Kayla's group text went out on a Sunday night in October: "Friendsgiving at my place, Saturday the 15th. Nine of us. I have ONE oven. Plan accordingly."
Kayla has been my best friend since high school. She's a nurse in Columbia now, in a one-bedroom apartment with a galley kitchen, an oven that runs hot and about two feet of counter. Nine people and one oven means you don't bring something that needs the oven. Everybody on that thread understood this, and three people still asked if they could "just pop something in for twenty minutes."
We decided early to bring a slow cooker of mac and cheese. It doesn't need the oven, it stays hot for hours, and it's the dish people go back to for seconds. I gave us a $25 limit. We didn't count the gas, since we drive down to see Kayla most months anyway.
What our dish cost
Most of this came from our Aldi run at the start of November, with the rest from the Walmart in town or our own fridge.
- Elbow macaroni, 2 pounds: $2.24
- Sharp cheddar, 2-pound block: $6.98
- Pepper jack, 8 ounces: $2.47
- Cream cheese, 8 ounces: $1.98
- Evaporated milk, two cans: $2.56
- Butter, one stick: $1.00
- Milk, about 2 cups from our gallon: $0.45
- Eggs, two: $0.58
- Dry mustard and paprika from the cupboard: $0.30
- One slow cooker liner, for easy cleanup at Kayla's: $0.99
- A roll of foil for leftovers: $2.45
That's $22 for a dish that fed nine people, or about $2.44 a person. The foil is in there on purpose. I'll get to why.
The recipe is simple. Cook the macaroni about two minutes short of done. In the slow cooker, stir together melted butter, cream cheese, evaporated milk, regular milk, two beaten eggs, the mustard, paprika and most of the cheese, then fold in the macaroni and put the rest of the cheese on top. Cook it on low for two to three hours, stirring once an hour. We made it at home, wrapped the slow cooker in a beach towel, wedged it on the floorboard of the CR-V for the hour down US-63, and plugged it in at Kayla's on warm.
One oven, nine people
Kayla did a turkey breast, since a whole turkey plus anything else would never fit in her oven at once. She had a schedule taped to a cabinet door: turkey until 4, stuffing and green bean casserole from 4 to 4:45, rolls last. Everyone else brought things that didn't need the oven: a cold pasta salad, a veggie tray, two pies baked the night before, deviled eggs and a cooler of drinks. Our slow cooker sat next to somebody's slow cooker of meatballs, both on the same outlet by the microwave, and the breaker held.
The leftovers trade
Here's the foil. Around 8 o'clock, Kayla announced that she was not keeping nine people's leftovers in an apartment fridge, and nobody could leave without taking something. That turned into a trade. Our mac and cheese was down to maybe two cups, so I gave that away and filled our foil with everybody else's food.
We came home with about a pound and a half of turkey, a big scoop of stuffing, some green bean casserole, four rolls and a third of a pumpkin pie. That was three dinners for the two of us this week: turkey and stuffing, turkey sandwiches on the rolls, and a turkey and green bean casserole thing over rice that Tyler has asked me not to make again.
If I'd bought those three dinners at the Walmart in town, I'd guess $25 to $30. So our $22 dish came back to us as more than $22 of food, plus a night in a full apartment with people we like. That's the best grocery math I've done all month.
Next week is Thanksgiving at Debbie's in Kirksville, where the rules are the opposite. Debbie cooks everything, you bring a dessert, and you stay out of her kitchen. I'm bringing a pie, and I've already put a fresh roll of foil in my bag.
