As you make your way home after Thanksgiving festivities, make sure your leftovers are TSA-approved before heading to the airport.
Whether you want to bring some of your mom’s famous macaroni and cheese home or want enough leftovers to last you throughout next week, here’s what you need to know.
These Thanksgiving foods can be carried through a TSA checkpoint.
- Baked goods: Homemade or store-bought pies, cakes, cookies, brownies and other sweet treats.
- Meats: Turkey, chicken, ham, steak. Frozen, cooked or uncooked.
- Stuffing: Cooked, uncooked, in a box or in a bag.
- Casseroles: Traditional green beans and onion straws or something more exotic.
- Mac ‘n Cheese: It can be cooked in a pan or brought with the ingredients to be cooked at your destination.
- Fresh vegetables: Potatoes, yams, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, radishes, carrots, squash and greens.
- Fresh fruit: Apples, pears, pineapple, lemons, limes, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas and kiwi.
- Candy
- Spices
Thanksgiving foods that should be carefully packed with your checked baggage
- Cranberry sauce (homemade or in a jar or can)
- Gravy (homemade or in a jar or can)
- Wine
- Champagne
- Sparking apple cider.
- Canned fruit or vegetables
- Preserves, jams and jellies
“Here’s some food for thought: “If it’s a solid item, it can go through a checkpoint. However, if you can spill it, spread it, spray it, pump it, or pour it, and it’s larger than 3.4 ounces, then it should go in a checked bag,” the organization said in a statement.
More information about what TSA does and doesn’t allow can be found here.
