Are You Thanksgiving Ready?

 It's that question that's asked every year. Are you Thanksgiving ready? Have you been stockpiling? Testing all the appliances? Checking pots and pans? It's time to look over what will be the busiest room in the house.

One thing home chefs can do is look over their larger appliances. Is the oven working correctly? What about the microwave and air fryer? These are sub major players in the whole meal game but if can be dire if they break. Microwaves are used for melting butter and cheese along with quick vegetable steaming . Air fryers come in handy for crisping up rolls along with  air frying potato and sweet potato wedges. Make sure they up to par and their wires are still sturdy. Other smaller items to check on - mixers and blenders. MIxers are usied for everyhting from kneading bread dough to even easily mashing potatoes. Blenders are used for batters and blending ingredients for salad dressings. Check to make sure the machines are running smoothly and the blender body is not cracked. Food processors and choppers should also be examined. These too are integral in creating the perfect dishes too. Look over you knives as well. Do they need to be sharpened? Now is the time to do it - in that calm period before all the cooking frenzy.

Once the appliances are thoroughly checked  then start looking at your ingredients. Have you bought your turkey yet? Buy it now because you never know if your store may run out or may run out fo the size you want.Vegan and vegetarians should also have their tofurkey already bought. Some places may only carry two or one tofurkey kits (these include a glaze and stuffing). You may have to drive around and look in two r three stores before finding one. The same applies to Gardein's turkey cutlets and gravy. This is my Thanksgiving go too and I noticed stores like Target and Acme didn't really stock it as they did in the past. I had to  buy it two weeks ago and it was the last one in my local Acme. Another item to stock up on now is pre made stuffing. Many home chefs don't like the idea of making the dish from scratch , although they'll never have to run out of bread. Get a box of the family's faovrite stuffing now. Green beans are going to be popular too , thanks to everyone planning on making casseroles.Of you can;t fidn them sub in another veggie like lima beans or corn. Also make sure you have enough flour , sugar and spices for baking along with eggs. They may seem like a small things  but also check to see if you have enough napkins and containers for leftovers too.

Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Be ready now for it. It does pay to be prepared,

There's Always Online Stores

It's a pain and a chore to go grocery shopping these days. There's shortages galore and you have to be savvy when a particular store stocks up. If worse comes to worse  there is online shopping and the various stores that can offer salvation.

One of the best places is Amazon. There has been some negative criticism regarding how the company treats their workers during this time and the heavy amount of  work  allotted to them. Yet it has a wide array of foodstuffs and items for any home chef and kitchen.I have been buying kitchen wares from them for years. The company has a very good selection of silicon bakeware .There's a wide variety of that , from loaf pans to smaller ones for decorative cakes and candies.  The company is also great for appliances. Air fryers are big and a godsend. Amazon has a wide assortment of different brands and they have their choices as to what's the best. You can always something that suits your needs. The same goes for toaster ovens - which they have many , from simple ones to ones with convection ovens included. If you want fancier gadgets like sous vides and immersion blenders, them Amazon, is the place to go for them. (but you can  also go to Target and Wal-mart too)  Another plus about Amazon is that they do have a wide variety of hard to find and unusual foods. I recently bought Berbere spice there, something I know I couldn't get in my local grocery store. I've also bought clotted cream from them, something I can only get at British specialty stores in Manhattan.

There are other places to go to for specific foods. The Carmel Honey Company is one of my favorites. I buy their wildflower honey for my tomato sauce and chili (yes, I use it for those. It's better than sugar). it was started by teenager Jake who wrote about honey bees for a school project. He became so involved that he started his own honey company  - lucky for us. It's a great source of natural honeys that can be used for everything from sauces (yes again) to cakes and muffins.  For vegan, Vegan Essentials has all sorts of foodstuffs from faux seafood to Beyond Burger if you can't get those at your local supermarket. The company also has Miyoko's  vegan cheeses and butters. These taste like the real thing and the website has a variety of different cheeses like scallion flavored cream cheese and cultured butter. It's hard to get any fancy loaves for family celebrations but Vegan Essentials does have tofu loaves like Field Roast squash stuffed tofu.  Flour is supposed to be up next when it comes to shortages. Not to worry. King Arthur has a wide variety of different flours (along with bakeware and baking gadgets). They also sell gluten free flours which is great for those with celiac disease.  Another good site for flours is Bob's Red Mill which also has nut flours as well along with all natural sugars.

If you can't find it in your local store, then go on line. It's an easy way to shop with out all the worry and the fretting.It';s just point, click and buy without the hassle.