Pages

Thursday, November 22, 2007

A SerandEz Thanksgiving

The last couple of days (and the next few hours!) show that preparing a nice feast for one's family and friends is not only not all that difficult, but perhaps not all that expensive, either. Most importantly, it's a lot of fun to have and to host, and it's a great excuse to have over a ton of friends. Ya know, like 50 or so. :)

On the menu for today [how many in brackets]:
  • Turkey! [3 12-14 lbs.] - I'm using this recipe my mom gave me, though I couldn't find nutmeg and didn't feel like using bay leaves.
  • Cranberry Sauce [a few large bowls] - Cranberry sauce, crushed pineapple, and mandarin oranges mixed together. Takes 5 minutes.
  • Stuffing - My mother-in-law is actually making this one for us. It's made of stuffing, duh.
  • Salad Bar [a bunch of bags of lettuce, peppers, terra chips, almonds, croutons, scallions, dressings, etc.] - Basically, we're putting out a whole lot of vegetables with instructions on how to make a couple salads (Terra chip, Layah's, Ceasar) and letting people put in what they want.
  • Yellow Split Pea Soup [3 large pots] - Also known as sweet potato soup. Probably the hardest thing to make of the whole meal.
  • Potatoes [3 large roasting pans] - Red, Idaho, and Sweet potatoes all diced up and oiled and spiced and baked. I've already been eating a ton of them.
  • Apple Streusel [one big, one small] - Apples. Cinnamon. Sugar. Flour, brown sugar, margarine. Yummm.
  • Pecan Pie [4] - Sticky sweet.
  • Drinks - 6 12-packs, 2 snapples, a dozen or so 2-liters.
That's not even including all the yummy things other people are bringing over (unnecessarily). All right, so here's the challenge to y'all (except those who know already!) - how much do you think this meal [remember, there's enough for about 50 people of each thing] is costing us, including all the food, plastic ware, aluminum pans, etc? Take away how much you think will be leftover/unused in coming to a total (at least in terms of drinks). Put your guess in the comments, I'm curious how much people think it costs. I'll post the final tally later today or tomorrow.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

19 comments:

  1. OMG can i come to your meal instead of the one i have to go to?

    happy thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's Apple STREUSEL. Streusel is a crumbly topping. Strudel is a finely rolled out and stretched dough. It's a different dessert.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Obviously I'm tired because at first I thought that said 312 lb. turkey.

    It's probably in the oven already, but if you want to borrow nutmeg, we've got that.

    And otherwise, WOW! It's awesome that you're pulling it off (though not surprising). Great living proof that mega-hosting need not be a tircha as much as a pleasure -it's definitely all in the attitude.

    If the kids haven't crashed, we'll try to pop in and say hi. And if any of your guests are too full to get all the way home, let us know!

    ReplyDelete
  4. If you shop like I do, no more than $75.00. If you run a warehouse like I do, you should have nearly everything on hand and only have to buy the turkey and the cranberries.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oops, you are making 3 turkeys. Guess I will have to add another $40-50.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I helped make the stuffing for the one thanksgiving I was in america and there really is more to it than stuffing.

    sounds delish and excellent... hope you and all your many guests have a wonderful time :)

    jameel: i had waffles today. for a friday breakfast treat.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd say about $150-$175 or so.

    Da Wife made turkey for the first time and it came out splendid.

    We were out cold for 75 minutes after gobbling it down.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ooh, sounds yummy. I hope I get some of the leftovers :).

    I'd guess about $200 or so to make all this. Maybe less, if you got those handy free turkeys that Pathmark does every year.

    ReplyDelete
  9. was that enough for 50 people?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sounds like you should send it in to KCC.
    You were my first big supporter and now you ignore it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. $300 at least. The drinks alone cost a lot. The turkeys (I only did two, myself) were about $22 each. Your soup was probably at least $15... Even if you have the Costco flatware, and got the aluminum pans really cheap (say $1 each) you've got real money just on the serveware. Cranberries went up this year, but on special were $1.50/pack... This was a real investment. Hope you're making a good living, Ezzie... And that your guests were VERY grateful!

    ReplyDelete
  12. NL - I like your math! You're the only one so far to really account for a lot of the little things... but thank God, a nice chunk lower than even that. :)

    SL - Hehe. I wish I had space to shop like that...!

    Mommy - Thanks a lot, you know how many comments I got about strudel v streusel!?

    NYF - Not a bad guess, but lower. :)

    MH, RM - Nu, was it good? :)

    Jameel, Sarah - :P Waffles at Jameel's next year!

    Steg - You can. :)

    Batya - Emailed you. I love KCC.

    Anon - Way more than enough...!

    JdJ - No way... not for 50 people!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fine, ignore me when you post a response to all the other commenters.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Apple, poor Apple - HAHA. I had you with RM and MH, but then thought "wait a second, she wasn't here!" Then I forgot about you. :P

    And since we didn't eat the leftovers yet, I can't ask you, can I? :) But those meat bourekas were GOOD.

    ReplyDelete
  15. SaraK - Us too, but how was that other town? :)

    ReplyDelete