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Shoppers can get the holiday meal delivered right to their homes

• Amazon is offering a complete Thanksgiving meal for $25, including an eight-pound turkey and ingredients for traditional holiday sides and dessert.

• Shoppers can also find frozen turkeys for $0.79 per pound and fresh turkeys for $0.99 per pound during November promotions.

• The meal deal is available through Nov. 26 while supplies last, with same-day grocery delivery available in more than 2,300 U.S. cities and towns.

Putting together Thanksgiving dinner can mean a lot of grocery shopping, meal planning, and money spent before guests even arrive. But Amazon is hoping to make things a little easier on shoppers' wallets this holiday season.

The retailer has introduced a $25 Thanksgiving meal through Amazon Grocery that includes a turkey and ingredients for several traditional holiday dishes. The offer also comes with additional discounts on turkeys, side dishes, and other Thanksgiving essentials throughout November.

For shoppers looking to keep holiday spending under control without skipping the traditional Thanksgiving spread, the deal offers another option for stocking up before the big day.

Customers love the convenience of getting everything they need for the holidays delivered so they can come together with family and friends. Amazon makes it even easier for customers to put a delicious meal on the table, Jason Buechel, Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores and Chief Executive Officer at Whole Foods Market, said in a news release.

With Amazon, customers can get everything they need at everyday low pricesfrom the turkey to the sides to the serving essentialsall in one cart, delivered to their door within hours.

What's included in Amazon's $25 Thanksgiving meal?

The $25 package includes an eight-pound frozen Butterball turkey, along with ingredients to prepare several familiar holiday favorites.

Shoppers will receive Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, turkey gravy mix, Kraft macaroni and cheese, Stove Top stuffing, and the ingredients for green bean casserole. The package also includes five pounds of russet potatoes, corn, carrots, crescent rolls, pie crusts, and pumpkin puree.

Amazon says the meal is available now through Nov. 26, while supplies last.

Customers in more than 2,300 cities and towns where Amazon offers fresh grocery delivery can have their purchases delivered the same day, within hours. Free same-day delivery is available on qualifying orders of $25 or more.

There are also other holiday promotions to consider:

• Frozen turkeys are priced at $0.79 per pound from Nov. 1 through Nov. 26

• Fresh turkeys are available for $0.99 per pound from Nov. 14 through Nov. 26

• Thanksgiving grocery staples are priced under $4 from Nov. 1 through Nov. 26

• Shoppers can get 40% off charcuterie and party snacks from Nov. 2 through Nov. 14, and 40% off premade sides from Nov. 15 through Nov. 26

What this means for Thanksgiving shoppers

Amazon's $25 meal could give budget-conscious shoppers another way to approach Thanksgiving grocery shopping, particularly if they're looking to save on the main meal and several traditional sides at once.

The delivery option may also be helpful for people who would rather avoid an extra trip to the grocery store. Shoppers can search for "$25 Thanksgiving Meal" in the Amazon app or on the desktop website to find the offer and browse additional holiday deals.

However, shoppers should keep in mind that the meal is available only while supplies last, and same-day grocery delivery isn't available everywhere.

It's also worth checking the package contents against your guest list and menu before purchasing, since the included turkey weighs eight pounds and the meal may not cover every dish or serving need.

Still, with turkey discounts and additional grocery promotions available throughout November, Amazon is giving shoppers several opportunities to plan ahead and potentially spend less on their Thanksgiving celebration.

A quick walkthrough can help families spot overlooked hazards, review emergency plans, and make sure essential safety equipment is ready when they need it

• A five-minute annual walkthrough can help families identify overlooked hazards, clear emergency exit routes, and make sure essential safety equipment is ready.

• Getting children involved in safety checks helps everyone understand emergency plans, know where to meet, and feel more prepared.

• Regular tasks like testing alarms, checking emergency kits, and inspecting heating equipment help keep your home safe year-round.

