DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — “This year we are staying at home just our nuclear family,” said Dr. Cory Harow from West Boca Medical Center.
As you start to plan your Thanksgiving feast and gathering, emergency room doctors warn you to be smart and careful.
“Limiting the length of the get together will go a long way towards limiting the risk and then there is the size,” said Dr. Harow. “Location is huge, so if you are getting together with family, we are telling our patients to do it outdoors with social distancing, wearing masks.”
So how do you adapt to fewer guests?
“There are formulas that we know as chefs,” said Erik Pettersen, chef at EVO Italian in Tequesta.
He suggested buying a smaller turkey to account for fewer guests.
“You could actually buy a turkey breast depending on your guests,” he said.
Pettersen said to make sure to tackle portion control.
“Three people per pound,” he suggested. “That is stuffing, string beans, cranberry, that is all the dressings.”
If you’re used to your dining room table being at capacity, one idea is to use cut outs in the seats.
Bonnie Heatzig suggested it sends a message to your loved ones that there is always a spot for them at your table.
“We are having a Zoom Thanksgiving this year, and so what we have done to introduce a moment of levity, is we have created cut outs of our children who will not be with us this Thanksgiving,” she said.
Perhaps, most important of all is to embrace the new.
“I think the way people can deal with it is to try and think outside the box,” said Sharron Frederick, a clinical social worker. “Each family has to do what they think is right for them, and I know sometimes that is going to cause tension, but I think all you can do as a family is to go by what you think is the right thing to do.”