TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — By early evening on Thanksgiving you might be ready to sleep off your feast, but consider the last minute suspense that may have gone into filling forgotten parts of the menu.
To even survive to the first Thanksgiving you needed a mix of grit, determination and more than a little luck. The is the story of the modern determination to go out—and bring back the stuffing mix.
Konner Fay just happened to be wearing a shirt that said “Essentials” and he told us. “Well, my mom and sister told me to come here and get some unsalted butter and powdered milk, because she's making mac and cheese. I see your shirt fits the theme essentials. Yeah, I just threw this on. I basically just woke up, like an hour ago. They just told me to go here.”
At the Basha’s at Sunrise near Kolb, Konner Fay is not the only one who knows success or failure of Thanksgiving dinner depends on making sure it’s mission accomplished—whether it’s securing the fluffy sweetness of whipped cream or the terrific tartness of cranberry sauce.
Nancy Auslander said, “My mission today is to increase the amount of hors d'oeuvres we have for our 15 guests. So I had to buy some crescent roll dough and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Is this a pressure assignment? Oh, yeah. And I'm I'm just rolling with it. See? Rolls?” she laughed as she brandished a tube of dough for rolls.
Reporter Craig Smith asked Kevin Warner: “What are some of the last minute things they asked you to collect?
Warner: “Four cans of chicken stock, wherever that is! A quart of whole milk. Onion, celery, six pack of Diet Pepsi.”
After 23 years selling groceries, Basha’s manager Nick Rodriguez knows on days like Thanksgiving customers really count on him and his team.
Craig Smith asked: “Do you ever see a certain measure of desperation in their eyes for their shopping?”
Rodriguez: “Absolutely, absolutely, you can see them soon as they walk in the door.”
Craig: “The desperation?
Rick: “The desperation, and you're trying to help them solve that, and we
are trying to help them solve that, absolutely.“
And once that’s done, team members can go home to their own Thanksgiving dinner.
