From a Box or Homemade? The Great Thanksgiving Taste Test

For years, my father-in-law's second wife served boxed stuffing at her holiday gatherings, spiced up with cut-up precooked turkey sausage. When I offered to make some homemade stuffing one year, she waved me off. “No one can the tell the difference, anyway.”

I could tell, but I went to culinary school. This made me wonder. Can others determine whether Thanksgiving sides were made from a box or homemade? How do real mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh green beans and cranberry sauce stack up to their instant-gratification cousins? What about a standard, frozen supermarket turkey versus a fresh, organic bird?

There's only one way to find out.

I made two dinners with classic holiday side dishes -- mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans and cranberry sauce. The catch: one featured all homemade sides and the organic turkey breast, and the other were made from a box, can or jar paired up with your standard inexpensive frozen bird breast.

I needed objective judges. Fortunately, there's a group of pros more than up for the task: the guys on Shift A at the Station 1 in Holmes Beach, Florida.

The next few pages break down each of the dinner components by hassle factor, price, time and specific flavor comments from the firefighters. You'll find links to most of the recipes, too.

Note: This post was originally published in November 2013. It was updated in October 2025. It may contain affiliate links. 

box or homemade