It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Stores will be closed tomorrow. Hopefully, you’ve already bought a turkey if you plan to have turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

If you bought a frozen turkey, here’s the quickest safe way to thaw it. Plan on 30 minutes thawing time per pound – about 6 hours total thawing time for a 12 pound turkey, 7 1/2 hours for a 15 pound turkey.

First, keep the frozen turkey in its original packaging and put the frozen turkey in a big bowl. (The bowl you see here is smaller than ideal, but that’s all I had at the time.)

Fill the bowl with cool tap water.

Change the water and turn the turkey over every half hour to hour or so until the appropriate thawing time has passed at 30 minutes per pound (ex., about 6 hours for a 12 pound turkey or 7 1/2 hours for a 15 pound turkey).

Click any picture on this page for more step-by-step picture book Thanksgiving help, including the quickest and easiest way roast a turkey.