I can't understand canned cranberry sauce. Making it from scratch is actually incredibly easy, inexpensive and tastes sooo much better.

I make everything from scratch, except some years I buy a tofurkey instead of making my own.

There's also no law that says you have to eat a traditional Thanksgiving feast. By the time I was in my 20s I was sick to death of the heavy foods that made me exhausted for the rest of the day when I was supposed to be hanging out with my loved ones. Some years we have eggplant, greens from our container garden, all sorts of native berries (huckleberry was mentioned once) and we might try a smaller bird like quail next year. Extra points for foraging / hunting the bird yourself. I was a vegetarian for 20 years so hard to get used to, but that's the reality behind meat. It's more satisfying to earn that food.

I think part of why people revert to canned foods, bagged stuffing may have a lot to do with what they grew up with, and their level of cooking experience and how much time they want to spend prepping (or assume it will take longer than it actually may) etc.

That said, when time is of the essence, we sometimes have to do what we have to do to get things on the table in a timely manner, and it may mean short cuts from time to time.

Though I would prefer things being made from scratch, if you can get all the stuff, and have the time to do it all from scratch, but there is no denying that some stuff in boxes, cans, bags can be a lifesaver at times.

There is also no law that says traditional Thanksgivings are awful. That is the problem with this country, we have forgotten that tradition is one thing that brings us together. But then many people are ready to make others work on holidays so they can buy that giant tv when they can just as easily buy it on Friday. That said, we celebrated our Thanksgiving on Sunday because that is when all the family and friends could be with us. And yes, we did have a traditional feast.

To each their own. Some people feel more at home and warm and cozy inside using the canned stuff. It's dependant on your tradition. I know we make both a fresh cran sauce and get the canned jelly and the jelly is the first to go :) The holidays are about feeling warm inside and indulging a little, even if that means eating (gasp) canned cranberry and gravy.

I prefer the canned over fresh. And I've had several "this will convert you in a second!" organiclocalmadebyhipsterelves varieties. It's the only time of year I eat it, I love it, and it's nostalgic. And if anyone wants to bug me for that, they can just kick a can (hehehe).

And some people just like canned better. What's the issue? If you want to make your own, that's great, but it doesn't make your meal superior. (And no, I don't use canned, I do make my own, so I'm not being defensive.)

I agree that there's nothing inherently wrong with canned. I didn't hone my cooking skills until I was in my late 20s. So no one's judging. I'm more annoyed with people who are rah rah America and expect every family to follow the same traditions as everyone else. Like sheep.

I'm splitting the difference this year - pre-bought, unseasoned bread cubes, but I'll use them to make my mom's homemade dressing recipe. Also - I made homemade cream of mushroom soup to pour on my green been casserole (but bought fried onions cause those are just a pain to create from scratch!) I think if you're not already semi-comfortable in the kitchen that a major holiday when you're possibly feeding a crowd is NOT the time to experiment. *shrug*

We haven't eaten canned cranberry sauce since I was a kid. My mom usually own bought pie crusts and the stuffing. Since I've taken over now we make EVERYTHING from scratch (except the bread for the stuffing) and I am very happy/proud to say I bought almost all my fruits and vegetables from the farmer's market this year. The only thing I didn't get there were leeks and lemons.

I'm with @Taylord on this one -- canned cranberry sauce is a nostalgic once-a-year treat for me and I will not be shamed into preferring it. Fresh, homemade sauce is great and I'll eat it happily, but seeing that ridiculous can-shaped jelly cylinder on the table just always makes me smile (as does having one less pot to clean).

This post actually surprises me! In my family we're more likely to utilize convenience items during the year when we're busy and make everything from scratch over the holidays. I guess it never occured to me that other people would be the opposite!

I think part of the stuffing and cranberry debate depends on whether anyone in your family actually likes that stuff. I love cranberry sauce and have no problem eating the canned kind, but the recipe that my mom uses is SUPER easy and SUPER delicious! It's so good that it's the one thing that I specifically request every year! I'm not a stuffing fan, though, so I don't think I'd even notice if she switched to a pre-packaged kind.

I also think it just depends on what you grew up with. I agree with what ccp mbd said about traditions being important, but I think it's also important to remember that every family has their own traditions. I just found out that one of my friends, whose family is Mexican, always has tamales for Christmas dinner but didn't realize until a couple of years ago that not every family ate tamales for Christmas dinner!

