Debbie asked for my cornbread dressing recipe on Thursday. In Matt's family that is roughly the equivalent of a medal, and I've been a Pickett for twelve years without earning one. I wrote it on an index card and tucked it into her purse before she could change her mind.
Thanksgiving for fourteen went close to the plan. The turkey came off a little early, the rolls hit the table on time (unlike 2022), and the spreadsheet has the final number: $186.40 for our share, about $13.30 a person.
How the day went
Matt had the offset going with post oak by 6:45, and by the time the first cars pulled up, the whole street smelled like smoke. The 16-pound turkey went on at 7:45, held around 300 degrees, and reached 165 in the thickest part of the breast at 12:35. It rested under foil while I ran the oven schedule like a ticket rail: dressing out, Kristen's sweet potato casserole and mac and cheese and Carol's corn casserole in, rolls last. Matt carved at 1:45 and we sat down at 2:05.
The mashed potatoes I'd frozen two weeks earlier came out of the Crock-Pot creamy, and nobody believed they'd been frozen. Debbie's two pies, pecan and pumpkin, were gone by four. Josh showed up with two bags of ice and enough soda for a youth group, which is exactly what he'd been asked to do.
The full breakdown
- Turkey (16 pounds at 99 cents) and brine: $27.04
- Cornbread dressing: $14.60
- Mashed potatoes (10 pounds) and gravy: $16.35
- Three dozen rolls: $6.80
- Green bean casserole: $9.45
- Cranberry sauce: $3.20
- Appetizer tray: $24.90
- Sweet tea and lemonade: $13.80
- Paper goods, foil and pans: $22.76
- Smoker wood and charcoal: $21.50
- Whipped cream and extras: $6.00
- Butter, cream, stock, eggs and staples: $20.00
Total: $186.40, which is $13.31 a person for fourteen, and $3.60 under the $190 I planned.
That number is only our side of the ledger. Debbie's pies, Kristen's two casseroles, Carol's corn casserole and Josh's ice and drinks were real money from four other households, and I didn't ask anyone for receipts. The whole meal surely cost a good deal more than $186.40. I'm reporting the part I can actually prove.
In the spreadsheet, Thanksgiving week itself shows $398. That's because Monday's holiday shopping, our regular week of groceries and a Costco run all landed in the same seven days. It looks dramatic in the column. It isn't, really.
What I'd change
Fewer rolls. Thirty-six rolls for fourteen people left eleven at the end of the day. Two and a half dozen would have been plenty.
A smaller appetizer tray. Cody and Wyatt took care of most of the summer sausage, but half the cheese and nearly all the olives came back to the fridge. Next time I'd spend about $15 there, not $25.
The lemonade. I juiced fourteen lemons by hand at 11:30 on Thanksgiving morning, with guests due at noon. Next year the lemonade gets made Wednesday night, right after the dressing.
The gravy. I whisked too much of the brined drippings into the gravy base, and it came out salty. I fixed it with more base and a splash of cream, but I'll go lighter next time.
The smoker wood. Matt used a little over half the bag, so the real cost of Thursday's smoke was closer to $12. The rest is going into a brisket this winter, which is the only item on this list he'd like me to repeat.
I wouldn't change the paper goods. Fourteen people, two hours of eating and a sink that stayed mostly empty were worth every cent of the $22.76.
The leftovers
We sent every family home with a to-go container, and we still had about six pounds of turkey. On Friday morning I bought a vacuum sealer on a Black Friday sale, something I'd put off since our freezer died in August, and the leftover turkey was the first thing through it. I'll write more about that this week. For now there are six one-pound packs of smoked turkey in the chest freezer, labeled, and a pan of dressing in the fridge that Wyatt keeps eating cold, standing up, with a fork.
