Several years ago, the wife and I was invited over to a Kurdish family for dinner. I almost felt bad for him. He had four children. His wife did not work. He had a job that did not bring in a whole lot of money. Because they were refugee from northern Iraq there were getting some small government assistance.

When we set down to dinner, I was amazed at the out amount of food on the table. It was all healthy native Kurdish dishes. Homemade soup that was more like a stew than a soup. The bread was still warm.

My mother grew up in the Depression Era of Arkansas. She was one of 10 children. They made all their meals from basic ingredients. Clothes were had sown.

One of the hardest meals to shop for and fix is dinner. Everyone comes home after a long day at work. They are all tired and no one really wants to fix dinner. The quick and easy solution is to stop by McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Taco Bell on the way home. If someone in the family is more ambitious then there is pizza out of the freezer.

Just like in our house everyone has a struggle with fixing dinner. There are time where we have to force ourselves not to opt to the quick and easy solution. We make a conscious decision to plan ahead so when we get home and are to tired to  fix dinner, it is there waiting for us.

Thanks to people like Rachael Ray and others we recipes that we can cook in 30 minutes. Then there is for the more fore thinking type of individuals will prepare a meal in a crock pot.

In less than one week everyone in the United States and quite a number around the world will be sitting down for the most important meal of the entire years. It is a meal that families together. It is a meal where we give thanks for making it through another years.

Currently, there are massive turkey drives to help people who may not have the money to buy a turkey along with all the trimmings. Then there are those smaller families that will opt for having ome restaurant fix their Thanksgiving meal. Then there are the more traditional families that will start late Wednesday night and work until the serving of the biggest meal of the year.

The American Farm Bureau reports that for the first time since 2004 the cost of the Thanksgiving meal will drop. They are base it on a meal for ten people, at cost of $42.91. Personally, I think this quite low. Below is their break down for the meal.