12 easy ways to make a store-bought pie look and taste homemade, according to bakers and chefs

Tech Insider : Business
pumpkin pie lede image
There are a few ways you can trick people into thinking your store-bought pie is homemade.

Rachel Askinasi

Our 'anything goes' Thanksgiving potluck keeps it low-stress. Last year, we had tacos, and this year, someone's bringing chicken wings.

Tech Insider : Business, Style, Travel
The author poses with her family for Thanksgiving 2024.
The author has opted for a low-key, nontraditional thanksgiving celebration.

Courtesy of Rachel Garlinghouse

Target is betting that nostalgia, cocoa, and a little AI can turn around a rough year

Tech Insider : Business
Jordan Hart
The first stop on my whimsical tour was a life-sized Alpine gondola.

Clark Hodgin for BI

I made 6 of Ina Garten's potato recipes for the holidays. There's one dish I can't live without.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
ina garten
TODAY -- Pictured: Ina Garten on Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

I'm a culinary judge who shops at Costco for the holidays. Here are 10 things I buy every year.

Tech Insider : Business
On the left, blue, white, and red boxes of bags of ocean spray cranberries at costco. On the right, clear and gold containers of praline pecans stocked at Costco.
I pick up cranberries and praline pecans from Costco around November and December to prepare for the holiday season.

Meredith Ochs

My husband and I spent Thanksgiving on a cruise ship with friends for about $1,300 a person. We'd do it again for other holidays.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel, Business
carnival cruise ship lit up at night
We sailed on a Carnival Cruise over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Katrina Wilson

My family paid $180 to have Costco handle Thanksgiving dinner. The prep was easy, and every dish tasted homemade.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
Sliced turkey, a plate of rolls, a bowl of gravy, and other Thanksgiving foods on a table set for a Thanksgiving dinner
The Thanksgiving meal we ordered from Costco was filling and delicious.

Terri Peters

This year is shaping up to be the worst seasonal job market since 2009. Here are the major retailers hiring — and pulling back.

Tech Insider : Economy, Business
Bill Laughlin, owner of the Christmas Etc. store, works on a Santa Claus figure on the sales floor in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Retail jobs typically represent about two-thirds of seasonal hiring each year, according to jobs site Indeed.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

It feels like I'm constantly spending money on my kids between September and December. I'm budgeting differently this year.

Tech Insider : Business, Sports
a woman holding a receipt and her phone with more transactions
The author spends a lot on her teen at the end of the year.

Fly View Productions/Getty Images

How Gen Z turned awkward holiday photos into viral gold for JCPenney Portrait Studios

Tech Insider : Business, Economy
Jenny Powers, her husband and daughter pose for an awkward holiday photo in blue Hanukah themed sweaters looking into a light source off to the left/
The awkward holiday photo trend made up 30% of holiday photos at JCPenney Portrait Studios in 2024.

Courtesy of Jenny Powers/JCPenney Portrait Studios by Lifetouch

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