Why Thanksgiving Gatherings Should Be Smaller This Year

Thanksgiving is a national holiday for Americans. They have been celebrating it on the last Thursday in November for the past 160 years, according to the National Archives. This year, Thanksgiving will be very different. Families have been advised to forego large gatherings whether they plan to host or to attend one.

In the past, Thanksgiving gatherings were much larger than they should be this year. Times are different now with the spread of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) encourages families to limit holiday gatherings to small groups. In fact, the CDC suggests that people should have small family affairs rather than large traditional gatherings that pose high risks for spreading the disease if someone attending tests positive. Even with small gatherings, people should continue to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and wash their hands.

The CDC suggests that people should assess the COVID-19 restrictions in their own community to determine whether they should cancel, postpone, or limit the number of people who will safely be in their house. Every family should also make the same decision about attending someone else's gathering.

Small Gatherings Mean Smaller Turkeys

With small gatherings, families should plan accordingly for a small dinner instead of a feast. That means people are looking for smaller turkeys. They might be hard to find because farmers had been preparing large turkeys for months. They did not put their turkeys on a diet so they could be smaller in time for this year's smaller Thanksgiving dinners. Also, packaging plants had to slow or stop production. That means the demand for smaller turkey is expected to exceed the supply this year.

Farmers and packaging plants did not know far enough in advance that small turkeys would be more in demand than the customary large ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. In other words, smaller turkeys might be as hard to find as toilet paper was when people first became aware of the pandemic earlier this year.

Research conducted by Kroger shows that 43 percent of their shoppers reported their Thanksgiving will be limited to members of their own household instead of friends and invited guests from across the country Therefore, they will be looking to buy a small turkey.

The New York Times recently reported that Butterball, Hormel Foods, and other big sellers of turkeys are aware that almost 70 percent of their customers will be looking for smaller turkeys. Therefore, those grocery chains are increasing orders for smaller turkeys to accommodate as many customers as possible.

Cooking a Small Turkey

Whether people cook a large or small turkey, the method is still the same. One difference includes how much stuffing is needed inside the bird. The thawing of a small turkey will not take as long as it will for a much larger turkey. As one would expect, the cooking time for a large turkey is much longer than for a smaller version.

Cooking a smaller turkey will definitely be a plus for people who don't like to have some turkey remaining for several days after the holiday has ended. On the other hand, families might miss having turkey sandwiches, turkey hash, or eating leftover turkey another way. Therefore, consumers have to weigh their options and decide what they prefer.

Options for Thanksgiving Dinners

Since Thanksgiving dinners are not going to be the same as usual, some families are going to make exceptions. For instance, they could buy a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. If they really want legs and wings, another idea is to serve a roasted chicken or cornish hens.

If families choose to have a smaller turkey for their table's centerpiece, they can also have fewer and smaller side dishes, especially if they are having just their own household for dinner instead of invited guests.

Even though Thanksgiving will be much different this year, it still can be enjoyable and safe for everyone with a few adjustments.