By BECKY ASHLIN
Staff Writer
Thanksgiving usually represents two things to most people: blessings and food. Everyone had his or her own way for giving thanks this past Thursday, but certainly there was agreement on the food: TURKEY!!! But just how much did it cost to feed on this delectable bird and the goodies that always go with it?
The menu for our family of seven consisted of a 12-pound turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, tossed salad, candied sweet potatoes, green beans, hot rolls, and pumpkin pie. It cost approximately $30 at the grocery store. That, of course, does not include the ‘woman hours’ it took to prepare it.
My mother, Dorothy, is the cafeteria manager at our local school. Although she wouldn’t reveal how much the school was paying for the food, she did say that the price of 60 cents per student for the Thanksgiving day meal wasn’t nearly enough. And that includes her thoughts on work hours!
I also asked Mom how much higher this year’s meal was than that of last year. She said it cost about $10 more. She is certain a can of green beans costs 10 cents more, and the price of tomatoes has sky-rocketed.
What if a family had decided to eat out? At a local cafeteria in Texarkana, eating what we ate at home cost $4.50 per person. This was only to eat there. There is no turkey left in the refrigerator to snack on for days afterwards.
After gathering this information, I sat and compared it. My mom shook her head.
“Sure it costs a lot. It’s also a lot of trouble. But looking around that dinner table, watching Honey and the kids stuff their stomachs and enjoy each other, it is worth every red cent of it,” she said.