[NB: check the byline, thanks. \/~Rayne<\/em>]<\/p>\n This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving. It seems both far too soon and yet forever since our last turkey day. We have all been through hell and back since the last time we gathered around the table with friends and family to give thanks while trying to restrain the urge to throttle that relative who is a pain in the ass every holiday.<\/p>\n This year my family will have a slightly smaller gathering. A couple family members work in healthcare and will be on duty. My kids didn\u2019t experience this growing up as neither my spouse nor I have had careers obligating us to forfeit holidays with family. I do remember expecting my mom would not be home on one of the holidays, either Thanksgiving or Christmas, alternating each year because she was a nurse working second or third shift at the local hospital. Babies don\u2019t stop coming and emergencies happen no matter what day it is, after all.<\/p>\n My youngest has been working in pharmaceutical manufacturing as I\u2019ve mentioned in a previous holiday post; large chemical plants including pharma producers don\u2019t shut down though they may reduce production. This year the youngest is working in a different field of pharma so they\u2019ll be able to join us. But they now have a significant other who works for a hospital dispensing pharma products, and they won\u2019t be able to join us.<\/p>\n The more things change, the more they stay the same.<\/p>\n Thanks to all the first responders who will be working this holiday, and those who support us invisibly by keeping things running in healthcare and manufacturing.<\/p>\n This year the kids are doing even more of the prep work for the holiday, though we will be fewer in number. It\u2019s funny how this coincided with the loss this past year of the last of the eldest member our family. We\u2019re undergoing a generational shift both consciously and unconsciously.<\/p>\n It\u2019s past time for me to pull together the family\u2019s recipes and hand them off to all of the members of my kids\u2019 generation. I\u2019ve looked for decades now for a recipe database application that wouldn\u2019t become enshittified over time. I wish I\u2019d had that word when I first started looking for what I wanted, because it\u2019s been a PITA to explain I didn\u2019t want a free-now-but-recipes-held-hostage-later application, or one that would try to badger users to buy something as soon as they opened the app, or one that would steal the family recipes only to serve corrupted versions to others via AI-enhanced search tools.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve gathered most of the family recipes, scanned those that were still on 3\u00d75 cards, re-typed them all into plain text. I\u2019m going to hand them off on flash drives this holiday, along with a copy of a free, open source note application so that the family\u2019s heirs don\u2019t have to expose themselves to Microsoft Notepad\u2019s enshittification.<\/p>\n Perhaps next year the kids will take on even more of the holiday feast preparations once they\u2019ve received the family\u2019s cookbook.<\/p>\n ~ ~ ~<\/strong><\/p>\n There are two concerns I have for others this coming holiday: the cost of groceries and the problematic food supply chain.<\/p>\n If you have any pointers about cutting grocery costs for the holidays, please share them.<\/p>\n lf you\u2019ve experienced shortages of food items and are using workarounds, please share them.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019ve got the extra cash to help others this holiday, please give to a food bank or soup kitchen near you.<\/p>\n Feeding America has a tool for finding food banks near you: https:\/\/www.feedingamerica.org\/find-your-local-foodbank<\/p>\n Share it with those who may need the assistance as well as those who may have resources to help others.<\/p>\n Food banks have been hard pressed to keep up with demand because of the government shutdown and the lack of SNAP funding, as well as the cascade of funding problems created by Trump and Musk\u2019s DOGE-driven cuts to programs. Give what you can \u2014 even $5 can buy as much as 20 meals.<\/p>\n ~ ~ ~<\/strong><\/p>\n Lastly, if you have a favorite recipe you prepare each Thanksgiving, feel free to share below along with whatever you\u2019re planning to do to prepare for the holiday. Are you traveling, and if so, are you taking anything with you to share over the holiday?<\/p>\n This is an open thread but let\u2019s try to focus on Thanksgiving preparations and on topics related to food and the food supply chain.<\/p>\n [NB: check the byline, thanks. \/~Rayne] This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving. It seems both far too soon and yet forever since our last turkey day. We have all been through hell and back since the last time we gathered around the table with friends and family to give thanks while trying to restrain the urge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":315748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12136,125,100507],"tags":[11255,1224,54963,11587,8571],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-315747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-food","category-thanksgiving","tag-ahead","tag-open","tag-prepping","tag-thanksgiving","tag-thread"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"image_print\"](\"https:\/\/www.emptywheel.net\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print-pro\/images\/print.png?1276245719\" "\\"Print")
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