I saw a few Facebook posts from friends and relatives talking about the cost of Thanksgiving Dinner, some stating how high it was, other's stating how reasonable it was. I even saw a video of some woman who made her dinner from a Dollar store for $20.
It made me wonder how much we spent so I calculated it. Mainly because I'm bored. My wife bans me from the kitchen at Thanksgiving (I handle the Christmas meal) and our kids aren't coming over until later.
All of the ingredients came from Costco, Harris Teeter, Walmart or Lidl. Lidl was the only "unique" trip that we went out of our way for because they had Turkey's for $.39/lb and we had a $10 rewards coupon.
Our dinner consists of Turkey, Mashed Potatoes; Stuffing; Gravy; Cranberry Sauce; Baked Butternut squash with Red Pepper, garlic and parmesan cheese; a Brussel sprouts and dried cranberry salad; 1 pumpkin pie and 1 apple pie. Many of the ingredients we grew ourselves at our farm (potatoes, garlic, onions, Brussel sprouts, Red Bell Pepper, Butternut Squash, Apples and Pie pumpkins) so I calculated the cost as if I had to buy those at current Walmart/Lidl prices and I calculated it again taking those items out. Our cost of growing is basically seeds and a little bit of pesticide on the potatoes and apples. The water is mainly rainwater and even when we water, we are on a well and we still have composted horse manure that the former owner left behind (and we augment every year with other compost material) for fertilizer.
I included every thing down to the couple of tablespoons of flour and cost of spices, and added a few $ for something I may have missed.
No Alcohol is included or served, just water and 1G of milk. This meal will serve about 10, but since we only have 6, there will be plenty of leftovers.
Grand total after tax: $59.24 ($49.24 after the $10 Coupon).
Total without the things we grew ourselves: $43.79 ($33.79 after $10 coupon)
Less than I expected.
My wife makes pretty much everything from scratch except for the pie crusts so nothing is pre-made so it is a lot of work on her part. Buying anything pre-made clearly will drive prices up.