Where do you get your turkey from for Thanksgiving?

My husband and his family adore turkey so they're all on board with two turkey holidays in the span of a month.  The pumpkin in Leicester wasn't too bad, only £2 for a can but I will definitely be looking for it in Tescos this year!

 I never actually cooked Thanksgiving before here.. should be an adventure!

Your frozen turkey will have instructions, but they're really more of a guideline.

If you've never done it before, the Reynolds Wrap website has really good advice for cooking turkey, plus lots of recipes and tips for everything else.

Personally, I'd recommend these things:

• Cook the turkey in a roasting bag.  You should be able to find extra-large, turkey sized ones in most supermarkets, or on Amazon/Ebay if you're completely stuck. Not only do the bags mean you don't have to baste, but it really shortens the cooking time (possibly because you're not opening the oven every half hour to baste), and it's a handy way to collect all the juices for gravy, without needing a very deep roasting pan, or worrying about spills.
• Don't put the stuffing in the turkey.  It increases the cooking time quite a bit, and there can be bacterial issues.  Plus, if you cook everything *except* the croutons ahead of time, it's quite easy to just put it all together, with a bit of broth, and brown it in the oven while the turkey rests. (Though you can still throw a couple of onion and/or lemon wedges, a celery stalk, and/or some fresh herbs inside the turkey, for flavour.)
• If you're getting a frozen turkey, don't underestimate how long they take to thaw!  Allow a couple of days, to be on the safe side.
• Consider investing in a digital, leave-in meat thermometer-- the kind with a long cord, so that you can monitor (and even program in) the temperature without opening the oven.  Seriously, just avoid opening the oven if at all possible.
• If you're planning on going the whole nine yards with side dishes, pies, etc., make a schedule!  It might sound a bit too Martha Stewart-y, but if you decide what time you want to eat, then work backwards, you can figure out at what time everything needs to be which stage, and it makes things run much more smoothly.

I don't understand the concept of getting tired of turkey, either. People eat a lot of chicken, beef and pork through the year without getting tired of it. But most of the population, in any country, seems to sigh over eating turkey more than once a year.

The husband gets turkeys from the local fancy butcher, he made turkey sausages and braised turkey legs last Turkey Day.

I don't understand the concept of getting tired of turkey, either. People eat a lot of chicken, beef and pork through the year without getting tired of it. But most of the population, in any country, seems to sigh over eating turkey more than once a year.

The only thing I can figure, is that a lot of people just aren't good at cooking, or using, turkey.  The folks I hear complaining about the idea of eating it more than once, also tend to complain that 'it's so dry,' or about how difficult it is to cook, and how they don't know what to do with all the leftovers.

It's a shame, because it can be a very economical meat, if you're prepared to use the whole thing.

Turkey is one of my favourite things!!!

I did get sick of it one year though when between Thanksgiving and Hogmanay I had so many parties and events that I ended up being served nine seperate turkey dinners with all the trimmings,(and in some cases, I had all the leftovers in between.)   I was happy to not eat Turkey for a few weeks after that.   

Holding my hand up as one of those that is not a big turkey fan 
I do enjoy cooking a nice turkey and all that it involves and if I do so say so myself, it all comes out tasting pretty darn good!
But, other than using ground turkey for burgers now and again and once in a great while a sandwich with turkey cold cuts, Thanksgiving is my one and only day for cooked turkey and I am quite happy to keep it like that, Thanksgiving = Turkey, Christmas/Easter = Ham!