A do-it-yourself Thanksgiving
By Maggie Beidelman
For those of you left to fend for yourselves this Nov. 23, don't resort to takeout Chinese food or a frozen dinner.
There are ways to get a traditional Thanksgiving meal as a college student without a large budget, a lot of time or parents.
Start with a trip to Safeway and at least $60, if you want to make all the dishes below and you want to feed about four people (that's only $15 a person, which is almost comparable to a Benson dinner, including drink).
I recommend taking this opportunity to sign up for a free Safeway club card, if you don't already have one. This will help with extra savings (the prices below are for Safeway club card members).
If you want to cook a whole turkey, you can get Safeway's two-hour Manor House turkey, which costs $6 for the whole thing and conveniently takes (surprise) two hours to cook.
There's also an instructional video that can be found at www.safeway.com that tells you how to carve the turkey.
I recommend going to Safeway this weekend so that you can begin to thaw the turkey in the fridge at least four days before the big day.
If you don't have access to a conventional oven, you can purchase a precooked 24-ounce turkey breast at $10, which feeds two to three people.
The easiest way to prepare stuffing is to buy it boxed at about $1 to $3 each.
It requires only the addition of water, which can't be too difficult to do, right?
Instant gravy can be purchased by the can for about a dollar, and the same goes for your standard cranberry sauce.
The other night, my roommate had a sincere craving for sweet potatoes and we discovered the unexpected functionality of Graham ovens.
Yes, even those crummy appliances are worth their salt, if that's all you have access to.
The easiest way to cook squash, sweet potatoes and yams is to wrap each one individually in tinfoil and put them in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes, depending on your oven.
Yams and sweet potatoes cost about $1.50 each; acorn squash is 99 cents per pound, or about $2.50 each (one acorn squash for two to four people).
Once the yams are cooked, you have the option of making what are called candied yams, which are basically a health-nut's excuse for dessert (and a good one).
This is done by peeling cooked yams, mashing them in a dish, sprinkling brown sugar (79 cents a box) and marshmallows ($2 a bag) on top, and returning the yams to the oven until the marshmallows are golden brown. Delicious.
For the staple vegetable, I recommend going with green beans or corn.
One pound of fresh green beans at Safeway costs $1.99 and a bag of frozen corn costs about $3 a bag.
Simply put the veggies in a microwaveable dish filled halfway with water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for about seven minutes or until steamy.
If mashed potatoes are your thing, and you don't want to put much effort into making them, you can purchase a box of instant mashed potatoes for $2 and follow the directions found on the back.
A pre-made salad can be purchased at under $4 a bag, and it requires hardly more than opening the bag and emptying its contents.
For those of you who burn water, this might be a good first dish to make.
French bread costs $1.59 per baguette, and you have the dessert options of a pumpkin pie at $4.99 or an apple pie at $6.50.
To complete this easy and low cost feast, pick up a couple of bottles of Martinelli's apple cider ÃÃ-- $5 for two.
My final suggestion: shop early. The object is to make use of the good deals before everyone else does.
Lastly, remember that Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks.
Invite all of your housemates and friends who are staying in Santa Clara next week to share in your holiday feast, and let the delights of your palates translate to thanks for the wonderful company.
Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu.