Thanksgiving is for thanks-giving

In my previous post about Thanksgiving on a budget, I laid out the history of the North American Thanksgiving holiday. While it's taken quite a while to get to this point, the more recent incarnation of this holiday has been centered around giving thanks for what we have. Or at least it should be. As with most holidays in the US, the big companies try to take over and commercialize the living daylights out of everything. Now we can buy decorations, tablecloths, dinnerware, and all manner of turkey-themed knicknacks. The President of the United States even gets to issue a T-day proclamation and "pardon" a turkey, which ensures that particularly lucky bird will spend the rest of its life roaming freely and not trussed, stuffed, and roasted on a dinner table. Though there has been some suspicion involved in that whole process. The Huffington Post wrote a story last year about the fates of previously pardoned turkeys. Mental Floss also wrote a thorough post on the whole history of Presidential poultry pardoning.

There are also plenty of companies out there offering to cook part or all of your holiday meal. While that may be a good option if you're hosting a huge amount of people and would rather spend time with them than spend thirty straight hours in a kitchen, that is not the case for most people. And honestly, this holiday should be about spending time with your loved ones. They won't care if you don't have a perfect spiral, smoked, honey baked ham, if the turkey skin isn't just-right crispy, if the stuffing is a little dry (that's what gravy is for). We tend to put so much stress and importance on the perfect meal that we forget the purpose of having it: to be thankful. To count our blessings. To spend time with people we care about and share a meal together.

There have been tons of psychological experiments on the psychological and physical benefits of an "Attitude of Gratitude" with more being published all the time. People who practice gratitude consistently report stronger immune systems, more joy, optimism, and less feelings of loneliness. The Huffington Post wrote a great article on 10 Reasons Why Being Thankful Is Good For You. The reasons include better sleep, better grades, better relationships, improved heart health, and boosted immunity. Gratitude has been purported to help in many chronic health diseases like depression, CFIDS and Fibromyalgia. The CFIDS & Fibromyalgia website has an article summarizing a well-know gratitude book "Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier" by Robert Emmons. The NYTimes also wrote a nice article about the main points in Emmons' book.
 
The CFIDS & Fibromyalgia website also included a 5-point list of things you can do in your life to increase gratitude right now. To sum it up:

5 Things You Can Do To Increase Gratefulness Now

1. Keep a daily gratitude journal. Write down 3-5 things every day you are thankful for. You only need a sentence, and it could be as simple as the sunrise to a hug from a friend to a raise. 

2. Use a visual reminder. People are forgetful little things, out of sight out of mind. Write yourself post-its of all the good things and people in your life. Set an alarm to go off at different intervals to remind you to take a thank-you break.

3. Have a gratitude partner. Any habit is easier to maintain if you have accountability. Plus gr-attitudes are contagious. Make a point to cultivate relationships with other thankful people. One of your daily gratitudes can then be your thankfulness partner.

4. Make a public commitment. This goes along with #3 but is directly related to achievable goals and should be made more public, like a weekly thankful Facebook status, family, or join a support group.

5. Change your self-talk. Also known as an inner monologue, this is the voice running constantly in the back of your mind. Most people have lower mood when that voice is negative, "you're not good enough", "you'll never lost that weight", "that raise isn't gonna happen", etc. With conscious practice, you can rewrite the script to be more kind to yourself and the other people in your life. 

This list is at my desk in lab, where I see it every day.

The University of California, Berkeley is launching a 3-year long, $6.5 million initiative: Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude. This project aims to increase scientific knowledge of the process and benefits of gratefulness as well as to educate the general public on current knowledge and future findings. They will be exploring everything from the neuroscience of gratitude to gratefulness in romantic relationships to how thankfulness may reduce bullying. All good stuff I think. You can find out more about the project here.

So if the stuffing is a little dry, be thankful you have stuffing at all. If the bird is slightly burnt, be thankful the nine hours of roasting killed any harmful bacteria on it. If the family feud begins somewhere between "grace" and "pass the pumpkin pie", be grateful you have a family to share this day with in the first place. I am so very grateful for my family, my amazing mother and grandmother who taught me how to cook and supported me through burnt popcorn and un-jelled Jello. My dad for teaching me the value of a dollar and good financial practices. My many friends and roommates over the years who suffered through many first attempts at recipes and recipe creations. I am thankful for the ability to get in my working car, drive to a store which is less than twenty minutes away, fill a cart with fresh, tasty foods, and pay for it without worrying about overdrawing my credit. I am thankful that I now have the ability to cook healthy, hearty, delicious meals, and the ability to share that with the internet world. I will be giving many thanks this Thursday, and I hope you will too.

Thank you for reading! Happy Thanksgiving, readers.

More info:

For more information on ways gratitude is good for you, research, and ways to feel more thankful, check out Harvard Health's article: In Praise of Gratitude, Psychology Today about Giving thanks: The benefits of gratitude, Happier Human's blog The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn't Know About, and Berkeley's video clip on the benefits of gratitude from Robert Emmon's himself.

Please share: What are you grateful for?

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Thanksgiving Meal Under $20

The time of giving thanks is approaching! Everyone knows the beloved American holiday featuring a rather large, ugly bird. Kids drawn pictures of feathered Native Americans and buckle-hatted Pilgrims gathered around the cornucopia and a turkey drawn from your hand's outline. 

