Your guide to a local Thanksgiving
11/5/2020
With many of us staying local this Thanksgiving, why not keep your menu local too? By sourcing your ingredients locally, you can support dozens of local, sustainable growers, reduce your carbon footprint, avoid potentially dangerous grocery crowds, and intensify the flavors (and nutrients!) in your holiday dishes.
Three weeks away from the big day, you can stock up on all your Thanksgiving needs at our outdoor farmers markets on November 7, 14, and 21 or with GCM Delivered, offering home delivery and curbside pick-up on November 11, 18 and 24.
Without further ado, here's our guide to a very local Thanksgiving:
The apps:
- Tap into the artist within and arrange a lovely cheese and charcuterie board with cheese from J2K CAPRAIO and Brunkow Cheese, charcuterie from Underground Meats, a drizzle of honey from Chicago Honey Co-op, Ellis Family Farms, Jacobson Family Farms, Mint Creek Farm, and Hillside Orchards, and jams from Bushel & Peck's.
The main dish:
- Pre-order a local, humanely-raised turkey:
- Finn's Ranch is running their turkey pre-orders right in WhatsGood so you can add it to your card along with the rest of your GCM Delivered order.
- Head to directly to Avrom Farm, Alden Hills Organic Farms, Mint Creek Farm, and Jakes Country Meats's websites for pre-ordering info.
- Or, keep it vegetarian with tofu from Phoenix Bean Tofu and mushrooms from River Valley Ranch!
The sides:
- For potatoes mashed, roasted, or baked, alllll the varieties of squash — honeynut, butternut, acorn, kabocha, butternut, delicata — get 'em from Nichols Farm & Orchard.
- Aromatics like onions and garlic are the building blocks of so many fave Thanksgiving sides. Stock up with Nichols Farm & Orchard and Bushel & Peck's. (Frizzled onions are also key for a classic green bean casserole.)
- You might want something green alongside all your cheeses, meats, dinner rolls, and casseroles — get spinach or kale for sautéeing and lettuces, arugula, and microgreens for a side salad from Jacobson Family Farms, American Pride Microfarm, and Earth and Skye Farm.
The tablescape:
- Get inspired by locally-grown, cut florals and arrangements from Petals Farm (catch them at GCM Lincoln Park on Saturday, November 21!)
- Smits Farms is making the decor simple with mini pumpkins and succulent decorations to adorn the stems.
The dessert:
- Channel all the hours you spent staying home this year watching the Great British Bake Off into a baking masterpiece:
- For pie pumpkins, go to Jacobson Family Farms.
- For baking apples, Hillside Orchards, Seedling Farms, Ellis Family Farms, Mick Klug Farm, and Nichols Farm & Orchard have you covered.
- Get locally-grown and milled flour from Verzenay Patisserie on GCM Delivered.
- 2020 is hard. Get some help with a pre-made, locally-baked and sourced pie, cake, or box of pastries from Verzenay Patisserie, pHlour Bakery, Bennison's Bakery, or Cookies & Carnitas.
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