Did you wait too long to thaw that Thanksgiving turkey? The meal is only hours away. Are you doomed?

Gary Crawford and Meredith Carothers with the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline) 

The USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline number is 888-MPHOTLINE (888-674-6854). You can also go online to Ask.usda.gov.

Transcript

When it comes to cooking that Thanksgiving meal, my theme song always seems to be "I'm late, I'm late."

I have only hours before my guests arrive and that turkey isn't thawed yet.

So, I call the Ag Department's Meat and Poultry Hotline.

Meredith Carruthers, who's one of the experts on the hotline, they do get desperate calls like mine saying, "What can I do?

That turkey's still hard as a rock and I'm on a deadline here."

You can actually cook the turkey from the frozen state in the oven.

It's just going to take a little bit longer for that turkey to fully come to a safe internal temperature and be cooked and ready to eat.

About one and a half times longer to get that internal temperature up to the 165 degrees needed to kill any bacteria in there.

So, instead of an approximate cooking time for my totally thawed 12-pounder of about 20 minutes a pound or four hours, the frozen bird would take about roughly six hours.

Need more help with that dinner?

Call the Meat and Poultry Hotline, 1-888-MP-HOTLINE.

And thank you, Meredith.

You have saved Thanksgiving once again.

You're very welcome.

Have a great day.

YouTube Gary Crawford for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.