It’s Thanksgiving Day. The turkey is steaming in the oven, football is muted on the television and there are hungry mouths sitting around the table waiting to be fed. That’s when it hits you. You forgot something.

What is it? According to Corner Market store director Marcus Tucker, it’s probably something you don’t really associate with the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving is a time for family and feasting, so it’s understandable that the chefs of the household sometimes overlook key ingredients in their meals.  People most often associate things like rolls, vegetables or butter as things holiday cooks often forget. But Tucker said it’s smaller, less mentioned items that have grandmothers rushing into the store Thursday morning.

“One thing that I do focus on myself is to make sure we have those small items that (people) tend to forget, like spices and seasonings,” Tucker said. “Those are the things that women come in here late, last minute, saying ‘Oh, I forgot my vanilla extract’ and all that stuff,” he said.

“Sage, nutmeg, vanilla extract, pie shells, seasoning blends, all those little things that people need,” he said. “Those are things I try to make sure I don’t run out of,” he said.

In Tucker’s experience, two of the most often passed over items in the pre-Thanksgiving Day rush are dessert enhancers and spices.

“One or two of the biggest things are chicken broth, season blends, pie shells, nutmeg, vanilla extract,” he said.

“The main two things are probably vanilla extract and season blends, those type of things. It’s important to have plenty of those items in stock on Thanksgiving so as not to upset the customers.”

If Tucker has learned one thing from running a store around the holidays, it’s as important a lesson as ever.

Never upset the cooks.

“My experiences in grocery stores taught me to make sure I don’t run out of things and don’t upset the women,” Tucker said, laughing. “They’ve got to have it. One thing we’ve got to make sure of is that we take care of our customers. I learned to make sure we take care of the older cooks. They’ve got to have all those little things.”