Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety Tips & Tricks

Thanksgiving is the time to give thanks and be grateful for the family and friends that you have in your life. Everyone has their own traditions, from watching football to cooking a famous family recipe that has been passed on for generations. This is the time to spend time with your loved ones, and/or even give back to the community through food drives or volunteering at shelters. Either way, this is a time for togetherness, and it is important you keep your family safe from food-borne illnesses.

There are quite a bit of mistakes that people may make, without even knowing, when preparing Thanksgiving dinner. One example of this would be that many people decide to wash their turkey's once it has completely thawed out. This is actually a bad idea because the bacteria from the turkey is more easily spread this way. There is no need to wash the turkey because all bacteria will be killed while the turkey is cooking at the proper temperature and for the proper amount of time.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Thanksgiving day is the peak time of the year for home-cooking fires. Christmas Day, Christmas Eve and the night before Thanksgiving are all in second, third and fourth place. NFPA also shows that the main cause of these fires were mostly due to unattended cooking in the home. Also, the misuse of turkey fryers were also to blame; these can be especially dangerous because grease fires are much harder to put out. Below are a few tips to follow when cooking during the holiday.

General Cooking Safety Tips:

When cooking on stove-top, don't leave the kitchen
Stay in the home when cooking the turkey
Make sure young children stay away from hot surfaces and sharp objects

Properly Cooking a Turkey:

For every 5 lbs of turkey, defrost in fridge for 24 hrs. (ex. 10lbs = 2 days)
Temperature must be 165 degrees in three major parts of the turkey
innermost thigh
innermost wing
thickest part of breast

Black Friday Safety

Whether it be online shopping or actually going out and hitting the pavement this Black Friday, it is important to be safe and protect yourself from theft of all kinds. So here, we are going to speak about the dangers of online shopping and in-store shopping. We are going to give you the needed tips and tools to keep you safe from cyber threats, and real-life threats.

Keeping Yourself Safe Online:

First things first, when shopping online only go to trusted sites. If you have noticed that in the browser window, there is a picture of a lock, this usually means that the website you are on is safe to use and they have systems in place to keep the shopper safe. Additionally, if you happen to use Google Chrome as your primary browser, they will let you know if the site you are on is considered safe or not. Sometimes, if you are trying to buy a product, Chrome will stop you and say that the website is not properly protected, or that it may be a scam created by a third-party site. It is really important to pay attention to these warning signs.

Another great rule to follow is to never shop on a public WiFi network. This allows people easier access to your information, and can make it easier for your identity to be stolen. It is much safer to do all of your online shopping at home while on a secure network. From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, hackers will be very alert due to the high volume of online holidayshoppers. If you insist on online shopping in a public setting, make sureto (1) use your cell phone that way there is no need to connect to an unsecure WiFi channels, (2) if it is possible, use either ApplePay, AndroidPay or GooglePay. These systems are usually much safer to use than actual credit cards.

Keeping Yourself Safe In Store:

If you plan on shopping in the stores during Black Friday, there are a lot of precautions you must follow. If any of you have heard, two older women were actually robbed at Grove City Premium Outlets just a couple of weeks ago. So it is very important for people to be on high alert during this time of the year. So here are some tips to try and stay safe while shopping at stores.

When you are shopping in stores, to be safe, it is better to pay only with credit cards, or the payment system on your phone, instead of using cash. Carrying around a lot of cash is always a gamble, no matter the time of year. But in this particular case, thefts and assaults happen at higher rates. Also, if you do go the credit card route, stick to using just one. This will help to decrease the rate of cyber theft through the credit card readers.

Additionally, when shopping in-store on Black Friday, if you are shopping alone, try to park in well lit areas close to the store. Also, when storing purchases in your vehicle, make sure it is out of view from windows, especially the high-ticket items. Car break-ins are up 20% during this time of year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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