How to Plan a (Relatively) Cheap Thanksgiving

Food prices are what they are in 2022I’m not looking forward to Thanksgiving shopping. I recently noticed mine a lot of-12 packs needed Diet Cokes that I buy at least twice a week cost me around $8 ($3 or $4 more than last year)do my coke habit much harder to budget for. Hence, I began to suspect my holiday hosting Budget would soon face a similar reckoning.

It turns out my fears were justified! This year’s THanksgiving Dinner will indeed probably cost you more to make than last year. Corresponding TODAY.commany of the foods and ingredients needed to prepare the classic turkey meal have increased in price (including the bird itself):

Leading food price increases over the past 12 months: margarine, up 44%; Flour and prepared flour mixtures by 24.2%; frozen and chilled baked goods such as cakes, tarts and dumplings, up 20.4%.

While the meat, poultry, fish and eggs collection category is up 9% compared to September 2021, the price of eggs alone is up 31% year-on-year.

… Raw turkey prices rose 17% and processed fruits and vegetables rose 16%.

I don’t have the authority to cut food prices, but I do have some cost-cutting suggestions if like me you don’t have one infinite Income to spend on your feast.

Don’t bother with a fancy turkey (or skip it altogether)

I’ve cooked and eaten cheap butterballs, turkey that’s even cheaper than butterballs, and expensive historic birds, and for the most part, I thought everyone liked it like turkey. In all my years of cooking and eating turkey, I’ve found this path How you prepare the turkey is more important than where you bought it it (although I will don’t blame anyone for giving the extra money for a well-reared bird when they can afford it). This buttermilk brine and the smoking method can help you get succulent birds with well tanned skin and without fancy ingredients (or old birds).

You can also give up on the bird altogether and take a more flexible approach by buying roasts or large sized meats that are currently available at your local grocery store. The freezer is your friend here: You can now buy a heavily discounted roast and then put it on hold until the big day.

Be ruthless with your menu

Think back to Thanksgiving and be brutally honest with yourself. What did you eat? What was ignored? Was the savory brioche bread pudding you made really that big of an improvement over a simple stovetop filling? Do you really need an appetizer spread? Has anyone eaten your salad? Answer these questions with unswerving honesty, and you’ll find things to cut back on.

Expand your alcohol budget

Thanksgiving is a holiday and people like to drink on holidays. It’s easy to get lost in the Trader Joe’s wine department if you try to provide a pairing for every palate, but my best cheap wine hack is delivery one Type of wine: The absurdly cheap but incredibly smooth six-dollar blanc de blancs. to quote myself: “It comes from ‘somewhere in France’, is incredibly dry and much better than it could be at this price.” (Other, expensive sparkling wine works too, but providing a wine variety can keep costs down.)

Another move you could do is make a big old hit, like this last minute option I came up with the idea five years ago. Grapefruit and elderflower might not sound particularly autumnal, but this Bev has incredible abilities to cleanse the palate, which is a huge plus when serving the saltiest and fattiest meal of the year.

The most effective cost-cutting measure is to simply make dinner a BYOB affair. If yourIf you’re cooking the turkey or most of the meal, it’s perfectly fair to outsource the alcohol to someone who can’t cook. Anyone over the age of 21 can contribute in this way, making it the perfect choice for the What Can I Bring? program.questioning bachelor, nephew or adult college student.

Shop early

As I mentioned last weeknow when you buy durable goods, especially when you see them on sale, you can spread your costs and to avoid crises in the supply chainshould they occur.

Save on your serving dishes

If I have said it onceI’ve said it at least three times, but Goodwill and other thrift stores are the best and cheapest places to get your platters, pitchers, soup tureens, punch bowls, serving spoons, silverware, and other random parts of serveware you to need. You can also find Good deals at the restaurant supply store, but goodwill tends to be nicer to have pieces.

don’t be a hero

I’m fighting the urge to cook the entire Thanksgiving meal myselfand tend to be off with certain dishes (turkey, Mashed potatoes, gravy, corn casserole). If ever there was a year to let goit is 2022. let people bring stuff TTurn the whole thing into a potluck if you can. Not only do you spread the costs, you also free up some of your costs time and alleviate some of your emphasize. Thanksgiving should be an enjoyable day spent with family and friends. Bbe stressed is not that pleasant.