When it comes to keeping your family safe at home, it's easy to focus on everyday maintenance and forget about the bigger picture. But taking a few minutes once a year to walk through your home and review basic safety measures can help identify potential hazards before they become problems.

From checking that hallways and exits are clear to making sure emergency supplies are easy to find, a simple household safety review doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. Marcus Clarke, founder of The Prepared Household, says breaking emergency preparedness into a few manageable steps can make it easier for families to stay on top of.

His five-minute walkthrough focuses on five key areas every household should review, helping families feel more confident that they're prepared if an unexpected emergency occurs.

The five-minute walkthrough

Here are the five key areas that Clarke recommends all households should check:

• Clear key exit routes: Check hallways, stairs, and doorways for trip hazards or clutter that could obstruct a quick exit in the dark.

• Locate emergency supplies: Confirm that the household emergency kit and torches are in their designated place, fully stocked, and accessible to everyone.

• Confirm the outdoor meeting point: Remind all family members of the designated safe assembly spot outside the property and clarify responsibilities, such as who assists younger children or pets.

• Support monthly alarm testing: Local fire and rescue services strongly advise testing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms at least monthly. An annual review offers a regular moment to clean unit covers and ensure backup batteries are fresh.

• Inspect emergency equipment: Check the expiration dates and pressure gauges on fire extinguishers, and inspect fire blankets to ensure they are stored correctly and accessible.

Overlooked hazards

Clarke explained that the household hazards consumers regularly miss are almost never dramatic.

They are the ordinary things that have slowly become normal, he explained. Shoes, bags, and laundry baskets gathering at the bottom of the stairs or along the hallway. An extension lead that started with one plug in it and now has five, often tucked behind a sofa where it also gets warm. A key for the back door or the window lock that nobody can find in a hurry.

Going into winter, I would add portable heaters that have crept too close to curtains, bedding or furniture, chimneys and wood burners that have not been swept since last season, and electric blankets that are a few years old and have never been looked at for scorch marks or frayed wires.

Clarke noted that a walkthrough catches these because you are deliberately looking for them, rather than just passing through.

Once you walk your own home as if you were a visitor, the clutter on the landing or the heater against the armchair stands out immediately, he said.

Get children involved

For families with kids, getting them involved in these safety checks is of the utmost importance. It not only helps keep everyone in the family on the same page, but it also ensures that children are aware of safety measures in case of an emergency.

Children take their cue from the adults, Clarke said. If you present it as a calm, routine job the household does, they tend to treat it the same way. If you present it as preparing for disaster, they will absorb that instead.

His best advice: give children a job.

Younger children can be the torch testers or the alarm button pressers. Older ones can walk the exit route and report back on anything in the way, or check the dates on the first aid kit. Framing the exit check as a treasure hunt, where they have to find the quickest way out of each room, works well and teaches them the layout without any sense of threat, Clarke said.

Another tip: Keep the language practical rather than frightening. Saying something like, This is where we would all meet if we ever had to leave the house quickly is enough.

You do not need to describe the scenarios, Clarke recommended. And keep it short. Ten or fifteen minutes with a clear end point, ideally followed by something ordinary like dinner, keeps it in proportion. The goal is that if something does happen, the steps feel familiar rather than new.

Regular safety checks are essential

Beyond the annual household checks, Clarke suggests engaging in routine tasks to ensure safety day-to-day, as these are what keep things working in between. Here are some of his suggestions:

• Testing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Fire and rescue services advise at least monthly, and many now recommend weekly. It takes 30 seconds. If an alarm is more than ten years old, replace it regardless of whether it still beeps, because the sensor degrades.

• Have a Gas Safe registered engineer service the boiler once a year. This would ideally be before the heating season rather than in the middle of it. If you have an open fire or stove, get the chimney swept annually. Before you plug in any electric blanket or portable heater for the first time each autumn, look it over properly.

• Check the first aid kit and emergency kit twice a year. The clock changes in March and November are a convenient prompt, and the November one lands right as the risk season starts. Replace anything expired and recharge the power bank.

