Serve a vegetarian meal. The cost of meat is usually a big part of any meal, whether you serve the traditionally turkey or a ham or both. My Italian family always served a lasagna for Thanksgiving, and it was a long time before I ever knew that a Turkey was the traditional main course.
When hosting a family Thanksgiving get together, ask the relatives and guests to contribute to the meal by bringing a dish. You can assign dishes ahead of time. There are two ways of doing this. You can ask your sister to bring a “green vegetable,” or hand her an exact recipe for green bean casserole, for example.
Take advantage of the free turkey deals that are going on right now at the supermarkets. You have to earn a certain number of points, and then you are given a coupon for a free turkey. Use your savings card whenever you shop, and ask your friends to use the number, too, if they don’t have their own cards.
Cook as much from scratch as possible. A handmade graham cracker pie crust is very easy to make, and it will cost you at least one quarter of a purchased pie shell. Bread, rolls, stuffing, gravy, even cranberry sauce can all be easily made from scratch.
Bake as much as you can in one session. You won’t waste as much time and electricity or gas, if you keep putting things one after another in the oven.
Decorate with natural objects that you find in your yard and parks. Pine cones, leaves, interesting branches, dried flowers, whatever you come across can be turned into beautiful centerpieces. And if you still have pumpkins leftover, use them as well.
Avoid using paper plates, plastic silverware and disposable aluminum pans. You’ll save much more when you run the dishwasher a few extra times over paying for all of that stuff your are just going to throw away. Enlist the guests to help with the clean up, and it will go quickly.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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