Remember all the pictures you’ve seen of large families gathered
around a huge roasted
turkey for the Thanksgiving holiday?
“That’s just not the way families celebrate anymore,” said Doug
Bachtel, a professor
with the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer
Sciences.
Bachtel said today’s Georgia families are smaller and more
separated. So holiday
gatherings just aren’t as large.
“Overall, there’s been a decline in family size in Georgia over
the past five to six
years,” he said.
Nearly 60 percent of Georgia’s growth is from people moving into
the state. That
means these people have probably left some family behind, he
said.
Stan Savage, a poultry specialist with the University of Georgia
Extension Service, said
most small families can roast a large chicken instead of a
turkey. That’s sure to make
turkeys thankful.
“Farmers send turkeys to the market when they reach about 20
pounds,” he said.
“That’s a big bird for a four-person family.”
A six- to eight-pound roaster chicken will easily serve four
people and have a little left
over, he said, “depending on their holiday appetite.”
That’s something farmers can be thankful for, too.
Georgia farmers don’t raise turkeys anymore. “The last of the
turkeys grown in the
state were shipped out for processing in late summer,” Savage
said.
“We’re seeing farmers who used to raise turkeys,” he
said, “switching their production
facilities over to chickens instead.”
Demand for poultry and poultry products is on the rise, forcing
processors to look for
more poultry farmers to satisfy that demand. Georgia farmers
produce about 21 million
chickens every week.
Farmers allow about 5 percent of those birds to grow to roaster
size. That adds up to
about a million roasters grown in Georgia every week.
Another option for family chefs is buying just the turkey parts
you want. Only about
one-third of U.S.-grown turkeys make it to a family table as a
whole bird. The rest,
Savage said, are processed for hospitals’, schools’ and
restaurants’ use.
When processors cut up the turkeys, they also prepare some parts
for retail sale.
“It’s reasonable for grocery shoppers to buy only a turkey
breast or drumstick if that’s
the meat they prefer,” Savage said.
The best early holiday gift for the chef and clean-up crew,
then, is less meat left over.
No matter how much you have left over, though, store it
carefully. Judy Harrison, an
extension foods specialist, said to divide leftover meat into
small, shallow containers.
“Turkey will keep safely for three to four days in the
refrigerator,” she said. “But be
sure to heat it thoroughly to 165 degrees before serving it
again.”
Your county extension agent can tell you more about turkey food
safety guidelines.
