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Average indicates that they added up "all" the possible meal prices and divided that number by n = all.
Remember math class?
I actually think $50 sounds high if the brief is "make Thanksgiving on a budget," but easily see that many people spend a lot more on stuff such as organic free range turkeys, or expensive cheese or seafood appetizers, nice wine, etc. So anyway, that's why they called it an average price, y'all!
The 141 shoppers who took place in the survey were asked to find the best possible deals on specific foods that might be served for Thanksgiving. The prices are the average price of those specific items, and then the total is all the averages added up. Free range turkeys, expensive cheese, seafood appetizers and wine were not on the list, so those types of items did not factor into the meal's averages.
The goal wasn't to make Thanksgivng on a budget, but rather to get an idea of what the average Thanksgiving meal could cost. They have been doing the survey, with the same food list, for over 30 years as an unofficial look at price trends in the country.
The prices are for an average Thanksgiving dinner, not your Thanksgiving dinner. Of course people are going to serve different things. Some people do just serve pumpkin pie as their Thanksgiving dessert. My SO's family does.They serve a pretty basic meal, so it is pretty similar to this list. I doubt they're the only ones. They don't do appetizers, and no alcoholic drinks. So for beverages, tea and soda would only set them back about $5-$6.
I didn't say anything about alcohol. I don't know a single family who has the handful of items they listed for their Thanksgiving meal.
I didn't say anything about alcohol. I don't know a single family who has the handful of items they listed for their Thanksgiving meal.
Then non alcoholic beverages are cheap. As I said, maybe an extra $5-$6 to serve water, tea and soda.
You don't know people who have Turkey, rolls, stuffing, potatoes, a vegetable and pumpkin pie for Thansgving? I would have thought that's the basics to just about any Thanksgiving meal, and then some people have more or less depending on personal preferences.
I think for a really traditional meal, it can be done for that. Turkey is a loss leader around here, so the turkey can be cheap and the rest of the traditional meal is mostly bread and potatoes.
That's not the meal I make, and I suspect it is not the meal that many here will be making. My family wouldn't eat a pie made with canned pumpkin, and seriously a small carton of whipping cream for 10 people? 1 pound of green beans for 10 people? One box of stuffing mix for 10 people?
Then non alcoholic beverages are cheap. As I said, maybe an extra $5-$6 to serve water, tea and soda.
You don't know people who have Turkey, rolls, stuffing, potatoes, a vegetable and pumpkin pie for Thansgving? I would have thought that's the basics to just about any Thanksgiving meal, and then some people have more or less depending on personal preferences.
Turkey
Stuffing (or dressing if you prefer)
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry sauce, whole berry
Fresh vegetable, purple carrots the last couple years
Fresh vegetable, green beans
Fresh beets
Rolls/butter
Pumpkin chiffon pie
Optional, depends if we have crab:
crab stuffed mushroom caps
Just because it's "always been done" a couple hours before the main meal:
Tray of carrots, pickles, olives or cheese and crackers
Shrimp tray
Then non alcoholic beverages are cheap. As I said, maybe an extra $5-$6 to serve water, tea and soda.
You don't know people who have Turkey, rolls, stuffing, potatoes, a vegetable and pumpkin pie for Thansgving? I would have thought that's the basics to just about any Thanksgiving meal, and then some people have more or less depending on personal preferences.
Milk alone is $3.99 a gallon here. So no you can't have beverages for $5-6 where I live.
No, I don't know anyone who only has those few items for Thanksgiving dinner. Which part didn't you understand last time? No one I know serves only one vegetable. No sweet potatoes? No apple pie? NO garden salad?
The 141 shoppers who took place in the survey were asked to find the best possible deals on specific foods that might be served for Thanksgiving. The prices are the average price of those specific items, and then the total is all the averages added up. Free range turkeys, expensive cheese, seafood appetizers and wine were not on the list, so those types of items did not factor into the meal's averages.
The goal wasn't to make Thanksgivng on a budget, but rather to get an idea of what the average Thanksgiving meal could cost. They have been doing the survey, with the same food list, for over 30 years as an unofficial look at price trends in the country.
