8 Ways To Save Money On Your Thanksgiving Meal!

What comes to your mind when you think of Thanksgiving?
Pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, dressing/stuffing, gravy, and of course, turkey!

For me, my kids come to mind. They are grown and on their own, but, they each have very definite favorite foods they want me to prepare. It’s funny that each likes a different pie, too! We have 4 kids, 1 girl and 3 boys. Our oldest is our daughter and she likes Pecan pie, the next 2 sons like Chocolate pie – my Mom’s recipe, and the youngest son likes Lemon Pie – Hubby’s Mom’s recipe!

In our house lunch is served pretty close to noon so that, by 2 we are done eating and can watch the Cowboy game and at halftime we eat pie! Hubby and I eat Keto so we make sugar-free pies and our daughter makes sugar-filled pies for the boys and her

Planning a Thanksgiving dinner takes time and coordination. It’s a time when families come together from near and far and enjoy each other. It’s a day to eat all your family’s favorites, but, it comes with a price, especially if you host Thanksgiving dinner at your house.

But, did you know that you can spend less than you think for your Thanksgiving dinner?

If you are hosting this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t need to agonize over the cost! To help keep you from having a panic attack before the turkey’s in the oven, here are 8 ways to save money when hosting a Thanksgiving dinner.

Serve What Your Family Likes

You don’t need to serve an entire King’s table feast, with every thing you can imagine on it. There are certain foods on the table that many people may skip over or eat just to be polite.

I remember one year my daughter wanted to make fish… the boys almost revolted! lol She was disappointed, but, they did let her make a few new things. But, we know what everyone at the table enjoys and that’s what we make. I don’t try new things because they look forward to the old favorites each year.

If no one likes your new creamed artichokes recipe (I just made that up…), why spend money and time away from the family preparing it?

If the green bean salad was nearly untouched last year, it might be the perfect time to remove it from the menu.

Always remember: Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks, spending time with our families, and good, simple home cooked comfort food. You don’t need try out new gourmet recipes to please your family and guests. If they love store-bought gravy, why bother making a fancier version, which is not only expensive, it takes a lot of time away from spending time with your family and them getting to spend time with you?

Serve Seasonal Food

Serving food made from ingredients that are in season is cheaper and fresher.

Who wouldn’t enjoy their turkey with fresh mashed potatoes or butternut squash? Yum!

Plus, if you like to garden, you can save even more by growing the ingredients in your own backyard!

Check Out This Article: How To Grow An Herb Garden! Growing Fresh Herbs For Your Family Is Simple & Healthy!

Plan Ahead For Left Overs

Don’t let the leftovers go to waste either. Re-purpose them in the next few days.

Create a plan ahead of time. Think about what recipes you can create that you and your family can enjoy for the whole week. Such as:

Ask For Help

Just because you’re the host it doesn’t mean you have to do it all.

Mix it up! Have your guests bring a dish to contribute. You might find a new favorite recipe when your guests bring a side dish, an appetizer, a dessert, or a drink.

Coordinate with everyone to make sure you don’t have 12 desserts and a turkey 🙂

Make The Most Of Apps And Coupons

When you go shopping for the ingredients, always use money saving apps such as Ibotta.

Always make sure you have your store’s rewards card when grocery shopping. Also choose to shop at places that give you the best deals and offer extra savings. The Target RED Card gives up to 5% savings on all purchases!

Don’t forget to stay alert for deals and FREEbies from us before you head out to shop!

Check Out This Article: 16 Best Ways To Save Money On Groceries!

Create Inexpensive Sides

To have your frugal Thanksgiving dinner, serving vegetables and casseroles is a must.

These sides are not only inexpensive, but they are also filling, too!

When you buy your ingredients, always check the frozen aisle for the cost per unit before you leave the store. Frozen goods like corn, green beans, mixed vegetables, and fruits are less expensive compared with the fresh ones.

