What's your estimated thanksgiving week spend on travel, meals, black Friday, et.

[Like2Plan]

I just heard on the news that a survey said 45% of people expect to order their Thanksgiving meals from a restaurant rather than cooking. But the reason given was because of higher grocery prices. That makes no sense at all. Grocery prices are up but so are restaurant prices. It would still be way cheaper to do it yourself. If you want to have your dinner catered for convenience, that's fine, but it's certainly not going to save you any money.

I think it costs less to make yourself, but if it is just for 2 or 3 people it might be less. Growing up my family would start cooking a couple days ahead. There were countless salads to prepare and pies to bake.
If it is just the smaller immediate family it might not make sense to make all those dishes in smaller amounts.
Even if we were cooking at home for the 3 of us - we would only buy the turkey breast (even though it was higher price per pound) because none of us cared to eat the dark meat.
All those salads and pies pretty much went by the wayside - we just have 1 pumpkin pie if it’s just the 3 of us

[kork13]

Just doing a turkey breast is a great option for only 2-3 people. DW & I did that for a few years when our boys were not born/very young.

I'm actually building my plan right now for getting everything cooked... Oven space & timing is always problematic, though we can use toaster oven & air fryer to handle some smaller stuff while the turkey cooks. Anything that can be handled the day prior will be -- desserts, breads, cranberry sauce, and prep for all veggies & potatoes (stored overnight in cold water).

[QuarterMillionMan]

Curious as to what precautions those who are gathering are following disneysteve's train of thought or on the other side of the spectrum of rennigade's train of thought when it comes to COVID. I would be somewhere in the middle. Let's say if someone wanted to shake my hand I would put out a fist bump instead. As for hugs, I'm not much of a hugger but so as not to seem inconsiderate I would do a fast hug. Definitely no kissing on the cheeks. As for social distancing it might be difficult depending on the size of the room. Outside would be ideal. I would bring a mask just in case but only use it as a last resort (ie, if someone is coughing, or becomes boisterous, etc).

[disneysteve]

Curious as to what precautions those who are gathering are following disneysteve's train of thought or on the other side of the spectrum of rennigade's train of thought when it comes to COVID. I would be somewhere in the middle. Let's say if someone wanted to shake my hand I would put out a fist bump instead. As for hugs, I'm not much of a hugger but so as not to seem inconsiderate I would do a fast hug. Definitely no kissing on the cheeks. As for social distancing it might be difficult depending on the size of the room. Outside would be ideal. I would bring a mask just in case but only use it as a last resort (ie, if someone is coughing, or becomes boisterous, etc).

The best advice I'd give is that everyone attending dinner should do a rapid COVID test right before they come. Not the day before. Not 3 days before. Rapid tests aren't perfect but they're the best thing we've got.

Masks are worthless in this setting. You can't wear a mask while you're eating dinner around the table.

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy (and affordable) Thanksgiving!

[QuarterMillionMan]

Another thing I forgot to mention is I'd wash my hands often and definitely before eating which I always did even before COVID. Arm rests on chairs, door knobs, opening cupboards & cabinets, railings, never know what germs are lurking on surfaces.

[crazyliblady]

I used to travel every year from Los Angeles to Hawaii during thanksgiving week (about $1000) but since COVID haven't done it. In addition, I would try to get in a Las Vegas 2 night stay during thanksgiving weekend so maybe another $500 or more depending on gambling losses. This year I'm cooking my own Butterball $20, in addition to mashed potatoes and gravy, making stuffing, yams, gravy, etc. So maybe $50 tops this year. And watching lots of football and going to the beach as usual so minimal costs this year.

I think what you spend depends entirely on what your plans are, such as whether airline or long distance car travel is required, and whether you need to purchase food or are making it yourself.

[QuarterMillionMan]

When I first saw disneysteve's recommendation I thought it a little extreme. But after thinking about it more it is actually a pretty good idea. The host of the party should ask the guests to bring their own test kit as a precautionary measure. I still have 1 free test kit (2 tests) from Biden or pay $25 for a Binax Now at CVS. $25 is a small price to pay peace of mind and safety especially for the older folks and others who may have compromised immune systems.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I tend to do things above and beyond so if I were gathering for the holidays I would follow disneysteve's recommendations and test myself before gathering even if the host/hostess doesn't require it. I know people are sick and tired of COVID and especially if travelling 1000 miles, 500 miles, or even 100 miles it's an inconvenience if testing positive and not being able to party but it is the right thing to do.

[scfr]

QMM, at first I thought you were talking about a different kind of spread (as in middle age spread - lol).

Covid testing was already on my checklist (2 tests for everyone assuming the first is negative). We were going to do 3 days and the day before, but based on disneysteve's recommendation I'll change mine to 2 days before and the morning of. Asking my mom and brother to test the morning of is too much - everything is hard for them, a major production, so the day ahead will have to do. As part of my advance prep I already looked up Lot numbers of the test kits on the FDA website and wrote in the new exp dates. Also, we will mask except when walking outside or eating (and then with an open window next to the table). House fresh air intake with filtration runs constantly. Now that I'm thinking about it, I may bring the tower filter downstairs and run it too. We all have had either 4 or 5 vaccs. I still wear a KN95 at work and anywhere indoors except my house. No guarantees, just prudence and trying to put the odds in our favor while living life as normally and joyfully as possible.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Cooked a butterball today, tender & juicy, practically fell of the bone with little effort.

[james.hendrickson]

My gosh, that looks great!

[Like2Plan]

I found the source of the $64.05 cost for Thanksgiving Dinner. It is from the farm bureau- annual survey of costs for 11 items for Thanksgiving Dinner for 10 people. No alcohol, for sure, I don’t even see ingredients for gravy. It only lists cube stuffing. No fancy salads. Or, olives (green and black) or pickles (dill and sweet), etc.

Anyway, here is the link:

https://www.fb.org/newsroom/farm-bureau-survey-shows-thanksgiving-dinner-cost-up-20

[rennigade]

Gotta love how this simple thread turned into another covid discussion. QMM you gotta tighten it up. You're getting sloppy at your attempt to troll. You're not even trying anymore.

Back to the actual topic. Plan on spending a lot of money on a robot vacuum. We have a "dumb" Roomba upstairs and it works really well but we want one with lidar and room mapping along with mopping so costs skyrocket with those features.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Ha-ha, no I won't be posting Youtube remedies for COVID.

[QuarterMillionMan]