Answer: $82.83

Questions:

• Assume you have an extra $10, what additional food items would you add to this list for Thanksgiving dinner?  
  • Do online research to make sure you’re not spending more than $10.
• If you only had $53 to spend, what items would you choose from this list? 
• What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving season? 

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (CNBC):

CNBC Make It set out to determine how much it costs to buy a complete Thanksgiving meal from a Costco location in Northern New Jersey. Thanks to the Butterball “plan perfect portions” calculator, the Thanksgiving shopping list includes a 15-pound turkey, as well as stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and crescent rolls. Costco’s bakery department is a fan-favorite, so I added one of its lattice-topped apple pies and coffee to the list for dessert.

The shopping list consists of 11 items to make a complete Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people in a semi-homemade fashion (yes, the stuffing is from a box). For the purposes of this price test, we assumed you already have pantry staples like flour, sugar, oil, salt and pepper.

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Here's a timely project to engage your students: Plan A Friendsgiving Dinner! 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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