Holiday Food Transportation

[newtodis]

I'm making DH and the firefighters he's working with on Thanksgiving a "typical" Thanksgiving dinner. My dilema is how to best transport the food and the directions for them to reheat. The ferry dock is about half an hour from our house and he's got about an hour ride on the ferry to get to work so total travel time is about an hour and a half. The menu will include the following:
*Turkey (thinking just turkey breast - should I cook in advance or give them directions on how to cook it since it won't take a really long time??)
*Mashed potatoes (thinking I will cook them Wed night, store in a zip top bag and write directions to reheat on the bag, just dump out of bag into baking dish and reheat in oven right??)
*Stuffing (same as potatoes)
*Green Bean Cassarole (same as potatoes and just wait to put the crunchy stuff on until they reheat it
*Cranberry Sauce (they can take it out of the can when they're ready to eat)
*Bread/Rolls (they should be able to make these on Thanksgiving)
*Pie/Dessert (I was thinking pumpkin and apple pies - how will those travel???)

I need to try to keep everything to the size of a cooler on wheels since they're technically only allowed one "suitcase" on the boat and he'll need clothes to wear back home on Friday.

I so appreciate any help or tips anyone could give me! Generally they have a restraurant bring in something but it's closed over the past year and working on a small island doesn't give them much of an option for something unless one of the wives makes something for them and sends it over.

[lovemygoofy]

Do you have a grocery store that does pre-made dinners for the holidays? It might be easier to do this especially since you just warm up everything and it's in a box easily transported.

[clarabelle]

I would google recipes for Make ahead potatoes -they usually have more milk and butter and maybe cream cheese in them. Plain mashed in my experience don't heat up as well.

[Bren's Mom]

I've been doing this for years. Dh is a paramedic supervisor, so I've fed the troops on holdiays for some time now!

Cook the turkey ahead, carve. Make sure to not overcook it! (Use a thermometer.) Don't worry about how it looks because keeping it moist is of the utmost important. Cook it breast side down. Lots of onion, lemon or orange, celery in the cavity to get good flavorful juices.

Send it in large baggies and have them reheat in a heavy pan tightly covered with foil.

The mashed potatoes can be done ahead. Have dh bring a crock pot in ahead of time. Dump the potatoes in there on low to reheat. They'll be moist and delicious after a good stir when it's time to eat.

Stuffing, make it REALLY moist. Then reheat in a pan tightly covered with foil as well. Remove foil for last 15 mins if he likes it crusty on top.

You're got the right idea with the casserole. Assemble except for onions. I use a disposable pan.

Pumpkin pie will travel fine in the cooler. Apple pies need to be wrapped REALLY well or you'll have apple goo everywhere. Can he bring these the days before so that's all he's carrying maybe???

[monkeybug]

I think your plan sounds almost perfect! Turkey is actually better if allowed to sit a while before carving and if you serve it with piping hot gravy as long as it's not cold, they probably wouldn't have to heat it at all(sometimes turkey gets a little dry if re-heated.) Is there any way to have him take the Turkey straight from the oven to work? That way it would probably still be warm enough (if you wrapped it in a few layers of foil) that they could skip re heating it.
Everything else should still taste yummy even if warmed in the microwave!! You could even send it over in ziplocs if you are tight on space in the cooler.
The pies should still be great too, I would only worry about space, and the custard filling getting mushed in the cooler. It involves extra work, but you can make both kinds "mini" pies by lining muffin cups with the crust and filling and baking. I always pre cook the bottom crusts until they are brown, fill and then bake until the filling is done. The only pain is that on double crust pies like apple sometimes you have to wrap tiny rings of foil over the edge of 12 little crusts to keep them from over browning (but they are so darn cute that sometimes it's worth it!) I cook everything at the same temps, and just keep an eye out because the filling cooks more quickly. They travel well!(and did I mention they are stinkin' cute? Just what every tough man wants right? Cute food?)
I think it's sweet that you are cooking for them!! Do you have to cook two Thanksgiving meals?

