Holidays can be expensive! Save time and money this Thanksgiving by utilizing these 12 expert tips:
- Wealth and wellness coach Jenny Giblin advises saving time by prepping items the night before. You can chop vegetables, bake a pie and make any dishes that can easily be reheated the next day.
- Sarah Puleo, blogger at bettycupcakes.com, says that less is more. She suggests selecting 2-3 side dishes and cooking a larger quantity of them to stretch your ingredients and conserve time.
- Karla De Leon, blogger at foodologie.com agrees with Sarah. She says to keep the essentials - such as turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing - and skip the fancy dishes.
- You can also put all the essentials together into a single dish. Cristin Frank, blogger at eveofreduction.com, says to cook a Pilgrim Pie (a meat pie or pot pie using common Thanksgiving ingredients like cranberry sauce, turkey, gravy and stuffing) instead of making each individual item separately.
- Life coach Stacia Pierce suggests staying organized by writing lists - such guest lists and menu items - to plan for Thanksgiving ahead of time.
- Alea Milham, Founder of premeditatedleftovers.com encourages list use. She says to reference your list of ingredients early on, allowing time to shop as you find what you need at the best prices.
- Harrine Freeman, blogger at hefreemanenterprises.blogspot.com echos the importance of list making. She says to create two; one of what you need and can afford to buy, and another containing what you need but can’t afford to buy, so you can ask your guests to bring those items.
- Karen Bantuveris, Founder and CEO of VolunteerSpot, also wants your guests to bring things to your gathering. She advises using a potluck style format to save time planning and cooking. A free helpful tool to utilize is the VolunteerSpot potluck sign up sheet, which is fast and easy to use.
- Hank Coleman, blogger at moneyqanda.com, says to keep a watchful eye on how much food you buy. To avoid throwing away food and money, only cook the exact amount that your family will actually be eating on Thanksgiving. When in doubt, he says to err on the side of caution and buy a little less food this year.
- Dave Feller, CEO of Yummly, suggests buying in bulk and purchasing frozen items when they are on sale.
- Jodi Furman, blogger at LiveFabuLESS.com, reminds us to value our time, even though it might cost a few extra dollars to purchase a store bought pie versus making it.
- And for those who would rather not cook, Srikanth Deshpande from pick2pay.com says if you plan to dine out on Thanksgiving, look for card-linked offers at restaurants to save 5-20%.
How do you save time and money on Thanksgiving? Tell us in a comment!
Image thanks to jdolenga on Flickr.