Living on Less – A Frugal Thanksgiving Feast
Thanksgiving is about the only holiday where the traditional meal seems to be the most economical. We can serve our families a humble traditional no frills turkey dinner or we can take that meal and add more and more sides to it. A couple of days ago I was wondering what the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal will be this holiday season.
This afternoon (November 17), I went to Fareway to price what the typical basic Thanksgiving meal would cost to feed 8 people with this year’s prices. The reason I chose Fareway is because Fareway price matches the other grocery stores in town. Other stores in town offer the same service, however, Fareway makes it easier on the consumer by posting in a bright pink sign the ad match price on a particular item. You don’t have to carry other store ads around with you when you shop at Fareway as they have done the work for you. When it came to costing out this meal and checking the prices on many items, I knew I could get the job done quicker at Fareway.
Here is the basic Thanksgiving menu that I used when I was checking prices.
Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Green Beans
Sweet Potatoes or Yams
Dinner Rolls
Cranberry Salad
Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Topping
This is a basic Thanksgiving meal and you can add to or delete from. For example, you can add more vegetable options such as carrots, another selection of stuffing, more salads, another pie – but this is the basic option I decided to use in order to price out the meal.
When considering the prices for this meal, I decided that the following ingredients would already be in the household: eggs, flour, sugars, spices, yeast, shortening, vegetable oil, butter or margarine and regular milk. The one exception would be sage since most people only purchase that around the holiday season.
Also, when considering prices, I chose the cheapest product and did not prefer national brands over store brands.
I came up with two plans: one price option using convenience foods and one price option with homemade foods. I am a cook from scratch kind of person as I was taught to cook at a young age by my mother and I love to cook. Not everyone is like me, so I have prepared two lists.
The one common ingredient in both lists is the 15 lb. bone in whole turkey. My grandmother taught me that to get the most value for your money you should buy a turkey around 15 lbs as you get more meat than bone for turkeys at or over 15 lbs.
Option One – Convenience Foods
Whole Bone in Turkey (15 lbs.) – .68 lb. = $10.20
Store Brand Stuffing Mix – Two boxes – .49 a box = $0.98 (Thursday – Saturday – this is a Hy-Vee Ad Match)
Mashed Potatoes – Idahoan Instant Mashed Potatoes – $1.69 for a 13 oz. box – makes 9 cups prepared mashed potatoes = $1.69
Gravy- Two 12 oz. jars of Heinz Turkey Gravy (6 – ¼ cup servings per jar) .99 a jar = $1.98
Cranberry Sauce – Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce – 14 oz. can = $0.99
Green Beans – Butter Kernel Green Beans – 3 cans @ .48 = $1.44
Candied Sweet Potatoes – $1.50 for a 40 oz. can of sweet potatoes or yams = $1.50
Dinner Rolls – One pkg. of Pan ‘o Gold Brown and Serve Rolls – .97 for 12 rolls = $.97
Cranberry Salad Ingredients – 20 oz. can of Island Sun Crushed Pineapple – $0.69 ; * 16 oz. bag of miniature marshmallows – $0.99 ; 12 oz. bag of Ocean Spray Fresh Cranberries – $1.28, * 8 oz. carton of Fastco Frozen Whipped Topping – $0.89 = $3.85
Pumpkin Pie – Mrs. Smith’s Frozen Pie – 2 lbs 5 oz. size = $4.99
Whipped Topping for Pie – 8 oz. carton Fastco Frozen Whipped Topping = $0.89
Total Cost of Option One: $29.48 – Cost per person is $3.69
*Do not need all of the marshmallows or whipped topping for this recipe.
Option Two: Homemade Dishes
Whole Bone in Turkey (15 lbs.) – .68 lb. = $10.20
Homemade Stuffing – Day Old Bread – $1.00, Tone’s Sage – $0.75, Celery – $0.48, onion $0.25, 2 apples – $0.88 lb., 14.5 oz. can of Swanson broth -$0.48 = $3.84
Mashed Potatoes – ($0.68 for a 5 lb. bag of potatoes on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20 only at Fareway) = $0.68
Gravy – Made from turkey broth, cornstarch and water.