But like most American holidays the original meaning has become commercialized and veered a bit from the original. The first Thanksgiving meal happened in fall of 1621, sometime between mid-September and mid-November. It was to give thanks for a successful harvest, and the Pilgrims joined the local Wampanoag tribe to eat fowl, fish and deer, and probably local plants like berries, plums and boiled pumpkin. 

After that, it was not immediately a national holiday. That didn't happen until George Washington proclaimed Thursday, November 26, 1789, a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer" in honor of our new nation and brand new Constitution. Even then the holiday was not a set annual day. During Lincoln's presidency, when he needed a way to unite the states, he turned to Sarah Josepha Hale, writer of the famous "Mary Had a Little Lamb" rhyme. She thought the holiday would be a way to infuse the nation with hope and belief in itself and the Constitution. Thus Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November a national holiday.

FDR caused a bit of a ruckus when he tried to change the date, causing TWO Thanksgivings in 1939 and 1940. Sounds awesome, two days of paid vacation, stuffing yourself and football right? Not so much, because some states kept the traditional date while others followed the President. Thus it caused some familiar discord as people had different days off, schools had to reschedule tests and vacations, and it sure is lucky airplanes weren't around yet, because that would have caused a lot of date-change booking fees. Congress finally got around to making it into law that the fourth Thursday of November was the official and forever Thanksgiving Day.

If you're heading into T-Day with a lot of things to be thankful for, but a large bank balance isn't one of them, fear not. You can still have a stellar feast, and for less than an Andrew Jackson. 

Now, for the remainder of this post I will make a few assumptions. Don't be offended if they don't apply to you. Adjust the advice accordingly.

1. You will be feeding 2-4 people.
2. You want turkey and not a ham.
3. You want the most "traditional" American dishes.
4. You have twenty dollars.
5. You have basic cooking equipment and knowledge.


Ok, so for the "traditional" American feast, the most common dishes are:
*The Turkey
*Stuffing
*Mashed Potatoes
*Green Bean Casserole
*Cranberry Sauce
*Pumpkin Pie

That's what we need to make, as inexpensively as possible. If those don't sound right or aren't quite what you want, try here for thousands more Thanksgiving day recipes. 

*The Turkey (free - $7)
Here we have a few options. You aren't likely to find a whole bird under $20. There are a few ways around it. Some stores run specials leading up to T-day such that you purchase a certain amount of groceries and get a free bird. If you had planned spending $100 in groceries into your budget anyways, pick up that free bird! If not, you still have choices. One option is to purchase only turkey drumsticks rather than the whole bird. I just saw these at a store, four drums for $5-7. Your other option is to purchase mini hens/ducks or a whole chicken. If the people you're cooking for won't care what type of fowl they eat, this can get you a bird for $4-7 as well.

*Stuffing ($1 - $3)
If you're good with boxed types, keep an eye on sales. These can be picked up for $1 or less per box, and you'll probably need at least two. If you want to make your own, you'll need a loaf of stale bread, 2 cups stock, seasoning, and 1 cup diced & sauteed celery/carrot/onion. all together the ingredients shouldn't cost more than $3. Mix it all and bake at 350 inside the bird or in a casserole dish for 30-40 minutes.

*Mashed Potatoes ($1 - $3)
Again, if you don't mind the boxed stuff, I've seen this at the dollar store as well as on sale for $1 or less. To make your own, peel and dice about a pound of potatoes per person. Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and put back into the pot. Mash or use a hand blender. Add in garlic salt, butter, sour cream, and/or milk to your desired taste and consistency.

*Green Bean Casserole ($2)
A good old stand by favorite, this is nothing more than a can of cut green beans mixed with a can of cream of mushroom sauce. If you've been good about sales you should be able to get at least two cans of each for less than $2. You can also be fancy and use a pound or two of fresh green beans, cleaned and boiled. The fanciest is to add some french friend onions or crushed potato chips on top.

*Cranberry Sauce ($1 - $2)
Buy a can of this jello like fruity goop for $1 or less, it will probably not all be eaten. Or you can get yourself a bag of fresh cranberries on sale. Mix 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and the cranberries in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about ten minutes, or until cranberries burst. At this point you can add anything you like, such as cinnamon or nutmeg, chopped almonds or pecans, orange zest or blueberries or raisins. Cool and then put in the refrigerator until served.

*Pumpkin Pie ($1 - $3)
If you get lucky and find a frozen or fresh pie on sale you like, go for it. However if you want the homemade touch, take 1 can pumpkin puree, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 2 eggs, and pumpkin pie spice (or combination cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice) and a pie crust. Mix all ingredients and pour into the crust. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake another 30-45 minutes, until set.

Total: $6 - $20

So you see you can indeed enjoy an all-American thankful feast for under $20. Also of note, there are lots of things that go on deep sale during the holidays that you use other times of the year. If you're an avid baker and find a 4 for $1 sale on condensed milk, snap that up! If celery is .50 per pound, buy a whole bunch and freeze some for soup, or use it at Christmas. Especially if you have a big freezer, when the birds left are taking up space the day after Thanksgiving, head to the grocery store after your Black Friday shopping for steep discounts on fowl, and freeze it for Christmas or any time of the year. Happy bargain-hunting!

If you have any budget-friendly holiday tips, please share!

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