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Home » Family, Fun & Holidays » Frugal Holidays » Thanksgiving on a Budget: Introduction

Thanksgiving on a Budget: Introduction

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Remember I told you that Erin from 5DollarDinners and I had a special treat for you this week? Well, welcome to our week-long series, Thanksgiving on a Budget.

There is great temptation to feel like you have to prepare a ten-course gourmet feast for your loved ones for Thanksgiving. It seems almost everywhere you go right now, you are bombarded with images of elaborate spreads of gorgeous stuffed turkeys lined with rosemary and oranges surrounded by all the trimmings.

While these images might be beautiful, more often than not they can make you feel that unless you recreate such an extravagant affair for your Thanksgiving feast, it just won't be good enough. The reality, though, is that most of us do not have the time or the money to pull off a magazine-like Thanksgiving spread.

And we're here to tell you that that is perfectly okay. In fact, we'd like to encourage you to make your Thanksgiving celebrations simple and economical this year. Erin from 5DollarDinners and I will be teaming up to share some of our favorite frugal Thanksgiving recipes. Whether you're an experienced cook or a novice in the kitchen, we hope that our recipes, tips, and photo tutorials will inspire you to pull off your own "Thanksgiving on a Budget".

We've also solicited the help of Monica from TheHomespunHeart for some inexpensive Thanksgiving decoration ideas which you'll not want to miss. And after we've shared our favorite recipes, we're going to be enlisting your help on Friday.

We'll open up the floor here with a Mr. Linky and encourage you to post your favorite frugal Thanksgiving recipes or ideas on your blog and then come back here to share your link with everyone else. We look forward to reading all your frugal recipes, tips and ideas for
making this Thanksgiving both frugal and festive! 

It is our desire that this series will help relieve some of the "pressure" that is placed on you to create
the perfect meal on Thanksgiving Day. And we hope you are able to instead focus more on what Thanksgiving is really all about–taking time to give thanks for all of the blessings we have been given!

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Note from Crystal: By the way, if you are not a regular reader of Erin's blog, 5DollarDinners, may I encourage you to head over there right now and add her feed to your reader?

Erin feeds her family of four every night for, you guessed it, $5! And her recipes are not only simple and delicious, they are also quite healthful. Her menus serve to clearly dispel the myth that you can't feed your family healthfully on a budget. Read more here about Erin and how she feeds her family for $5 every night.

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  4. Lor says

    Regarding DINK’s question, if your library has Amy Dacyczyn’s “Tightwad Gazette II” or “Complete Tightwad Gazette,” you can find her instructions (flexible recipe) for creating muffins using the ingredients that you have on hand or can acquire most economically. I’ve found it useful for making many variations on muffins.

  5. Lor says

    Thank you very much! Erin’s site is a tremendous blessing! I strive to avoid the same ingredients as she does in food. Unfortunately many of the best coupon/sale deals in my vicinity are for items containing those ingredients (such as canned soups). Her recipes will be very helpful in my quest to improve my from-scratch meals.

    I’m looking forward to your series!

  6. DINK says

    I have a favor to ask. DH and I are going to Thanksgiving next week. We’d like to make muffins. I have some caramel syrup on hand and would like to use that in the muffins but cannot seem to find any recipes. If there is anyway you could share a simple muffin idea or if any readers have any ideas… it’s our first Thanksgiving together with our family (sadly we had to work last year!) and we’d like to make a couple dozen mini muffins to share with them.

    Thanks.

  8. Chelssya says

    What a great blog Erin has! Thanks so much for posting about it! I also try to do $5 dinners, but I often get stuck in a rut with unadventurous meals. I’m excited to try some of her recipes!
    We like to do a Thanksgiving potluck. For almost 10 years while in grad school, we were over 1000 miles away from our families. Since grad school budgets are tiny, we would hold a potluck so we could still celebrate the holiday. The host would provide the turkey and everyone else would bring a dish. Now that we’re back home, we’re implementing the potluck here. Our extended family isn’t huge, but if everyone brings a dish or two to share there will be plenty of food to share and use for leftovers. It will only cost each family a few dollars.

  9. anna says

    We are staying under budget for Thanksgiving this year. We ALWAYS gather with my in-laws (up there for Hunting season), this year we are all bringing something that way no one person has to foot the bill. We are incharge of the 10lb bag of potatoes and the green bean cassarole (no one has to know I got all of those items for free or nearly free at Walgreens!!). Thanks for doing this segment. Happy day.

  10. Julie says

    Thank you so much for this series! As a mom of 7, who struggles with the food budget already, I can always use help being frugal and simple in the kitchen. Since we are hosting my husband’s family for Thanksgiving this year (23 people will be here for 3 days) I am a little stressed over the expenses. Your series will help, I’m sure!
    Thanks again
    Julie

  11. Monica says

    Thanks Crystal – I can’t wait to see what you and Erin have come up with. I’ve not read her site so am heading over to subscribe right now!

  13. Lee-Anne says

    We have always been frugal and this year is no different. I will be spending more than $5 for thanksgiving dinner but if I spend $15 I will be shocked. I earned a free turkey from my grocery store, I am getting veggies for free with coupons from walmart, my pumpkins were given to me for my pie, my pie crusts were less than $1, coolwhip .88, rolls and bread cubes will be 10 for $10 next week, Potatoes were BOGO last week, Gravy wil be homemade, cranberry sauce $2 for 4 cans. All I need is fresh ingredients this week and some eggnog. Thank you for such a wonderful job, you have inspired me so much these last few months. I have not cut our food budget yet, but we have a nice stockpile for what we were skimping for 4 months ago!

  17. Kristen Anderson says

    I am so excited to see what you guys come up with. I am amazed you got all the food in your previous post for 40 dollars! We are trying. We did cut our food budget by 100 dollars last month.

  19. Jess says

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! We are hosting a “misfit” dinner this year and I know that there will be lots of pressure to make it “special and wonderful” i am really wanting to do that without throwing my budget out the window! SO thanks!!!