By Kevin Williams
My parents, at last count, will be serving 22 people at our Thanksgiving supper. That’s a lot of people to please and plates to clean. So that gets me thinking about the families that go out for Thanksgiving supper. I mean, on some level – it makes a lot of sense...
PROS: no mess to clean up, no tables to set, no lumpy gravy to worry about. You get to simply focus on enjoying the company of your loved ones.
CONS: at a restaurant you don’t get to “linger” like you do at a home. At home, you can waddle over to the sofa, collapse and visit (and plot “round two” of eating in a couple of hours). And you’re sort of stuck in the company of whoever you are sitting by at the restaurant, so the visiting is a bit limited. And, of course, cost. Let’s just say a full-course Thanksgiving meal is $20…..and 20 people come that’s $400.00. of course, if everyone splits the tab, that’s not terrible. But what is the etiquette about that?
If you want pure gluttony, just an endless trough of food, The Golden Corral has its annual Thanksgiving buffet. Feast your eyes on this menu.
Amish Acres in Nappannee, Indiana has the answer to that, they have a “dine in” option, but also what they call “Dressin’ without the Messin’” (I love their PR people, they just know how to sell stuff)….with that option, you can order a huge carry-out meal to take home. Hmmmmm, I still don’t know how well that would work. I love looking at a bottomless pit of mashed potatoes on the table and you just wouldn’t get that with a carry-in meal. But, again, I’m usually not the one slaving away making that bottomless pit. Click here to read about Amish Acres options on Thanksgiving Day.
The Amish historically have not been huge celebrators of Thanksgiving. They generally are good about giving thanks every day. So don't be shocked to see some Amish workers on the wait staff at Amish Acres on Thanksgiving day.
Der Dutchman in Plain City, Ohio is closed on Thanksgiving Day, but they do offer "carry-out" packages you can pick up the day before. I guess it'd still all be fresh by the next day? Take a look at these:
Serves 5 – $67.99
2 ½ lbs turkey or ham
1 qt mashed potatoes
1 qt dressing (stuffing)
1 qt gravy
1 qt green beans or corn
½ doz dinner rolls (white or wheat)
1 freshly baked pie
–
Serves 10 – $122.99
5 lbs turkey or ham
2 qts mashed potatoes
2 qts dressing (stuffing)
1 qt gravy
2 qts green beans or corn
1 doz dinner rolls (white or wheat)
2 freshly baked pies
–
Serves 20 – $210.99 (there you go, Mom!:)
10 lbs turkey or ham
1 gal mashed potatoes
1 gal dressing (stuffing)
2 qts gravy
3 qts green beans or corn
2 doz dinner rolls (white or wheat)
4 freshly baked pies
Okay, so what do you do on Thanksgiving, eat in or eat out?
brenda
we have done a variety of things through the years. mostly depends on who is having to support which part of which family.
on the going out system we have typically chosen a restaurant that offered some sort of special but still allowed for some personal selection. that way the dk meat and white meat folks get what they prefer and the pies are selected individually but nearly always go home in the cute little boxes.
mashed potatoes or rolls or some other item a family prefers and not overly charged when one elects a carry out dinner.
with both members of a couple working those huge meals and the clean up involved are not always that easily accomplished; especially if the outlaws are not very easily persuaded that many hands make light the work.
anyway, we usually come up with the most convenient as well as most congenial way and happily realize in-laws outlaws and even exes have to be taken into consideration
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Kathy Barnes
My niece who lives in Lansing Mi hosts dinner and that is two hours north of us. My sister her mother lives three hours north of there and her husband come. We both bring homemade pies. I make and take Apple slab pie, pumpkin pies, cranberry relish and a peach pie for my sister's birthday. My niece and her daughter's make the main dinner. We have a wonderful time and I'd never want to go out for thanksgiving dinner. It just wouldn't be the same. I'm from Lansing. I moved here to Niles when I married my husband 14 years ago.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Kathy
farmhousebarb(a.k.a. Barb Wright)
I have never eaten a Thanksgiving dinner out. For the last several years, my son and I have cooked our turkey on my wood cookstove. My kids and their families all bring things, but I still mash the potatoes and bake the pies. We have a great time! Happy Thanksgiving to all !!
Kevin
Sounds good, Barb, always great to hear from you!
Kathy Barnes
Kevin,
Have you ever tried drinking a sugar free drink called sparkling ICE? My husband loves it and so do one of my sons and his family. Just a suggestion. My husband's favorite flavor is black raspberry. You can find it at Meijer or most gas stations. If you have a store named Big Lots it's cheaper there.
Kathy
Marge Nistler
Thanksgiving I prefer to fix dinner, love the left over turkey and dressing. On Christmas
since it is only my adult son and I here in AZ we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant .
I was amazed to see so many young families there also. Of course with the retirement
communities around here there are a number of seniors there also.
Linda from KY
Wow! Their meals are a lot more expensive than the ones we sell at our grocery store. Our meal that serves 8-10 is just $2.00 more than Der Dutchmann's meal for 5, and the portions are more generous per person. I'll be working Thanksgiving helping to prepare those meals.
The downside for me is not being able to spend the whole day with my family. I LOVE to cook Thanksgiving dinner, but I won't get to for my own family because I won't be home.
The rest of the family will gather at my sister's house. Our mother died in February. It'll be our first Thanksgiving without her. It would've been so nice to be with both of my sisters and all of our families. Oh well.
Denise
Always eat Thanksgiving Dinner at our home. I've never had the meal at a restaurant. Remembering a few large family meals at restaurants, it's awfully hard for those with babies and young children to sit that long at a table.