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Sage, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla extract etc., are all being left out. When Thanksgiving rolls around, the spices go up a bit in price and are definitely harder to find. In theory, with people that weigh 125 lbs eating small portions, you could easily spend under $50 for dinner. However, most people actually want leftovers and more variety in their dinners.
My family - average Thanksgiving:
Turkey - sometimes Cajun Fried
Beef Brisket
Stuffing - (for my wife and her family)
Dressing - (for me and my family)
Mac-N-Cheese with ham and jalapenos
Sweet Potato Casserole
Collard Greens
Asparagus
Deviled Eggs
Rolls
Cranberry Sauce
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Has no one EVER made fresh cranberry sauce? It’s so much better than slime-in-a can, just fresh cranberries & sugar, recipe on the package of cranberries. You’ll have more from one package of cranberries than from a can & it tastes good & actually hasn’t had the nutrients cooked out of it. All grocery stores sell fresh cranberries at a loss this time of year...buy extra bags & put in the freezer.
Stuffing...good grief, use old bread, that’s what I have always done, or if you like corn bread stuffing, you’ll likely have corn meal. If you ever cook, you have spices on hand, plus butter or margarine, flour, cornstarch, some form of milk, eggs...those all aid in meal prep for gravy, rolls, mashed potatoes, pie crust.
Also, as I & many said before, most “traditional” Thanksgiving food items are on sale at all supermarkets...they want your business.
If people don’t know how to make gravy, message me...my mother never cooked, l learned through trial & error & one very old cookbook, pre-internet era. I’m not a pro, but I do all right.
When did having 150 different dishes/styles of food start to represent Thanksgiving? I guess I missed the memo.
One more thing...off topic, so I hope I don’t get checked on this...does anyone know about nmnita? She hasn’t posted for a few days & I always enjoy her...she posts in the food forum a lot...hope she is just on a trip.
She did post that they were going on a trip on the What's For Dinner thread. She was cleaning out her fridge last week.
Has no one EVER made fresh cranberry sauce? It’s so much better than slime-in-a can, just fresh cranberries & sugar, recipe on the package of cranberries. You’ll have more from one package of cranberries than from a can & it tastes good & actually hasn’t had the nutrients cooked out of it. All grocery stores sell fresh cranberries at a loss this time of year...buy extra bags & put in the freezer.
Stuffing...good grief, use old bread, that’s what I have always done, or if you like corn bread stuffing, you’ll likely have corn meal. If you ever cook, you have spices on hand, plus butter or margarine, flour, cornstarch, some form of milk, eggs...those all aid in meal prep for gravy, rolls, mashed potatoes, pie crust.
Also, as I & many said before, most “traditional” Thanksgiving food items are on sale at all supermarkets...they want your business.
If people don’t know how to make gravy, message me...my mother never cooked, l learned through trial & error & one very old cookbook, pre-internet era. I’m not a pro, but I do all right.
When did having 150 different dishes/styles of food start to represent Thanksgiving? I guess I missed the memo.
One more thing...off topic, so I hope I don’t get checked on this...does anyone know about nmnita? She hasn’t posted for a few days & I always enjoy her...she posts in the food forum a lot...hope she is just on a trip.
Yes, I make cranberry sauce with orange juice & zest in it...the day before & refrigerate. I buy several bags and freeze. A handful in a pitcher of lemonade is really good any time year.
We have oyster stuffing with our turkey. I buy a bag of dried assorted breads in cubes from bakery for the bread part. I make stuffing, not in the bird, but in an electric roaster with turkey juices & chicken stock. Once done I slide it onto one side & put the made from scratch sour cream mashed potatoes on the other to stay warm.
The turkey I stuff with cut lemons & an orange & fresh sage leaves.
Last edited by historyfan; 11-18-2017 at 08:23 PM..
Reason: addition
Turkey- 14 lbs @ $1.00 (sale)= $14.00 (hoping for .80/lb or free generic if I spend $ at store
Veggies - $5.00
Dessert stuff - $5.00
Cranberry sauce - $2.00 (on sale)
Misc. - $5.00
$14+$5+$5+$2+$5 = $31
BUT I also make turkey soup, so have cost of chicken stock & such, but that's for future meals.
Maybe it’s the phrase “average costâ€... Oh, okay ... sure it is. Maybe for 10 “average†picky 3 year olds?
FYI: 3lbs of sweet potatoes = about 5 average sized potatoes. So your party of 10 should pair up: 1 person gets to cut the potato in half & the other person gets first pick!
A 1 lb bag of peas = 4 servings ( per RDA) = 4oz per serving. Since you will be feeding 10? You may serve each person about 1 & a half tablespoons of peas. Maybe it would be better to count the actual peas so everybody gets a fair share?
A 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, per RDA, serves 6.
A 14 oz bag stuffing will serve 9 per RDA! I’d suggest a smallish serving spoon ...
A few weeks ago a store sold Butter at $2.99/lb & they were out of stock before dinner time. I go through almost 3 lbs per week. I never just “have it hereâ€... It’s more like “WTH! Where’s the butter I just bought?â€
Same with milk. Nobody in my house is obese. I have a 14 year old son who could eat that entire menu in less than 2 sittings; am I the only person in the world feeding teenagers?
Maybe you could tweak your guest list: 2 picky 6 year olds, 2 breastfeeding infants, 2 vegan adults, 2 gluten free adults & 2 people on a zero carb diet?
Dunno, to me this "average" makes as much sense as an average body temperature in a hospital. There is no "average Thanksgiving dinner". It's just a bunch of nonsense numbers.
Happy Thanksgiving, folks, enjoy your time with the family and get off Internet for cripes sake.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coschristi
Maybe you could tweak your guest list: 2 picky 6 year olds, 2 breastfeeding infants, 2 vegan adults, 2 gluten free adults & 2 people on a zero carb diet?
...and a partridge in a pear tree (slice the pear in tenths? )
Dunno, to me this "average" makes as much sense as an average body temperature in a hospital. There is no "average Thanksgiving dinner". It's just a bunch of nonsense numbers.
Happy Thanksgiving, folks, enjoy your time with the family and get off Internet for cripes sake.
Oh, I know it! I just would hate for the OH to see this thread; he'd be like "See! I told you that you always overspend!"
The planet where every eats solely canned foods, apparently.
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