ALL RIGHT KIDS… If you are stuck cooking for yourself this Thanksgiving, here’s how to end up with some turkey without a giant production and tons of waste.

A thread on easy bachelor/smaller cooking when you don’t know how to cook…

(cont’d)

Turkey is generally hard to cook because you have a lot of meat to cook (takes a long time) but there’s a surface that’s easy to burn.

We’re going to take all that trouble out of it. We’re gonna use a slow cooker / crock pot...

Go to the store and look near the turkeys for a “turkey breast” - this is basically a smaller roll of the meat from the turkey. No need to take it off the bones or prepare a bird carcass. Ask the meat-guy if you’re having trouble finding one. This will feed 1-2 people.

Ask the meat guy if you can’t find it. Also, if you can’t live without a drum stick, you can buy those individually and they should be over near the parted/packaged chicken where you buy chicken breasts, etc.

Also buy:

A can or box of “chicken stock” - this is a liquid base for things like chicken soup. You need a liquid for the turkey to cook in the crock pot. And it keeps things most and has some seasonings in it already.

If you’re not hurting for money, go grab some “rosemary” sprigs from the “fresh herbs” section of the veggies. They look like little twigs with spiky leaves on them.

Thaw the turkey parts if they are frozen by leaving them in your fridge (not the freezer) for a day or two in front of the day.

Now the “hard” part: cooking

Place turkey breast in crock pot. Add drumsticks if you want that too. Pour chicken stock over all until it’s mostly covered. Add water if you need more liquid. Put sprigs of rosemary in the top of the liquid. Put crock-pot on low. Cook on low all damned day.

It’ll be done a couple hours after it smells good. check with a thermometer.

To serve it: take out the sprigs. (Don’t eat them) You can pull-out cut-up and eat the turkey immediately. Or leave the crock pot on “warm” until you’re ready.

That get’s the hardest part out of the way.

You probably want sides. And there’s a lot to be said for buying pre-made stuff at the grocery store.

But again, assuming on the cheap: there is no shame in boxed mashed potatoes and canned gravy. They come out good.

Check the box. If there are optional recipes that use milk or cream, try to do that. It’ll come out richer.

Also: for any thankgiving, have butter on hand. You use it everywhere.

Beyond that, most side dishes can be pre-made, microwave, or canned.

There ya go. Cheap and easy thanksgiving.

If you are stuck at home and do this, remember to also get some treat for yourself: be it beer or pie or something. Make it special.

It’s a tough year with COVID. Hopefully a little comfort and comfort food helps.

/end

Oh! I forgot something.

Boneless turkey breasts usually come in a little net to hold them into a “loaf” shape.

Cook them with that “net” on them. You can cut it and pull it off once the turkey breast is done.

I also forgot to say: turkey is done at 165F. Once it starts to “smell” good, check the temp every so often. Once the turkey is above 165, you’re good. Set the crock pot to warm until you are ready to eat.