Top 5 Thanksgiving Safety Tips (and a bonus tip!)

It’s that time of year again. Halloween is behind us and “The Holiday Season” is here, complete with Christmas music on the radio, decorations in the stores and Black Friday sales being touted.

However, before Christmas, Yule, Solstice, 8 Days of Hanukkah, the 29-30 days of Ramadan (sometimes; this year it was in May), Boxing Day, the 7 days of Kwanzaa, New Years’ Eve, New Years’ Day, and many more (including Festivus!), we have Thanksgiving.

With the approach of Thanksgiving, Norris, your life-safety and security source, realizes we would be remiss if we didn’t share with you some tips from ABC News for staying safe during the holiday.

  1. If you buy a frozen turkey ahead of time, make sure you allow enough time for the turkey to fully thaw before you pop it in the oven on Turkey Day Morn. ABC recommends 1 day in a 40-degree fridge for every five pounds of weight. And if you want to buy fresh instead of frozen, please, no more than 2 days in advance.
  2. The most important pre-prep step you can take is washing your hands and prep areas. To avoid food-borne illness, cleanliness is the only way to go.
  3. Properly prepare the turkey for the oven by preparing on separate surfaces and using separate utensils so as to avoid contamination. ABC also points out that washing the turkey, even if mom or grandma did it, is to be avoided since splashing water could contaminate nearby surfaces with bacteria and increase the risk of food-borne illness.
  4. Know when your turkey is done! If you don’t already own one, invest in a good food thermometer. Make sure to test the temp in at least 3 different deep flesh areas to be sure you get an accurate idea of the internal temp of the bird. When you hit 165 degrees, it’s done.
  5. Finally, one of the most enjoyable parts of the Thanksgiving holiday is coming back for leftovers after the initial food-coma is overcome on the coach. With that in mind, store those leftovers properly. Wait no longer than two hours to put the leftovers in the fridge. Use shallow containers to minimize thermal mass and quicken cooling. Store stuffing that was in the bird separately from the bird itself. Leftovers will generally be good for three to four days, so if you don’t think you’ll eat your way through that many Turkey Dinner Sandwiches in that time, freeze stuff.

BONUS TIP: Norris recommends you do a traditional oven-cooking of your turkey. However, if you want to deep fry your bird, please make sure it’s fully thawed before dropping the feast into your oil. First responders commonly respond to an inordinate number of house fires during Thanksgiving thanks to people improperly deep frying their turkey.

_____________________

What is Norris all about?

Norris, Inc.—a South Portland, Maine-based life-safety and security systems integrator with satellite offices in Bangor, Maine; Lee, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont—was founded nearly 40 years ago by two brothers, Brad and Harty Norris. The brothers remain on the board of directors today and continue to help steer the enterprise toward its goal of advancing life-safety, security, and communications while striving to grow in its status as Northern New England’s leading systems integrator. Norris provides fully integrated life-safety and security solutions, comprising disparate systems including fire alarm, intrusion detection, access control, video surveillance, emergency notification, and communications.