Thanksgiving Traditions

[DaisyKeymaster]

This is a 2-part post with a thought exercise.

First, I’m wondering what your family’s Thanksgiving traditions are. Is there a special food you always have? Certain decorations that have gone up for decades? A place you always get together?

Secondly, I want you to think about how you might be able to keep some normalcy with these traditions if things go bad. Are there some shelf-stable ingredients you can stockpile to make the family favorites? Are you close enough to your family that you could get together?  How could you keep a little bit of continuity with your traditions?

I always think about things like this because my girls are so sentimental when it comes to holidays. I want to be able to provide them with our regular traditions as much as possible and make the holidays special, even if it’s in a modified way.

[Crow BarKeymaster]

My sister had an issue with traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Said she did not like turkey.

So, our tradition was no tradition.  Pizza, tacos, chinese, anything but a traditional turkey dinner.

Now, I have made a few traditional turkey dinners.  But, as always, I put a gourmet twist to it.

The in-laws, FIL only likes the tried and true truest of truest traditional turkey dinner.  In short, boring.

Since we have started Friendsgiving, I go all out!  Really enjoy it too!

If things were to go badly?  We have turkeys on our property.  Last year an whole flock hung around all winter long.  They found the wife’s bird feeders and would come up to the house, snowball throwing distance.

Shelf-stable?  I think that is when I would have to go confit and pack whole breasts, leggs etc. in fat.  This week will be an experiment to confit some pork in pork fat.

Herbs would be a big one.  I do have sage, winter thyme, oregano and dill that comes back yearly.  This year I was able to get cilantro to not only grow, but seed out as well.  Saved those seeds!

[Anonymous]

The things we make, have been traditions brought over from Italy, and easily found at the market and we are able to grow them at home if push comes to shove. Herbs make all the difference in food! We grow our own herbs and use them fresh in food all the time. I do know how to hunt for turkey and I’ve done it before with my grandfather when I was younger. It wouldn’t be hard for me to start doing that again. I also know how to wildcraft if need be and how to pick a mushroom that won’t kill us. Lol.

 

There’s always a substitute for everything as well. Growing wheat for flour though, that would be tricky. Lol. I don’t think I’ve tried to process that either. I have all the instructions and a wheat grinder to make flour with in my pantry though. I bought them a while back for just-in-case. A lot of my electric tools in the kitchen have ‘non-electrical twins’ in my pantry for the possible electrical grid power outage. You just never know! is my motto. 🙂

[DaisyKeymaster]

We have a non traditional meal like that at Christmas.  This year the plan is Mexican.

I have everything shelf stable for our basics but not the turkey.  We have freeze dried green beans, canned sweet potatoes, and packaged bread crumbs for dressing.  I also keep cornbread fixings on hand which is an easy dressing base.

For the main course we could use freeze dried chicken and gravy

 

[namelusParticipant]

We grow everything on farm except beverages. We have bourbon red turkeys, to us we like the flavour best lots of fat on them, they also are self raising, will run off to set eggs and raise young. They just eat the grain spills from the cows and the pigs. The potatoes and squash last all winter in root cellar.  The beer comes from local brewery we trade for it with hops and honey.  We also always do some asian dishes,  wonton or hot and sour soup this year it was 3 peking ducks. There is usually a ham or a crown rib roast  and some wild game as we have friends over and host dinner at parents place 20- 30 people. Bread is from local grain not much bread wheat this year but lots of ameranth, barley and rye. We usually make a German dish of potatoe dumplings aswell mops up the gravy and sits in your stomach like a lead shot food baby.

 

There is also the local charity event which most of the local farmers and merchants supply food for the town. If everyone came it would be 300 people. They also plan the gift baskets for the less fortunate and make sure that the people who have lost their partner have a place to go for Christmas this year. You sign up with how many guest you can take to your table.

 

It has its issues as well not all perfect but much better than big city I cam from lived next to people for a decade and didn’t ever go over or even know some of their names.

 

We also do our thanksgiving in Oct

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaisyKeymaster]

Namelus, are you in Canada? (Thanksgiving in October)

 

[TolikParticipant]

The only holiday I have any use for , is Christmas . As for Thanksgiving , I’m thankful every day , and I’m not British . My family does the usual , I usually volunteer to work , in order to avoid it .

[SkyponyParticipant]

Our turkey is cooked wrapped in bacon and it is so good. We’ve  been doing it that way since my very first turkey dinner in 1974. I was the one doing the whole Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. My Daughter always helped, now she does Thanksgiving the exact same way, it’s like I cooked the whole thing myself and just wonderful, while I sip the champagne I brought and she shoos me and the dogs out of the kitchen. Just like I used to do!

We took a break for our tradition when the family broke up and I moved here to begin without them. My daughter and her husband moved here too. The first few years we were kind of sad and lost still so we went out for an awesome Mexican dinner, then we reclaimed our holiday. It’s the celebration and being with family that is the most important, the bacon wrapped turkey is the bonus!

[Crow BarKeymaster]

You had me at bacon . . . 😉

[Author]

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