Safety Tips for This Thanksgiving

Helping keep our community happy & healthy this Thanksgiving!

Preparing Your Turkey:

1. The safest way to defrost your turkey is to let it defrost in the fridge a couple days before Thanksgiving. Leaving it on the counter is the most unsafe, since it allows for bacteria to grow.
2. If you cook stuffing in your turkey, make sure the stuffing registers as 165 degrees to ensure it is cooked. Preferably, cook your stuffing in a casserole dish to avoid bacteria contamination.
3. Cook your turkey until a thermometer in the breast or thigh meat registers as 165 degrees.

Cooking Safety:

1. Watch what you are cooking: The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking. Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or cooking food on the stop top or broiling food.
2. Prevent scalds and burns: To prevent spills due to overturned appliances containing hot food or liquids, use the back burner when possible, and/or turn pot handles away from the stove’s edge.
3. Protect children from scalds and burns: Young children are at high risk of being burned by hot food and liquids. Keep children away from cooking areas by enforcing a “kid-free zone” of 3 feet around the stove.
4. Drinking Safety:
5. Give someone your keys: Find someone trustworthy who isn’t drinking and hand over your keys for the night.
6. Take alternate transportation: Yes, it can be expensive, but taking a cab is safer than driving under the influence. Don’t risk it.
7. Take the night off from drinking: Be the designated driver tonight — and then stick to a no-drinking plan. If you and your friends take turns being the DD on different nights, you can drink on most occasions and have a safe ride home. Is the occasional night sober really that bad?

Drinking Safety:

1. Give someone your keys: Find someone trustworthy who isn’t drinking and hand over your keys for the night.
2. Take alternate transportation: Yes, it can be expensive, but taking a cab is safer than driving under the influence. Don’t risk it.
3. Take the night off from drinking: Be the designated driver tonight — and then stick to a no-drinking plan. If you and your friends take turns being the DD on different nights, you can drink on most occasions and have a safe ride home. Is the occasional night sober really that bad?