Tausi Insider

Photo : The Image Party ( Shutterstock ) T he best part of hosting Thanksgiving is serving an impressive meal. The worst part is finding a way to store everything in the fridge and freezer beforehand. Between pies, casseroles, five pounds of cooked potatoes, and, oh, that massive 15-pound bird dry-brining on the entire bottom shelf, how do you find space, short of renting a second fridge? Raid your cardboard recycling stash and start stacking . I first u sed this storage tactic to store semi-finished pies. Let’s say I had two or three pudding or curd pies that were already filled, and awaiting party time. Instead of laying them next to each other and wasting all the vertical space above them, I put a cardboard cake circle slightly larger than the circumference of the edge of the pie plate right on top of it , and stacked the next pie on top . Not only did this save space, but it kept my fridge more organized. ( If you’re not a cake decorating dweeb and you don’t have cake c...

Photo : Elena Veselova ( Shutterstock ) The United States Department of Agriculture might not be the first place you think of when you’re unsure whether it’s okay to stuff the turkey the night before, but they have a hotline built to answer exactly these sorts of questions. Add 1-888-MPHotline to your contacts to be the hero everybody needs for Thanksgiving prep—and, yes, they will be taking calls on the big day. The hotline is properly known as the Meat and Poultry Hotline , and you can call it year-round for any food-safety questions related to meat, poultry, or eggs. The line is staffed by humans from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. On Thanksgiving day this year, it will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. And if you’re phone-phobic, they can give you answers by email, too. Send your questions to MPHotline@usda.gov. You can also use the live chat at Ask USDA . They have also pre-answered many of your common Thanksgiving questions, which you can access at the website ...

Photo : KHUNNINE ( Shutterstock ) Some foods keep fine in the fridge for longer than others, and whether you observe the rules of the USDA (which advises that most foods be trashed after three to four days of refrigeration) or live by the sniff-and-taste model, it’s good to be aware of when the final day is near—and nearly a week out, the end is darn well nigh for this year’s Thanksgiving leftovers. If you hate tossing leftover meats but you’ve run out of time and appetite, break out the zip top bags and reusable food storage containers and turn to the freezer. As you of course know, meats like turkey, roast ham, or prime rib all freeze well when raw, but they’re also perfectly fine for freezing after they’ve been cooked. But when you’re ready to freeze them, keep future you in mind, and make it easy for yourself to thaw the meat later. If you have a large, solid hunk of meat, break it down into serving sizes, or small slices. This ensures quick freezing, and quick thawing on t...

Photo : Zephyr_p ( Shutterstock ) You probably don’t look forward to cleaning the dripped mashed potatoes, gravy, and soup from your poor fridge. But there’s a way to make that clean-up a lot simpler, and all you need is cling wrap. Keep your refrigerator clean with cling wrap Take everything out of your refrigerator and clean it the way you normally would. ( Here are our favorite fridge-cleaning hacks of all time.) Then get out your cling wrap. Ideally, you’ll want the big, restaurant-grade stuff, but the little rolls will work, too. Lay your cling wrap across all the shelving, tucking it around the edges of each rack, then put your food back in the fridge. When it’s time to clean again, repeat the process of pulling your food out, then remove all the cling wrap and replace it. It’s that easy. Make sure to really tuck the ends down around the edges of your shelving, wrapping them all the way around. If drips get under the cling wrap, they’ll harden and make it all harder to remo...

Photo : Daniel Krason ( Shutterstock ) A malfunctioning ice maker can really put a hitch in your holiday cocktail plans. Discovering the ice maker is no longer, well, making ice might make you want to call in a professional , but there are some things to check yourself for before taking that step. Here are the most common reasons your ice maker is malfunctio ning , and some things you can try to fix before calling in a pro. How to fix an o bstructed water line The most common cause of a problem with your ice maker is that there’s an obstruction of some kind in the water line. If the filter needs to be cleaned, or if the valve is closed, that will cause the ice maker to stop making ice. These obstructions can be fixed by taking out the filter, located along the water line that goes to the ice tray/water spout in the refrigerator, and cleaning it by rinsing it out in the sink. When you check the filter, you should also make sure that the valve that goes to the waterline on th...

Photo : Claire Lower I don’t know how or where you were raised, but I was raised by Southern people, both in Mississippi and Los Angeles. My people are iced tea drinkers, which makes having a steady supply of frozen water very important, especially when it’s hot out, which was almost always. A key component of this lifestyle is having some sort of receptacle to store your ice so you can build a surplus. Taking it directly from the tray means you have to finish that batch of ice before you can make more ice, and that isn’t acceptable. Almost every freezer I encountered growing up had some sort of ice bin inside of it, and it was perfect accept for one little flaw: The ice sometimes absorbed the fridge and freezer smells, tainting an otherwise lovely beverage. And while an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of fresh ice, and there are several fancy, sealable ice bins you can purchase to block wafting aromas, the most elegant solution is to use a freezer bag. Freezer bags are desi...