Budget Thanksgiving

 

It's the month when we start looking ahead at Thanksgiving and Christmas and quite possibly New Year's meals.  There are plenty of festive occasions ahead starting at the end of this month and going right through until the start of the New Year ahead.

I've read much about 'budget meals' for these holidays and I thought it would be nice to try and create a few different menus on a budget.  The goal is to have a festive meal, one that doesn't look skimpy but at the same time doesn't send the budget too far astray.  

My inspiration for this is two-fold.  In my vintage magazines, especially those in the WWII years are full of budget meal ideas for the holiday.  It's also about this time of year one begins to see grocery store ads for a 'budget' catered meal.  One grocery, a higher end one, I will be quick to add, declared that they would make a holiday meal for four people and the cost would be only $119.  That included a turkey breast, stuffing, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, mashed potatoes and a single pumpkin pie. 

later: another grocery offered an option to feed ten people for $110.  That seemed far more reasonable to me and included a salad, four sides, stuffing, turkey, gravy and dessert.  I am pretty sure that we can do better than that at home.

Seriously folks, that whole meal, if made at home could easily be had for far less!  In fact, I'll wager one could add another dessert and two more sides and still come in well under their 'budget'...and serve a few more folks while you were at it, too.

1.  Make it Yourself.  If you are not a cook per se, you can plan your menu and then ask others to bring items to the meal.  

There are clear instructions online for how to bake a turkey, how to tell if it's done, etc.  You can buy pre-made pie crusts or pre-made frozen pies (cheaper than the bakery).  And guess what?  The pies in the bakery are usually the store brand frozen pies, thawed and baked in the bakery anyway!

If you are a novice, then plan a basic menu, such as the one the grocery store offers and take your 'help' where you can get it.  A smaller turkey breast can fit in most 7-quart crockpots if you don't care to roast it.  Boxed stuffing will do just fine.  Mashed potatoes can be instant potatoes, the gravy from a jar.  Cranberry sauce from a can, a couple of cans of green beans and a frozen pumpkin pie.  Your meal will still come in at far less cost than you'd imagine, and it's all easily prepared.  And the bonus is turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and pie will all go on sale here in a couple of weeks.

Don't be intimidated by fancy recipes if you're new to serving guests.  Keep it simple.  

2.  Frozen turkey is always cheaper than fresh.  Whole frozen turkeys usually run between 49c to as much as $1.19c a pound (based on last year's prices).  Shoppers rewards at some stores can keep it at the low end. Name brands cost more than store brands.  I personally favor a name brand bird, but I discovered via a meat department employee at one of my usual stores that the store brand turkeys they offered were packaged by the name brand company I preferred.  I save money every year buying the store brand frozen turkey and always have a good quality product. 

Just remember to figure in enough time to defrost the turkey and purchase accordingly.  A whole turkey can take 5-7 days to thaw in the fridge.  A turkey breast will be more costly (usually around $1.19/pound) but won't take as long to thaw.  

A smaller boneless rolled turkey roast will generally run you about $3 per pound.  Still, if you don't need a whole turkey or breast, this is likely the least expensive option for the smaller budget.

3.  Buy the size best suited to your gathering.  If your dinner will be for just a few consider all the options before you buy your turkey.

A boneless roast can be quite economical, weighing in at 3 pounds.  You'll pay more per pound but have fewer leftovers.  As a bonus the boneless roast will cook in less time, too.

A boneless roast usually is about 3 pounds.  You should be able to feed up to six people with that weight.  It's good to know thought that a packet of 'gravy' base is included in that weight and you're not actually going to get three pounds of meat.  You're going to end up with a bit more than 2 pounds of meat when it's all said and done, since any liquids injected to keep the turkey moist are also going to leach out of the meat while it's cooking.

For a bone-in breast, plan on about 1.25 pounds of meat per person.  And pretty much the same portions for a whole turkey.  At the very least plan 1 pound per person.  Again, injected broths and seasonings, gravy or giblet packets are all weighed in with the whole, as well as bones.  

Even when we're having a full crowd at our home, I usually end up baking a turkey breast and a whole bird.  No matter how large our turkey, if we're feeding a crowd there's seldom enough left over to make sandwiches which John considers a necessity!  

4.  Choose sides according to your budget.  In the days when our budget was very tight, we often served plain side dishes.  No marshmallow or pecan crunch topping on the Sweet Potatoes.  We baked them whole and served them to guest in halves or quarters with plenty of butter.  No green bean casserole.  I served plain green beans with plenty of seasoning to flavor them a bit.  