Cranberry Sauce (made per the directions on the bag) – 12 oz. bag of Ocean Spray Fresh Cranberries = $1.28
Green Beans – Butter Kernel Green Beans – 3 cans @ .48 = $1.44
Sweet Potato Casserole – 3 lbs. sweet potatoes @ .69 lb. – $2.07, pecans – $1.59 for 2 oz. of chopped pecans = $3.66
Homemade Dinner Rolls – Ingredients on hand in pantry
Cranberry Salad Ingredients – 20 oz. can of Island Sun Crushed Pineapple – $0.69 ; * 16 oz. bag of miniature marshmallows – $0.99 ; 12 oz. bag of Ocean Spray Fresh Cranberries – $1.28, * 8 oz. carton of Fastco Frozen Whipped Topping – $0.89 = $3.85
Pumpkin Pie – 15 oz. can of Fastco Pumpkin – $0.79; 12 oz. can Carnation or Pet evaporated milk – $0.99 cent, homemade pie crust – made with ingredients in pantry = $1.78
Whipped Topping – ½ pint Anderson Erickson Whipping Cream – $0.88
*Do not need all of the marshmallows or whipped topping for this recipe.
Total Cost of Option Two: $27.61 – Cost per person is $3.45
Even if you didn’t have any of the key ingredients in your pantry that I didn’t include in the costing of this meal, this Thanksgiving feast is still a good value.
You could make up a third option by combining the best of both options – some convenience and some homemade to tailor to your abilities. I think we can all agree that this is a frugal holiday meal and best of all there will be leftover turkey that can be used in another meal.
The Recipes:
Candied Sweet Potatoes or Yams
1 large can of sweet potatoes or yams
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Heat the sweet potatoes or yams in a saucepan. In another sauce pan melt the butter with the brown sugar, salt and milk. Cook over medium heat until smooth and bubbly. Drain the water from the yams and add the yams to the brown sugar mixture. Heat through and serve.
Cranberry Salad
1 – 12 oz. pkg. fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup miniature marshmallows
14 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
½ of an 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip
Wash and grind or finely chop the cranberries. Add sugar and marshmallows. Mix well and refrigerate over night. The next morning add the pineapple (drained) and the Cool Whip. Chill.
Pumpkin Pie
1 deep dish pie crust, homemade
1 – 15 oz. can pumpkin
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 cup evaporated milk
Combine the eggs, sugar, salt and spices and beat well. Blend in pumpkin. Add the milk and beat well. Pour into a pastry lined pie pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Pie is done when knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Sweet Potato Casserole
6 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 3 lbs.)
¼ to ½ cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon salt
Peel and cook the sweet potatoes and mash them. Mix in the brown sugar, butter and salt. Pour into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with the topping and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes
Topping for Casserole:
½ cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup chopped pecans
Combine brown sugar and the flour. Cut in the butter and add the pecans.
Stuffing
Take day old bread and break into pieces. I start saving up heels of bread, stale buns or whatever and put them in the freezer just for this use. Break them up and put them in a very, very large bowl. Add 2 chopped apples, 1 onion chopped, 1 bunch of celery chopped fine – leaves and all and 1 to 2 tablespoons sage to taste. Toss this mixture. Mix 1 stick melted butter with some broth and pour slowly over the bread mixture making sure that it isn’t too much liquid. Bake at 350 degrees in a large roaster pan for about 1 hour.
This is one of those recipes that you just figure it out as you go. It makes a lot as my grandmother made a lot. Sorry – I don’t know how else to explain it as I just watched my grandmother prepare this over the years and I wrote it down as she would toss in this and that. Oh yeah – she always added cooked chestnuts to the stuffing which I love, but my family does not.
Homemade Dinner Rolls
5 to 6 cups flour
2 tablespoons yeast
1 cup milk
¾ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Stir together 2 cups flour and yeast. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, water, oil, sugar and salt to very warm (120 degrees). Add the liquid all at once to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth (about 3 minutes) on medium speed with an electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough; mix well. Let rest 10 minutes. Roll out on a well floured surface to ½ inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter and place on greased baking sheets. Let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 45 minutes). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes til golden brown. Brush melted butter on the tops while still warm.
