Thanksgiving may bring about thoughts of tables towering with turkey and all the trimmings. The images seem to transport us to happy times, with family and friends around, football on the TV, and the only time all year when overeating is not only tolerated, it’s expected. What are your Thanksgiving holiday plans this year? Are you hosting? Friendsgiving? Is it a pitch-in style meal, or are you doing all the cooking yourself?
Not to add more stress to your holiday plans, but have you thought about the total cost of your holiday meal? Yes, you need to purchase that big bird and all the delicious side ingredients that go with it. But all that food will need to be transported, stored, cooked, and then stored again – and all of that requires energy. How much does the meal cost in total, from start to end? Have you thought about it? We have, of course (you knew where this was going, didn’t you?).
We’re happy to announce that our holiday curriculum guide, Cost of a Thanksgiving Meal, has been updated, upgraded, uploaded, and is ready for your classroom or home use. The guide now includes ways to calculate the total cost, including purchase, preparation, storage, and cleanup, of your meal, whether you cook with gas or electric. Also included is a brief discussion of the transportation energy required to get your meal from farm to table. It can be a great discussion piece in your classroom or after dinner when everyone is in a food coma and if you mention cranberry sauce one more time you’re going to have a roll thrown at you.
The guide can be found here. Available for free PDF download or an e-publication.
Some ideas to incorporate this guide with your students:
– Works well as a great math activity for reinforcing numbers, operations, and computation.
– For digital classrooms, create your own Google Sheets to assist with calculations!
– Don’t forget the coloring sheet in the back!
– Have students research their own food costs using local grocers & online grocery delivery sites.
All of us at NEED hope you and your loved ones have a healthy, relaxing, enjoyable, blessing-filled Thanksgiving holiday. Being able to serve all of you makes us feel very thankful, indeed.
