This year, the big question for Thanksgiving is not about how to make the gravy, keep the turkey moist or whether to serve yams or mashed potatoes with dinner, but whether dinner is going to be cooked at all. According to some food researchers, "Everyone wants to know: How do I get out of this and still make it seem homemade?" Their solution is to order the whole dinner in.

Is it really so difficult to cook something yourself, especially considering there are so many resources to help? I know that there are at least a couple of people in my own family (who shall remain nameless) who really prefer to buy the dinner, not make it, if anyone will be heading to their house. Do you prefer to do Thanksgiving it this way, or do you stick with tradition?

We have seen a couple of containers that allow you to take your salads to go in the past couple of weeks, but the on-the-go technology hasn't been extended to too many other types of food. Cereal, for example, is not typically thought of as a food you can take to go, but these Cereal-on-the-Go containers aim to change all that. The cups have two parts: a lidded compartment for the cereal and an insulated base for milk. The sides of the base are filled with a freezable gel which, after being frozen, holds cold for hours, keeping milk refrigerator fresh until you have a chance to eat your breakfast. The milk itself is never frozen. The container also has a built-in spoon, so you will not have to worry about finding one before digging in. The bowl holds up to 12-ounces of cereal and almost 5.7-oz milk.

When the school year starts up again, parents lose a measure of control over what their kids may be eating - hence all the controversy about sodas and vending machines in schools. One way to help keep kids away from those soda machines is by giving them something that tastes as good, or better, than soda, but is at least a little less sugary. Single-serving flavor packets offer a potential solution. These individual drink mixers include products like Lipton Green Tea to Go, Crystal Light On the Go and Kool-Aid Singles, all of which contain 0-30 calories and can be mixed in with a bottle of water - a far better vending machine choice than a regular soda.

The Houston Chronicle did a review of a few brands and found that Country Time On The Go Lemonade, Lipton Green Tea To Go and Celestial Seasonings Zingers To Go were all worth buying, with good flavors and minimal artificial aftertaste, which they found unappealing in some brands.

These aren't just for kids, of course, and are a good way to drink an extra serving or two of water each day, though you might want to hold off on the Kool-Aid flavor once you're over the age of 10.

I am disturbed that the slogan for The Fizz Cup is "Buy it. Try it. Die for it."

The cup makes root beer floats and no matter how good a root beer float is, it is hardly worth dying for.

The Fizz Cup screws onto the top of soda bottles and, using a straw that extends from the bottom of the bottle, though the cup and into your mouth, you can suck the soda up and create an instant root beer float. The advantage of using the cup is that it is highly portable, unlike a traditional homemade float in an open cup. Another selling point, according to the company, "It lets you have fun watching the soda and ice cream mix inside the dome lid, just like a volcano. Experience the science of fizz making with this special treat!"

Is a soda volcano worth dying for? No, and a mentos fountain is probably more exciting. Worth $10 + $6 S&H for a pack of 6? Maybe if you really need to take your floats to go.

In January, the city of Oakland, California, just across the bay from San Francisco, instituted a tax on businesses that they believed created the most litter in the city. The city council felt that businesses needed to be more socially responsible for their customer's actions, while business owners opposed the measure, saying that packaging is necessary to sell goods - particularly food items - in a safe and sanitary manner.

Now, city businesses have to change the way they package their food, in addition to paying for it, because the city has just banned styrofoam food packaging.

Due to take effect in January, the measure says that all food packaging must be biodegradable when composted with food waste. Supporters of the law point out that 15 percent of the litter collected in storm drains is styrofoam/polystyrene packaging. They gained additional support from the fact that there are 100 other cities, including Portland and neighboring Berkeley, which have similar bans, and San Francisco is expected to join that list later this year.

The city will use fines ranging from $100-$500 to enforce the measure and businesses that still use styrofoam will have have to find another way to keep their food warm.

I far prefer to stop at a Starbucks than a fast food restaurant when I am on a long drive because, most of the time, I will pack my own snacks are simply want to get a drink. I'd rather have the extra caffeine of a coffee versus a soda and prefer the far-better taste of freshly prepared coffee than the "coffee" that comes out of a dispenser at the gas station convenience store. Starbucks also generally tend to have well-maintained bathrooms, which I appreciate.  But unless I really need to stretch my legs, I will find myself pulling up to the drive-thru window at many highway-side Starbucks. Driving thru takes about the same amount of time as going inside the store, with the added benefit that you do not have to get up. This is especially useful when it is cold outside and you don't want to put on several layers to walk a few hundred feet to the door.