Cooking safely this Thanksgiving and during the holiday season

Thanksgiving is the day with more fires occurring, than any other day throughout the year. Cooking fires is one of many different fires that happen on Thanksgiving. The number one reason how cooking fires occur, is due to leaving the kitchen with no one attending the food.

Authorities from the United States Fire Administration have multiple safety tips and recommendations to preventing more than cooking fires. First and foremost, smother grease fires with a metal lid or baking soda. Never use water for a grease fire, and make sure to turn off the heat first. When simmering or baking food, set a timer to prevent burnt food or starting a fire.

However, if you need to leave the kitchen, turn off the burner until you can come back to continue cooking. If you start to see any smoke or grease boiling, the temperature is too high, and turn off the burner.

Another great safety tip to protect children is to keep them three feet away from food cooking. To help prevent pot and pans from being knocked over, move the handles toward the back of the stove.

There are plenty of other easy ways to help prevent cooking fires like moving flammable items away from the stove. Items that can easily catch on fire are oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packages and towels.

A great way to prevent cooking fires is removing distractions in the kitchen. Have guest spend time in another room or outside. Remember to have a fully functional fire extinguisher handy for emergencies.

Also whenever you are on medication that causes drowsiness, if you are drinking, or if you are tired, ask someone else for help in the kitchen. Cooking can be a great way to bring people together for the holidays, but being safe while cooking is even better.

For different recipes you can cook this Thanksgiving you can read about them here https://www.wdio.com/tag/the-lift-cookbook/.

If you want to learn more about how you can fire safety you can look here https://dps.mn.gov/blog/Pages/20221117-thanksgiving-fire-safety.aspx.