Use Smaller Plates And Bowls

On Thanksgiving, the turkey is not the only thing that gets stuffed: People do too!

Most of the time people’s eyes are much bigger than their stomach (remember when your Mom told you that?). What happens is you end up with uneaten food because people couldn’t eat as much as they thought (or wanted to).

This can lead to a lot of wasted food.

To avoid this, choose small dinner plates and bowls. These can help in curbing your guest’s tendency to overindulge.

Lighten Up On The Beverages

Stop playing bartender! You don’t need to open up a whole bar and stock up with expensive drinks.

You only need a few bottles of wine and one or two signature drinks that the guests can choose from.

Make your signature drinks (like sangria or punch) in bulk. Guests can serve themselves from the pitcher. A mixed drink or fancy cocktail can make your guests feel more special.

A Thanksgiving dinner does not need to be expensive. Don’t force yourself to serve an expensive or traditional dish if no one really likes it.

Instead, serve food that you are 101% sure that your family and friends will like. To celebrate the season of giving, ask everyone to bring their favorite dish!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner!

What tips do you have a to make a more frugal yet festive holiday?

Pantry Perks: Earn Cash Back On Shopping And More!

by Dian Leave a Comment

Pantry Perks: Earn Cash Back On Shopping And More!

I told you last week we’re were going to start looking at all of the new and not so new apps and savings programs that are out there in our Grocery Savings Made Easy series.

Today I want to start with Pantry Perks. They contacted me last month and asked if I would try their service. They sent me a gift card to give them a try and I was happy with their service. They had special deals, they had products that I buy, they deliver straight to my door – which is always nice, and the whole process was seamless. They offer cash back and a referral bonus for sharing with your family and friends!

Here’s what they’d like you to know:

PantryPerks is a site that just launched and sells all of the grocery, wellness and household essentials you can find in high-end natural / organic stores. But, here’s the exciting part. When you shop on PantryPerks, you get 7% cash-back each time you purchase more than $60 worth of goods (before shipping and taxes.)

But wait! There’s more!

Every time one of your friends shops on PantryPerks you get 6% back, and when their friends shop you get 5% back.

And that’s still not all! Because PantryPerks believes in spreading goodness, each time there is a transaction on their site, they also give away 1% to the charity of your choice.

So, to recap. PantryPerks sells great products. Shoppers earn cash. Friends of shoppers earn cash. Shoppers earn more cash. And the goodness spreads. Basically, it’s the new way to shop that makes you feel good about being eco-conscious all while staying wallet-smart.

Start by registering here <— for FREE!

Then, enjoy shopping! You’ll find a wide range of the same grocery, wellness and household essentials you can find in high-end natural / organic stores. Many items are sold in bulk; click on each item to see how many would be included in your order.

When you view your shopping cart page, you’ll be prompted to select a charity to which you wish to donate the 1% of your purchase amount.

Once you’ve checked out, pop over to your myperks-dashboard to find your personal referral link. Use that to invite your friends and family members to come shop at PantryPerks. When you purchase $60 or more in a calendar month, you are eligible to earn cashbacks of 7% on your purchases, 6% on purchases made by people you refer, and 5% on friends of friends, for that month and every month you spend $60 on PantryPerks.

Remember, every time someone signs up for PantryPerks and shops using your referral code, you’ll receive a $5 bonus. The more you share your referral link, the more money you stand to make!

There you have it in their own words – sounds great, huh? It’s a great way to earn cash back on your own shopping and earn even more by inviting your friends and family!

Right now you can get

Mrs. Meyer’s Foaming Hand Soap, 10oz – pack of 6 for just $18.99!

At Amazon the same is $23.18!

There is a $4.99 flat shipping rate for your entire order.

Grocery Savings Made Easy!

by Dian Leave a Comment

Grocery Savings Made Easy! How To Coupon Shop & Save Easier Than Ever Before!

When I first started couponing what was mostly available were newspaper coupons, grocery coupons in magazines, free coupons for groceries in the mail, that kind of thing for us to save on groceries.

