Having an Eco Friendly Green Thanksgiving is more and more desirable these days. How can you green your  Thanksgiving?

• Buy your pumpkins, squash, and other vegetables from a local farmers market or from local sources. Some even carry special Heritage turkeys
• Buy organic when possible, except for product on the Clean 15 list
• Buy a locally raised organic turkey with no antibiotics, no hormones, free range, raised on vegetarian feed, and no added flavor enhancers or salt
• Utilize reusable bags to hold groceries
• Don’t over cook or serve too much food
• Rent or buy your decorations from used clothing stores like Goodwill. Reusing items that you already have is even better.
• Donate extra food, money, clothing to those in need
• Compost the leftovers, pumpkin, squash, etc.
• Give out green oriented treats like organic fruit, repurposed trinkets

With a little preparation we all can make a difference, even on Thanksgiving.

Donating Food to the Hungry

The Food Runners are an organization in the San Francisco Bay Area that helps business, organizations and people donate excess food. You call them at 415-929-1866, tell them what you have, and they match you with a party in need.

They work with restaurants, hotels, schools, food services, and private individuals. They are also looking for volunteers.

If you know similar organizations in your area, leave a note with the region and contact information.

Fried Turkey tastes great but generates a ton of used grease that must be disposed of properly.  A typical turkey fryer uses 3 gallons of oil. You should recycle the used oil and not toss it in the garbage, but few people do that. The fryer should never be used indoors, even if it is raining or snowing outside. There is also a flash fire safety issue, not to mention healthiness issues on a day that most of us overeat. Just check out this video..

Char-Broil The Big Easy Oil-Less Infrared Turkey Fryer does not have the problem because it uses Infrared cooking technology. It is able to cook turkeys (up to 16 lbs.), chickens, beef roasts, pork tenderloins, and other large cuts of meat. The Big Easy allows for the use of rubs and seasoning flavor to be used on the outside, which can wash away with traditional turkey fryers, so there is the potential of even better flavor.

This unit does require a propane tank though.