This Thanksgiving weekend is expected to be one of the busiest holiday travel periods on record, with the Transportation Security Administration expected to screen 18.3 million people.
Before you agree to bring your favorite dish to the Thanksgiving feast or start thinking about which leftovers you can't wait to bring back home, you need to know how to transport food if you are flying to spend the holiday with family or friends.
Most foods can be carried through a TSA checkpoint, but other items need to be transported in checked baggage. The TSA offered some "food for thought" when it comes to packing your bags.
"If it's a solid item, then 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 agency said in a statement.
Food items often require additional security screening, so it's best to place those items in an easily accessible location of your luggage so you can quickly remove them for screening at the checkpoint. Also, if you need to keep items cold during your trip, ice packs are allowed -- but they must be frozen solid and not melted when they go through security screening.
Here are examples of the most popular food items that are permissible through a checkpoint and which ones need to get packed in checked baggage.
Thanksgiving foods that 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 -- Cooked in a pan or traveling with the ingredients to cook it at your destination
• Fresh vegetables -- Potatoes, yams, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, radishes, carrots, squash, greens
• Fresh fruit -- Apples, pears, pineapple, lemons, limes, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, kiwi
• Candy
• Spices
Thanksgiving foods that should be packed with checked baggage
• Cranberry sauce -- Homemade or canned are spreadable, so check them.
• Gravy -- Homemade or in a jar/can.
• Wine, champagne, sparking apple cider.
• Canned fruit or vegetables -- It's got liquid in the can, so check them.
• Preserves, jams and jellies -- They're spreadable, so best to check them.
• Maple syrup