[agnes!]

Food safety-wise, be extra-careful with the stuffing, that it's kept *really* cold and heated up well at its destination, don't let it sit around at room-temperature while traveling.

agnes!

[monkeybug]

Originally Posted by agnes!

Food safety-wise, be extra-careful with the stuffing, that it's kept *really* cold and heated up well at its destination, don't let it sit around at room-temperature while traveling.

agnes!

Along these lines if you don't stuff the Turkey (I forget that some people still do) you don't have to worry about the safety issue and it's a bit easier to keep the Turkey moist (usually by the time the stuffing is cooked enough to be safe, parts of the Turkey are are already over cooked and dry) Some people are expert enough to pull off a moist stuffed (and safe) Turkey, but I am not among them!!! I think for transport purposes it would be easier to make it in a separate pan (if you weren't already planning on doing so).

[newtodis]

Originally Posted by Bren's Mom

I've been doing this for years. Dh is a paramedic supervisor, so I've fed the troops on holdiays for some time now!

Can he bring these the days before so that's all he's carrying maybe???

First, and bless you! So sweet of you to do that and I know everyone appreciates it!

This is DH's "side" job (we both work at the fire station where we live, he works over on the island when they need help or something like that so bringing it in early wouldn't work unfortunetly. There will probably be other guys on the ferry to help him carry stuff if he needs the help. I can help him carry to the boat and I'm guessing someone would meet him at the other side and help him get stuff off if he needed help. I have some of the cloth grocery bags that I can put stuff in for him to take too and Pyrex carriers for the dishes so hopefully that would help contain the mess.

Originally Posted by monkeybug

I think your plan sounds almost perfect!

It involves extra work, but you can make both kinds "mini" pies by lining muffin cups with the crust and filling and baking. I always pre cook the bottom crusts until they are brown, fill and then bake until the filling is done. The only pain is that on double crust pies like apple sometimes you have to wrap tiny rings of foil over the edge of 12 little crusts to keep them from over browning (but they are so darn cute that sometimes it's worth it!) I cook everything at the same temps, and just keep an eye out because the filling cooks more quickly. They travel well!(and did I mention they are stinkin' cute? Just what every tough man wants right? Cute food?)
I think it's sweet that you are cooking for them!!

Do you have to cook two Thanksgiving meals?

Well thanks! This is the first traveling full meal I've done so I'm trying to figure it all out.

I would have never thought of mini pies! Thanks for mentioning that!! I have a cupcake carrier for the kids that I can send with him! And yes, I'm sure the big tough guys will love the cute food!

Yes I'm making Thanksgiving dinner either Wednesday night or VERY early (has to be on the boat by 7:00 and we leave by 6:30 at the latest) Thursday morning then I'll be up Thursday night trying to BF shop on line and putting our Thanksgiving dinner in for Friday and doing it all over again. Thank goodness I like to cook!

Originally Posted by monkeybug

I think for transport purposes it would be easier to make it in a separate pan (if you weren't already planning on doing so).

No turkey stuffing here. Aside from the safety, I don't like my food to touch and I love stuffing so I'd never make it inside a turkey!

Thank you all so much for all of your help! I so appreciate it!!

[monkeybug]

Originally Posted by newtodis

Yes I'm making Thanksgiving dinner either Wednesday night or VERY early (has to be on the boat by 7:00 and we leave by 6:30 at the latest) Thursday morning then I'll be up Thursday night trying to BF shop on line and putting our Thanksgiving dinner in for Friday and doing it all over again. Thank goodness I like to cook!

Yes thank goodness you like cooking! Holy cow! Two Thanksgiving meals (one that needs to be transportable) and Black Friday shopping?
I'm going to go ahead and nominate you for Sainthood. I'll let you know when I hear back from the Pope!

[Cindy's Mom]

Perhaps you can call the ferrymaster, explain what you are doing for the firefighters and maybe they'll relax the carry one rule for you.