Thanksgiving Guest Tips and Suggestions

If you are going to be traveling by car, you probably don’t want to bring an elaborate cake. What if the car has to stop suddenly? Everyone has had the experience of buying a frosted cake and getting it home, and most of the frosting is stuck to the box. Unless you have a professional cake-carrying case, a frosted cake is not a good idea.

Certain foods spoil very quickly, fish, meat, and eggs are good examples. It is best to refrigerate the food, and then keep it cold while traveling. There are several ways to do this. If you are going on a short trip, you can put ice in to keep the food cold. For longer trips should use a special insulated bag that you can add ice to keep the contents cold. This is the best for foods that are served cold. Assemble dishes that should be served hot partially at home then complete the cooking at the destination.

Thanksgiving is the first of the BIG holidays, and everyone’s schedule is busy at best. If you can, try to prepare the dish on Tuesday so you can spend Wednesday doing other things, and not have to worry about last-minute preparations.

If your dish needs special serveware, then absolutely bring it. There is nothing worse for the host than having to root around to find serveware for someone else’s dish.

Check with the host to see if there are any dietary restrictions. Your host or the guests may be vegetarian or have religious dietary restrictions.

There are a lot of people who are allergic to nuts. Kids, especially, may not ask if there are nuts, eat the offending food, and go into shock. It is best to avoid these kinds of allergens. Check with the host.

How many times have you been to a potluck dinner and there are five pumpkin pies? That’s especially worrisome when you don’t like pumpkin pie, like me. It’s a good idea to check with the host to see what dish is needed before you start preparing it.