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You can still have a wonderful holiday meal while staying within a tight budget. Having a frugal easter dinner doesn't mean that you ans your guests will feel deprived. Read on to learn how to prepare a cheap Easter dinner.
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You can still have a wonderful holiday meal while staying within a tight budget. Having a frugal easter dinner doesn't mean that you ans your guests will feel deprived. Read on to learn how to prepare a cheap Easter dinner.
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Introduction
- Whether you are living by a budget from necessity, or view being frugal as a virtue, having a cheap Easter dinner doesn't mean sacrificing a special meal. Techniques to help you save on Easter dinner include planning ahead to take advantage of specials, shifting your meal to earlier in the day, making foods yourself, rather than relying on prepared dishes and using what you have on hand. You can also look at your budget for the entire week, taking advantage of planned leftovers from the holiday meal to save money on meals following the big day.
Step 1: Plan Ahead
- If you plan your menu well ahead of the holiday, you can watch for sales and stock up on items that you'll need. Most grocery items go on sale on 12 week cycles, so start planning 3 months ahead for the best chance of grabbing all the staples you may need at sale prices.
Step 2: Consider Brunch
- Brunch is generally a cheaper meal than dinner. If possible, volunteer to host a brunch rather than a dinner. Keeping with the "eggs-cellent" theme of the season, you can serve a quiche as the main course.
Step 3: Make it From Scratch
- Prepared foods make life convenient, but if you make it yourself, you may be able to save some money. While this may not be worth it for a low-cost item like rolls, you'll definitely make your dollars go farther if you create your themed Easter dessert from scratch, rather than bringing home an elegant bakery creation.
Step 4: Shop From Your Pantry
- The cheapest way to save money is not to spend it. Take a look at what you already have on hand when planning your menu.
- Do you have a few jars of olives? Add carrots and celery for a relish tray.
- If you find maple syrup and mustard, consider a mustard glaze for your ham. If you have a box of raisins on hand you may prefer a raisin sauce.
- Combine canned sweet potatoes, peaches, and pineapple, top with brown sugar, and bake for a delicious side dish.
- View your pantry as a source of inspiration, and save money at the same time.
Step 5: Accept Help
- If a guest volunteers to bring something, accept! If you're planning on serving wine with the meal, you could ask them to bring a bottle (or two!) as that's tough to find on sale, but even a side dish will help out.
Step 6: Plan for Leftovers
- Most people budget for food by the week, rather than the meal. You can make more room for your Easter feast if you can economize the rest of the week. One way to do that is to plan to incorporate leftovers from your Easter dinner into your meals for the rest of the week.
- If you have enough meat left, reheating sliced meat briefly in the microwave can form the basis of another meal.
- Small pieces have ham can be mixed in with scalloped potatoes; lamb can form the basis for a shepherd's pie.
- The bones can be used as well. Ham bones flavor a pea or bean soup; lamb bones can be used as the basis for a tomato sauce.
- Leftover vegetables can be puréed for soup.
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