The Los Angeles Times reported on the average cost of a Thanksgiving turkey dinner going up 5.6% from last year. As we have continually argued in previous posts, papers like the LA Times attempt to push a “doom and gloom” picture on our opportunities as families. It is interesting to note that the very report the LA Times read from took an optimistic response to the increase: “Classic Thanksgiving Dinner Still Affordable.” Compare the two articles here and here.
When the report came over the radio, I thought to myself, “I wonder how much we spend at Thanksgiving?”
We eat well. We have a huge turkey–usually the largest turkey we can find in the big feezer bin at the grocery store–with homemade stuffing mixed with elk sausage. Sides include mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon, my grandmother’s sweet-n-sour green beans with bacon (a killer recipe included in Wendy’s cookbook), homemade dinner roles, and cranberry sauce. Of course we have a few pumpkin pies to top it all off.
So I asked Wendy and Cynthia how much this all costs. “Fifty bucks,” Cynthia guessed while Wendy pondered. “No,” I returned, “for a family of 10 eaters.” (We have nearly 20.) Cynthia then guessed, “Twenty-five bucks.”
We’re doing our own chart and will post it online here in the next couple of days…Stay tuned!
About Chris & Wendy Jeub
