This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving dinner I’ve had to cook in about 17 years. I only cooked one other time but I wouldn’t even say I did much. My mom did most of the work. I just hosted the dinner at my house and did the side dishes.
This year I had to make Thanksgiving dinner. Normally we buy a pre-made meal from the grocery store (pre-cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy…). We just add some rolls, another side and dessert. This year we couldn’t order the meal because we didn’t have the money. Thankfully I revived a JENNIE-O® OVEN READY™ Turkey (whole) just in time for Thanksgiving.
We’ve never cooked a turkey before (my mom always did it or we purchased one pre-cooked). We had no clue what we were supposed to do. We didn’t even know when we should take it out of the freezer to start defrosting. With the pre-made meal we buy we have to put it in the fridge 2-3 days before we plan on cooking it.
On Tuesday (two days before Thanksgiving) I bumped into the handyman in our complex and we were talking turkey – literally. He asked me if we had put our turkey in the fridge to defrost yet. I told him “no”. He then told me that I had to get home ASAP and take it out to defrost otherwise there is no way it would cook in Thanksgiving.
Ugh! I was in such a panic that I quickly went home to take the turkey out. I also texted my husband to tell him about our mistake. He texted me back NOT to take the JENNIE-O turkey out of the freezer. He said, as per the packaging, the turkey went straight from the freezer to the oven. It did not need to be defrosted.
I trust my husband so I didn’t take the turkey out that day.
On Thanksgiving morning we were a bit worried that our turkey would not cook in time for dinner. We even joked that we were going to have Thanksgiving pasta for dinner with a side of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and veggies. LOL! We were honestly prepared to have pasta for dinner.
We put the turkey in the oven – directly from the freezer – at 11:00 AM at 375 degrees.
The whole JENNIE-O turkey we had came in a bag that you leave it in so it cooks inside the bag. There is also a “popper” in the turkey that pops up to let you know it’s done.
Anxiously we waited and checked the turkey periodically to see if it was done. Just before 4:00 PM the popper popped but we kept the turkey in the oven a little longer just to be sure. Then around 4:00 PM my husband took it out of the oven, opened up the bag and cut into it to see if it was done. I stood by with finger crossed that it was.
It was!!!! The turkey was perfectly cooked after four hours. And we never had to defrost it in the fridge days before hand. We DIDN’T have to have pasta for Thanksgiving dinner!
Everything about the turkey was wonderful. It was perfectly cooked, moist and very flavorful (it’s pre-seasoned). We didn’t have to do a thing to it except pop it in the oven. Not only that clean up was a snap. Since it cooked in a special cooking bag all the mess remained in the bag. Cleaning the pan took just a few seconds.
It also came with gravy that we warmed in a pan with a little water. The gravy was delicious too.
This turkey was so convenient and easy to make that we are looking into getting another one for Christmas dinner. The only bad thing is that according to the product finder on the JENNIE-O website the nearest place that sells the whole turkeys is about an hour away from where we live.
We LOVE the JENNIE-O® OVEN READY™ Turkey and we plan on getting it again next year for Thanksgiving. This turkey made Thanksgiving easy. I just had to focus on the side dishes (dessert was made the night before).
The next day for breakfast we also enjoyed JENNIE-O Turkey Bacon which was DELISH!
JENNIE-O has more entertaining inspiration that can be found at the JennieO.com “Holiday Table,” which includes five full menu themes, including southwest, gluten-free and modern, to help you get inspired no matter who is showing up to your table on Turkey Day and beyond.
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Sandy Cain says
I never tried a JENNIE-O turkey before, but I can tell you that next Thanksgiving I will. I was not happy with the usual brand! Thanks for the info, I thought they only made sliced turkey for sandwiches!