What made the table seem sumptuous and not barely laden was that there were lots of green beans, lots of sweet potatoes and lots of mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing.  No one looking at the table could ever fault the quantity of food nor the quality of it.   

Stuffing was something I made in the manner I'd been taught.  I used cooked corn bread and biscuit bread crumbled and mixed with plenty of broth, celery, onions, sage and occasionally a can of cream of chicken or celery soup, plus a few eggs to lighten the heavy breads.

In later years I went one better.  Instead of making bread especially for stuffing, I made it from leftovers.  I just saved cornbread, muffins, biscuits and end pieces of loaves in the freezer for a month or two prior to Thanksgiving and had all the bread I needed without going to the expense of making up fresh breads to use in the stuffing.

I always found I could purchase whole cranberries for less than a can of the jellied sauce.  Just add sugar, bring to a slow boil on stove top with water (about a cup or so) and when the berries have burst, you should have something ready to gel on its own.  You'll get more sauce, and it will still cost less than the canned stuff.  And it's good!  Cranberries contain plenty of natural pectin so you will get a gelled sauce.  

5.  Make dessert yourself.  Pumpkin pie is considered a classic, I know but it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.  I think the Libby's can has the best recipe on it but you don't have to buy Libby's pumpkin!  You can purchase a store brand.  Did you know that you can also substitute butternut squash puree or mashed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin for an equally delicious (and less costly) pie?

Because for us, November is pecan season, we'd often pick up pecans and make a homemade pie using those nuts.  I always favored a carrot cake this time of year.  It had the bonus of making a large cake and carrots were generally cheap.  Apple cake would serve just as well since apples are in season and often inexpensive.  

6. Plan to use your leftovers.  Tell me how much you like those side dishes mentioned earlier...We didn't forgo them entirely.  Oh no!  Sweet Potato Casserole and Green Bean casserole were made with Thanksgiving Day leftovers and then served to the smaller family group for a meal later in the week with leftover sliced turkey.  My kids got the sides they loved but only when we were serving 7 and not 21. And it stretched that holiday feeling into the week.  Leftover mashed potatoes became a lovely Mashed Potato Casserole.

I would freeze leftover stuffing and gravy, too.  I'd thaw them later and serve with roasted chicken or as a side to pork roast.

And leftover turkey was probably most highly prized as leftovers.  Turkey Tetrazzini, Turkey a la King over rice, Turkey Salad.  If I had leftover bread cubes, then I'd make a lovely turkey strata to serve as a main dish for a meal.  

And don't forget the annual pot of Turkey Soup made with the frame!  You can use rice or noodles to stretch the soup.  

The bonus side to this use of leftovers is that it spreads the cost of your purchased ingredients, usually turkey and cranberries, out over several meals, stretches the post-holiday budget and feeds your family.

7.  Shop your shelves.  What kept our holiday meal inexpensive was usually the fact that we used things we already had on hand.  I always had fresh potatoes and carrots and celery on hand.  I always had flour and sugar, green beans, milk, eggs.  The basics were at my fingertips.  As I said, I saved cornbread and biscuits in later years to make my own stuffing.  I relied first on what I had then I planned for what I didn't normally keep on hand: cranberries and turkey.  I determined what I'd need to budget for those items and then I'd set money aside each pay period to cover those items.  

8.  Skip what no one really likes.  Or in my case, I skip what everyone likes but I usually ruin.  I don't think we ever had rolls at a Thanksgiving meal because inevitably I burned them and not just a little bit burned either.  They were like little piles of soot.  I stopped buying them and trying to bake them for the holiday meal.  It's a waste of time and money if no one can eat them anyway!

If your family doesn't like green beans, then don't serve them.  You can substitute in peas or greens or cabbage or whatever your family does like.  If they are not fans of pumpkin pie serve them apple instead.  Make your traditional meal your own.  

If you're having guests who are prone to complain over what you're not serving, just smile and let it go.  They can make the sweet potato casserole the way they like at their home.  Or ask them to bring their favored dish.  Then they can take the uneaten leftovers home, too. 

My sister-in-law loves giblet gravy.  I grew up eating it and enjoy it myself, but my family doesn't care for it at all.  If Pilar is here, then we have giblet gravy.  She makes it and she and I eat it!  She happily eats leftovers for her breakfast for the next couple of mornings, so it works out just fine, lol.

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