But, as things progressed, as they normally do, we started getting into printable coupons. However, printable coupons posed a problem in that everyone then needed a printer and not everybody had one. Not everyone could afford enough ink to be printing that many coupons, they often didn’t work well, sometimes you went to print and it just glitched and actually said that you’d already printed. Also, in the beginning MANY stores refused printable coupons, so you’d waste ink and paper and leave without your deal and be frustrated.

There were all these issues with printable coupons, plus, for me, I didn’t care for them. I could get 10 newspapers for a dollar each and have 10 coupons and be able to use them all and stock up, so, I liked that much better than only being able to print two coupons per device. So, printable coupons have never been a favorite of mine.

In the last few years we’ve seen a growth in apps which are much easier. Most everyone had access to a smartphone and they’re just easier to use. All you have to do is just scan the receipt once you’re done shopping and it does the rest and gives you your money back, so, you didn’t have to print a coupon, you didn’t have to buy newspapers, you didn’t have to sort coupons from the newspaper and all that jazz. Apps are making it much easier to shop and save at the grocery store. With sales and coupons, plus apps you can still Grocery Shop For FREE!

What I want to do in the coming weeks is help us get organized and make the most out of our money. I want to dive into all of the different ways that don’t require a printer and don’t require you buy a newspaper, but, will still allow you to get deep discounts when you do your grocery shopping.

Stacking is going to be a big deal, that’s where you use rebates (from apps) on top of sales and digital, newspaper, or printable coupons all together to get the best deal possible. A lot of the stores have digital coupons that you can download onto your phone, again for me they’re not as good as newspaper coupons because with digital coupons you can usually only use them one time, you can’t even get two like you can when you print them. But, that’s just my personal preference. A lot of people would prefer using printable coupons over newspaper coupons, so, it’s just up to you and what you prefer to use.

We’re going to learn all about how to use all the apps and the programs that are out there now to save as much money as we can every time we go to the store.

When I first started the big deal was making sure you found a sale and then you applied a coupon(s) to that sale and got as many as you could get to get you through the next time that item went on sale. That still holds true even if you use rebates, printable online coupons, digital coupons. newspaper coupons it still holds true no matter what you use, you still want to find a sale and add a rebate, printable grocery coupons, a digital coupon, a newspaper coupon, whatever you can to it and then get as many as it takes you to get to the next sale so that you’re never paying full price for the things that you use on a regular basis in your home. We call that stockpiling.

Stockpiling has definitely gotten a bad name over the years. When I say stockpiling I am not talking about taking up your kid’s closets, or an entire shower (both of which I have seen on that extreme couponing show). What I mean when I say stockpiling is knowing what the best price is for a specific product (your buy price), knowing how often that item hits that price in it’s sales cycle – say 6-8 weeks, buying enough of that item at the best price with coupons and apps to last you until it goes on sale again. If that’s 8 cans of tune or 24 cans of tuna, then buy that many – you don’t need 411 – surely… so just what you need to get you through. The point is to never buy at the higher price, to not run out and have to go to the store and buy something at a higher price than you know you should because you ran out. In stockpiling you’re always just replenishing your supplies, not HAVING to purchase because you’re out.

We’ll talk about how to know your “buy price” for things and we’ll talk about sales cycles and knowing when to stock up on seasonal items. We do have some resources available for you to purchase that can help you get going here <—.

Let’s start here, are there any store policies, apps, or extras that confuse you or you’d like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to cover them in the weeks ahead. Here are some we’ve already covered and will be expanding on:

Walmart Savings Catcher

Target Cartwheel

Target Red Card

Mobile Apps

GSFF Gardening Shopping Finance Family

Here at GSFF we focus on Gardening, Shopping, Finance, and Family. We share tips, tricks for anything from growing your own food to living well on less money.

8 Ways To Save Money On Your Thanksgiving Meal!