• Talk about the plan. The meeting point and who helps whom only works if everyone remembers it, and children in particular forget quickly. A two-minute conversation every few months is worth more than a detailed plan nobody can recall.

The thing Clarke wants people to take away from all of this?

Preparedness is not about fear and it is not about bunkers, he said. It is about removing the small frictions that turn a manageable problem into a bad night.

Most of what I have described costs nothing and takes minutes. The households that cope best with a power cut or a burst pipe are rarely the ones with the most equipment. They are the ones who have thought about it once, calmly, in advance. Your local fire and rescue service will publish specific guidance for your area and many offer free home safety visits, which are well worth taking up.

New research suggests outdoor activities may help people feel more connected, especially when they share the experience with others

• A new study found that nature-based activities helped reduce loneliness among older adults in six European, Latin American, and Australian cities.

• Both individual outdoor activities and organized group programs showed benefits, but group activities were particularly helpful for participants with lower emotional well-being.

• The improvements lasted for up to a year, suggesting that gardening, birdwatching, and other outdoor activities could offer a practical way to support social connections.

Spending time outdoors is often associated with relaxation and stress relief. But could activities like gardening, hiking, and birdwatching also help people feel less lonely?

A new study published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe suggests they could. Researchers found that connecting with nature through organized activities or independent outdoor experiences helped reduce feelings of loneliness among adults who participated in the study.

The research is part of the RECETAS project, an international effort examining how nature-based activities can support people's health and well-being. Researchers are particularly interested in the idea of social prescribing, which involves healthcare professionals recommending activities outside traditional medical treatment to help address certain health concerns.

Loneliness isn't necessarily about being physically alone. Someone can have plenty of people around them and still feel disconnected from others. Researchers wanted to see whether spending time in nature, particularly alongside other people, could help address that feeling.

There has been a lot of passion about nature-based prescriptions, but not a lot of evidence, researcher Jill Litt said in a news release. We now have randomized controlled trials showing this works and the impacts last.

How researchers conducted the study

The study included 320 adults experiencing loneliness who lived in 12 lower-income neighborhoods in Barcelona, Spain. Participants were randomly divided into two groups to compare different approaches to nature-based activities.

One group participated in a program called Friends in Nature. Participants met in groups of eight to 10 people for two hours once a week over nine weeks. With help from trained facilitators, they participated in activities such as gardening, birdwatching, and nature-inspired art projects. Activities were selected from a list developed with input from the local community.

The second group received information about free, accessible nature-based activities they could pursue independently, rather than attending organized group sessions.

Researchers measured participants' loneliness and quality of life at the beginning of the study and again after three, six, and 12 months. This allowed them to see whether any improvements lasted beyond the initial program.

What the results mean for consumers

Both approaches showed encouraging results. On average, participants experienced a 10.5% reduction in loneliness after three months. Improvements continued over time, reaching approximately 17% after one year.

However, the organized group program appeared to make a bigger difference for people who started the study with particularly high levels of loneliness and lower emotional well-being.

There was one important distinction: While participants reported feeling less lonely, researchers did not find significant improvements in overall health-related quality of life.

For consumers, the findings suggest that spending time outdoors could be one way to build connections and address feelings of loneliness. Joining a gardening club, attending a community nature program, or finding a birdwatching group could provide opportunities to meet people while enjoying time outside.

The researchers hope this type of program will eventually become more widely available through healthcare systems. For now, the study offers encouraging evidence that connecting with nature and other people may be a useful addition to existing approaches to addressing loneliness.

Being out in nature forms this kind of reservoir of calm that we can return to later in life during stressful times, researcher Louise Chawla, an environmental psychologist and professor emerita at CU Boulder, said in the release. Its not just restorative when you are in a place but also when you go back to it in memory.

We need to think in broader terms about how we can create group healing activities in places like parks and community gardens.

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