It can also be extremely expensive if you’re the Thanksgiving host of the year. However, if you’re smart and take a little time to plan ahead you can keep your Thanksgiving dinner costs down while still providing everyone great food and a great time.
Start with a Plan
If you’re the chief Thanksgiving chef this year the best way to reduce stress and your expenses is to plan!
If you’re just now starting to plan, only a few days before the big day, you’re probably going to pay more for food than someone who started planning a month ago. That doesn’t mean you still can’t benefit though.
Plan out what dishes you’ll be serving, how long it will take each to cook, and what you can prepare ahead of time.
Go ahead and put your shopping list together now so you can scoop up all the deals that are left.
(BTW, if you’re serving a turkey, you’re in luck! You’re going to find some of the best prices on turkey this week.)
Have a BYOD Dinner
BYOD = Bring your own dish. Have guests bring a dish.
If you don’t like the idea of having every guest bring their own dish you could at least ask close friends and family members to help with things like desert. Most people would be more than happy to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner.
Keep Things Simple
When you were planning out your menu what kind of dishes did you come up with? While it’s fun to try new recipes with all kinds of fancy ingredients it’s just not practical for Thanksgiving. For one, if you’re trying a new recipe you don’t know how it’s going to end up. (Don’t tell me you’ve never had less than expected results on some fancy new recipe.) Secondly, it’s just not practical.
Stick to the things you know. Keep things simple.
Chances are you’ve probably already got a lot of the ingredients on hand for the dishes you normally make.
Forget the Decorations
Ditch the perfection! You don’t need a fully decorated house for Thanksgiving. After all, the point of the holiday to is to be with family and celebrate all the things you’re thankful for.
You don’t need the perfectly clean house. You don’t need the perfect dinner. Give yourself some grace and focus on what really matters.
Do you have any tips to save money on Thanksgiving dinner?