Well, 141 people isn't a good sample really. And they were sent to find the best deals they could find. I see people posting 29 cents a pound for a turkey on here. Even the cheapest turkey available here is 49 cents a pound. That's a turkey I wouldn't feed at any dinner. It's loaded with sodium injections. Cheap CRAPPY turkey is what it is....some off brand you've never heard of. If that's what you want, fine, but that's not what many are serving based on how many of those are available in my local Wegmans compared to the coolers filled with other brands that are all far more that 49 cents a pound.
If you're sending out 141 people to find the best possible deals on specific foods, then you are doing it on a budget. People who freely spend money don't go on the hunt for the best deals. As for the list being 30 years old, maybe it's time to update it!
My turkey will be free due to a promotion (spend 400 over 6 weeks get a free turkey)
sweet potatoes 69c/lb. five lb box for sale 1.99
Mac and cheese. I always have elbows on hand so don't have to buy that. 7.50 cheese.
Pork sausage for stuffing 3.00
corn meal for cornbread stuffing 1.99
green pepper/onions/celery 6.00 tops
collard greens are usually 0.80c/lb so lets say 6.00 bucks
smoked neckbones for collards always have in freezer
ice cream 2 gallon containers 5.00
stuff for salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, crotons) 10.00
Apples for apple pie 5.00
soda 12.00
juice 5.00
The big ticket item for me will be the rib roast. which is on sale for 9.99, so that may run me another 50 bucks.
stuff for pie crust and chocolate cake I always have on hand so I didn't add that in.
Milk alone is $3.99 a gallon here. So no you can't have beverages for $5-6 where I live.
No one I know serves only one vegetable. No sweet potatoes? No apple pie? NO garden salad?
Not that it means anything, but I spent $1.08 on a gallon of whole milk yesterday. No, it's not non-GMO, gluten free, organic, cows given a daily massage and milk collected in solid gold pails, milk ~ just a gallon of milk that's drinkable on its own. Eggs were expensive this week, $0.74/dozen vs tha ~$0.25/dozen I was paying through most of the summer.
I didn't have a sweet potato until I was in my late 20's. It's not something my parents had in MN, and they didn't make in WY. I remember making sweet potato casserole for my grandmother when she was in her 70's, she'd never had it before. Growing up, my normal T-giving dinner (on the Sunday before, we drove to the ski hill when I got out of school at noon on Wed) was turkey, gravy, Stove-top and a veg. No pie, no salad, no alcohol.
Just because something doesn't fit YOUR experience doesn't mean it's not normal. For all you know, everything you think of as "normal" is considered extreme by the group who actually occupies the 'normal' spot.
People who freely spend money don't go on the hunt for the best deals.
I always buy what is the best deal, and I think a lot of others do as well. I look at the local ads and plan accordingly. Milk is $1.98 at one of the local grocery stores this week. I'm going to buy the milk I need for baking there, and not pay twice as much for the same item at another store. One of the wines we always buy for Thanksgiving is $8 cheaper at Sams Club then anywhere else, so I'm going to get it there instead of spending an extra $24 elsewhere.
But maybe that's why some are finding these prices to be crazy, they don't shop around for the best deals or look at their local ads. They just buy whatever, regardless of cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss20ts
Milk alone is $3.99 a gallon here. So no you can't have beverages for $5-6 where I live.
No, I don't know anyone who only has those few items for Thanksgiving dinner. Which part didn't you understand last time? No one I know serves only one vegetable. No sweet potatoes? No apple pie? NO garden salad?
You serve your guests milk for Thanksgiving? That's not something I've ever heard of, but I won't use your logic and claim it's not true. But even so, you spend $4 to buy milk... ok? A gallon of milk has 16 servings, so that's enough for 10 people to have their glass of milk with dinner... I don't know, I don't drink milk so I don't really know how that goes with Thanksgiving dinner. It's not something I would ever think to buy if hosting.
This list is meant to serve as a basic meal. It's not SS20ts' Thanksgiving meal, or anyone's exact meal. It's just meant to show what you could spend on Thanksgivng if you served a basic Thanksgiving meal with dessert and a few extras. And since the Thanksgiving ads make a lot of these items even cheaper, you could spend that extra savings on more produce and have extra vegetables and a salad and still end up spending about the original average price. Switch one of the pies for apple for a small price. The point isn't what you serve, just that it's not a meal that needs to cost hundreds of dollars. You can make a great meal for under $50 and still have a wonderful time enjoying the company of friends and family.
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I don't know a single family who has the handful of items they listed for their Thanksgiving meal.
