I’m hosting for the first time and surprised by how inexpensive the food is, considering. If I were having a dinner party and serving salmon or something it would be so much more. I did spend money on new table linens, some serving pieces, and things like that (a gravy boat), but the actual potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans are barely noticeable on the grocery bill.

Anonymous wrote:I spent more than that on the cheese plate but it’s a glorious, extravagant cheese plate.

Yes, I’m guessing that’s what I’ll spend on our cheese and charcuterie board.

Maybe. But I like better food, so it never comes to that for us.

Thanksgiving can be extremely cheap if you buy tons of processed junk.

Turkey is $0.40-.50 per pound. Can of cranberries. Pepperidge farms stuffing. Mashed potato ingredients. Canned gravy. Green bean casserole supplies. Packaged dinner roles. Frozen corn or whatever veggie. Pumpkin and apple pies from Costco. Easily under $100 if you take easy route.

Anonymous wrote:I spent more than that on the cheese plate but it’s a glorious, extravagant cheese plate.

One pie was $35 for us. Obviously it did not need to be though...

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what you're eating. A turkey, can of green beans,box of stove top, box of mashed potatoes and a frozen pie is pretty cheap.

+2
"Thanksgiving dinner" is a very broad definition.
Factors like alcohol, the age of your guests, quality (canned green beans vs fresh, for example), and the variety (Mac n cheese verse potatoes or both?).

These type of "news" articles are so dumb.

I spent more than that on the cheese plate but it’s a glorious, extravagant cheese plate.

My 14 lb turkey cost me $4.00 at Wegman’s ($0.29/lb). I think I get get the rest of the fixings for less than $50 (excluding wine)

11 people, will cost close to $300 (and between 2 other people they are bringing 4 items, not including that $ or alcohol). Not sure what others serve, but the Honey Baked Ham alone will probably cost close to $100

It depends on what you're eating. A turkey, can of green beans,box of stove top, box of mashed potatoes and a frozen pie is pretty cheap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
I made my grocery run for Thanksgiving food yesterday. Spent $106.

We are co-hosting a group of 20. It will be at someone else's house. We will bring one 13 pound turkey, 4 pies, green bean casserole for 20, mashed potatoes for 20, stuffing for 20, jars of gravy, 2 gallons iced tea. The $106 covered expenses for all that.

Other people will provide everything else.

That seems cheaper than I would expect. Where did you shop?

Walmart. A lot of stuff was on sale. The turkey was 97 cents a pound. The potatoes were $2.80 per 5 pound bag. The two apple pies are the frozen kind that you stick in the oven for an hour or so. They were $6 each. The stuff I bought for the 2 pumpkin pies is the roll out onto a pie plate type of crusts, then you mix up the canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, etc. for the filling. I bought the store brand canned green beans.
I though it was pretty cheap too.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
I made my grocery run for Thanksgiving food yesterday. Spent $106.

We are co-hosting a group of 20. It will be at someone else's house. We will bring one 13 pound turkey, 4 pies, green bean casserole for 20, mashed potatoes for 20, stuffing for 20, jars of gravy, 2 gallons iced tea. The $106 covered expenses for all that.

Other people will provide everything else.

That seems cheaper than I would expect. Where did you shop?

OP here.
I made my grocery run for Thanksgiving food yesterday. Spent $106.

We are co-hosting a group of 20. It will be at someone else's house. We will bring one 13 pound turkey, 4 pies, green bean casserole for 20, mashed potatoes for 20, stuffing for 20, jars of gravy, 2 gallons iced tea. The $106 covered expenses for all that.

Other people will provide everything else.

I could spend $61 excluding the turkey & wine. Thanksgiving is an inexpensive meal.

According to CBS news.
Here is the link to the story:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-does-thanksgiving-dinner-cost-2023/
The article also says most people will spend $100 to $200 on Thanksgiving this year.


I looked it up because I remember reading an article at least 10 years ago that said you could have Thanksgiving dinner to 8 or 10 for less than $100. A group of employees from our local newspaper decided to actually assemble a group of eight for a typical Thanksgiving dinner and do an exact tally of how much they spent. And they did spend about $100.
I was curious about what the current predicted expense is for all the Thanksgiving groceries this year and found this article.

How much do you all expect you will spend?