Planning
Plan your menu now. Evaluate your pantry and see what items you already have and what items you need to stock up on. Sounds simply, right? How often do I buy ingredients that are already in my stockpile – often!
If you are stuck on how to start planning, you can purchase Once a Month Mom Holiday 2010 eCookbook for just $9.99, which includes step by step instructions for cooking your holiday dinner by making it ahead and freezing it or you can download this free Thanksgiving Planning eBook packed with printables.
Start Shopping Now
Now that you’ve planned your menu and evaluated your pantry, you have a grocery list of items you need. Start stockpiling now. Take advantage of the pre-holiday offers and coupons on all the ingredients you need for your holiday menu like this $5 Butterball Rebate and this list of baking printable coupons. Kelly says you should pay less than $1.69/lb for your turkey depending on your region – usually $0.49 – $0.99/lb. Learn more about how to start couponing if you have never used coupons in the past.
Cook from Scratch
By buying your ingredients at the lowest sale price, which you will find in my weekly grocery deal lists, you can save 50% or more on your shopping bill. If you think you won’t have time the week of the holidays, then cook some of your recipes ahead of time and freeze.
Make Your Decorations
You don’t need to spend a ton on fancy decoration. Use what you have or collect some foliage from your yard for a beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece. Hoosier Homemade has some great Thanksgiving Decoration ideas that won’t break your budget. Paper Glitter is offering a complete printable kit for your Thanksgiving festivities.
Have a Pitch In
This is how our family rolls. Everyone brings at least one side dish and/or dessert. The person hosting usually supplies the meat and any sides of their choice. The rest is pot luck!
Order Out
Maybe you are completely stretched for time this holiday season or just want to relax and enjoy the day before the official holiday shopping season start. Order out. Places like Bob Evans are offering a full Farm Feast for under $10/serving.
Leftovers
Don’t toss the leftover – unless they’ve been sitting out for 12 hours straight. Repurpose your leftovers for a fabulous day after Thanksgiving brunch.
Share your best tips on saving for your holiday dinner in the comments section!
Thanks so much for the mention!
~Liz
We are having a Holiday Bloganza where each blog participating offers one gift to the pot. One entrant will win ALL the prizes. They MUST follow each blog to win. Extra entries will be to follow on facebook, twitter, networked blogs, etsy… ect.
Good way to get more followers’ Check it out. Please read carefully, this is not a giveaway for one blog… many blogs are linking up then on November 22 we will offer all the prizes for a HUGE GIVEAWAY!!
http://myjourneywithcandida.blogspot.com/2010/01/holiday-bloganza-calling-all-bloggers.html
These are great tips. For the past four years – give or take – my daughter has taken over the Thanksgiving dinner planning. We normally don’t decorate, but she plans the menu ahead of time, gives me my assignment(s) and handles the entire production herself. Needless to say, I am totally okay with this set up. :-D