What you buy when meat is off the table

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The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863-1930).

On my weekly, pre-Thanksgiving swing through Costco in Hackensack on Monday, I spent $123.77 -- every penny on food.


I plan to eat a homemade carrot-and-fennel soup, and lobster ravioli for my holiday dinner, while serving my wife, son and guests turkey drumsticks and thighs from Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff.

At Costco, I picked up more Pasta Prima lobster ravioli ($11.99), enough for two dinners, and a two-pound bag of kale ($2.99) that I plan to sautee with extra-virgin olive oil and garlic as a Thanksgiving side dish.

My other purchases:

• Kirkland-brand smoked and sliced, wild-caught sockeye salmon ($14.99 for 16  ounces).
• Kirkland-brand frozen, wild-caught Pacific mahi-mahi fillets ($15.99 for 48 ounces).
• Kirkland-brand frozen, wild-caught Pacific cod fillets ($14.99 for 32 ounces).
• Earthbound Farm organic spring mix salad ($4.49 for 16 ounces).
• Jarlsberg sliced, reduced fat cheese ($8.99 for 32 ounces).
• Bartlett pears ($6.49 for 12).
• Newman's Own 100% grape juice ($6.99 for two, three-quart bottles).

I also bought cans of Le Sueur sweet peas, and Kirkland-brand sweet corn kernels and fancy green beans to donate to the Center for Food Action in Englewood, which said it was seeking canned vegetables and potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner baskets.