey or its juice. You can sanitize sponges by running them through your dishwasher or boiling them on the stove.
6. Use a meat thermometer when cooking turkey.
7. Do not leave the cooked turkey out on your Thanksgiving table for more than two hours. Big bird? Try using separate platters and keeping the platters for seconds and thirds in a warm oven or the refrigerator. Do not re-use the platters for more turkey or other foods without thoroughly washing them.
8. For stuffing, prepare wet and dry ingredients separately and refrigerate both until you are ready to serve them. Mix together just before putting it out on your table.
9. If you are cooking stuffing inside your bird, be sure to use the meat thermometer and ensure the stuffing reaches 165°F before removing it. The magic number comes from the Center for Science in the Public Interests' holiday food safety tips site!
10. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours of cooking the food. Yes, I know, you will be stuffed and busy reclining or watching the game, but bacteria multiplies fastest at warm temperatures, so leaving cooked food on the table is like asking for some uncomfortable stomach virus.
11. Eat stuffing and gravy leftovers within 2 days and all other leftovers within 4 days. Can't stuff your face anymore? Freeze the leftovers in shallow containers.
12. Reheat leftovers to 165°F and boil soups, sauces and gravies.

Tips & Warnings

• If cooked food has been left out for more than two hours, throw it away. Reheating will not destroy the toxin produced by common food-borne bacteria.