Thank you @elizeh. I had some more to say on this (turns out I'm very passionate about my cranberry jelly, who knew?!). I pride myself in being a pretty decent cook, I shop at the farmers market, do my best to buy organic, local ingredients, eat sustainably, etc... But Thanksgiving for many (myself included) need not be a time to necessarily try to "re-vamp" Thanksgiving dinner. I come from the South, and am very grateful and lucky to still have my parents and grandparents alive. If I brought them over some of the curried spice squash and pumpkin muffins I made last week in place of the pumpkin pie, there would be a mutiny. While I am definitely for taking risks and trying new things with our beloved Thanksgiving linner/dunch, in moderation it can be lovely (such as a new roasted vegetable side, etc.). Thanksgiving is and always will be less about the food (which many are not lucky enough to even have) and so much more about the family. It has nothing to do with your level of culinary skill, your family, money or anything else. Plop me a ribbed log of cranberry jelly on a place, cut into circles and I go back to a very, very happy place. Moreover, I belive one should not be deluded into believing that doing everything from scratch (including roasting and blending the perfect pumpkin pie spice blend) will a better Thanksgiving make. Tradition outwins taste any day of my week.

That felt good. That being said, homemade cranberry chutney/sauce will never not have a place in my belly or on my toast, except for that special Thursday in November :).

When I was a kid, I felt like other families had freshly and carefully prepared food that didn't come from a restaurant or heated from a can, and I didn't, so when I grew up and got my own kitchen, I started making everything from scratch. Now homemade and from scratch are the new family traditions and no one can even imagine canned gravy. The only things that aren't from scratch are the pumpkin pie, because I use Libby's canned puree, and the fried onions for the green bean casserole.

My family would revolt if the dressing made from a million cans of Campbell's condensed soup wasn't on the table. There are some convenience food-based recipes I have phased out of our family's holidays, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and do what pleases your guests.

Haha, I love the comments that are like "there is nothing wrong with canned, some people just can't/aren't comfortable/don't have time to make the real stuff!" Dumbest statement ever. I make great cranberry sauce, it isn't hard, I have time to do it if I decide to. But canned is more delicious, to me and everyone in my family that I've talked to, so making additional handcrafted cranberry sauce that no one wants and no one will eat is just a total waste of time in my household.

If someone else brings some that they made themselves, sometimes I will put it on my roll as a jam, but on its own merits I will take canned jelly over handmade every time. And given how much of the "real" stuff has been leftover each year it's been there, and how swiftly the canned stuff runs out, I just stick with what works.

Canned, jellied cranberry sauce is one of the few things I prefer over fresh. I've yet to eat a fresh cranberry sauce recipe I liked. And if it makes my mouth happy, that's all that matters.

I usually always prefer fresh foods BUT this is definitely a thing of nostalgia for me and my kids like it so eh. You also gotta love that funny slurp of it coming out of the can and the can lines hahaha.

Since I started making the turkey, I make fresh cranberry sauce but also provide the canned version. Both get equal play. Growing up, we never had cranberry sauce or stuffing and ate at dinner time, but my mom made Chinese fried rice. I guess every family honors their own traditions, whether they start their own or carry them down from past generations. Looking forward to a great meal!

My mom always made fresh cranberries, so that is what I prefer, but she always used to buy stuffing. Pepperidge Farm used to make a stovetop style stuffing and that is what we had. They don't seem to make that exact formulation anymore and I miss it. I've made several recipes, from Stovetop brand to ones that used bread I made myself but nothing tastes quite right to me, so I don't really eat stuffing any more.

Thanksgiving, out of any meal of the year, should be given over to tradition and what tastes 'right'. Even if it comes out of a can with lines still pressed on it.

One of my blog projects involves using the foods you can find in a food desert - in a drugstore or dollar store. I think one side-effect of demonizing preserved (especially canned) foods is that people who don't have other options pass by perfectly healthy food every day. There is a reason that food pantries ask for canned goods: they are a great way to get your five-a-day without worrying about the need for a refrigerator or even, sometimes, a stove.

I do make most of my Thanksgiving from scratch, but I know that doing so is a privilege much of America doesn't share. With a few tricks, you can choose preserved foods and make dishes with canned just as healthy as the fresh ones; for instance, rinse canned vegetables and drain them to remove the salt (or, if your food desert offers no salt added cans, buy those.)

I do think that convenience foods are very often much easier to make from scratch than people think, and that you can do better than most high-fat or high-sodium prepared mixes, but I'd be careful about tossing out the baby with the bathwater.

In response to Emmi's comment, "it's more satisfying to earn that food" - It is neurologically, really, more satisfying to work harder for your food!

Why Making Dinner is a Good Idea

I come from a HUGE family. The things on our table come from cans and boxes for convenience and cost. One year I decided to make some delicious Indian-spiced stuff sweet potatoes because I hate the canned, over-cooked syrupy-sweet marshmallow-topped ones my family always eats. Only one other person tried them. I was practically excommunicated! I learned the hard way that no one wants to try new things at Thanksgiving. I'm not even allowed to make homemade yeast rolls!