Two Frugal Recipes (sweet potato pie and hot chocolate!)

Frugal Hot Chocolate from The Complete Tightwad Gazette (p 81) by Amy Dacyczyn

1/3c dry milk

1tsp cocoa

1c hot water

Marshmallows to taste.

How easy is that? And it only costs about 10 cents per serving. Mixed up in a pretty jar this would be a nice gift as well. 

This recipe is from my friend George. He brought this pie to our staff picnic and it knocked my socks off. I'm now completely obsessed and making it for Thanksgiving, plus a few extra to freeze. I asked if it is a secret family recipe, he says its from The California Cookbook from LA Times.

George's Sweet Potato Pie

1 ½ c mashed cooked sweet potatoes

½ c butter or margarine, softened

4 eggs

1 c granulated or brown sugar (I used brown)

1 ½ t nutmeg

1 ½ t vanilla

½ c milk

1 -9 inch unbaked pie shell

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.  Let stand in refrigerator overnight.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.

Photo courtesy http://www.sxc.hu/

Thanksgiving leftovers, bulk buys, and recipes

There are some amazing grocery deals this week, as I noted here.

For example, boy are those potatoes at Checkers and Aldi cheap! But I find that when I buy a big bag of potatoes, they almost always go bad before we can use them all. So, I've done a little research, and I'm going to freeze them! GoodCheapEats has the info here: How To Freeze Potatoes.

Good deals on sweet potatoes also abound. (I got a 3# bag at Aldi for $0.75!) A good way to save these is to bake sweet potato pies and then freeze them. Great recipe from my friend George here!

If I had more room in my freezer, I'd buy an extra turkey or two. But I'll just have to hope for some nice leftovers. What to do with turkey? Obviously, you can freeze it, but you can also make a stock for soups. Also from GoodCheapEats, a How to Cook at Turkey has good info about leftovers. Some ideas:

Easy Turkey Pot Pie
Turkey Enchiladas
Shredded BBQ Turkey Sandwiches

Grandma Betty's Thanksgiving Casserole:
Chop up leftover turkey, layer in a casserole dish with leftover stuffing, vegetables, gravy, whatever, top with mashed potatoes and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes to re-heat. You can sprinkle the top with shredded cheese before baking to make it extra-delicious.

Have I mentioned how much I love my Grandma Betty? She called me yesterday and had a whole list of "Tips & Tricks" she'd written down for my first Thanksgiving. This "recipe" was one of her tips. Sounds delicious!

Photo from http://www.sxc.hu/

Frugal Thanksgiving table- DIY placemats.

It just occurred to me that besides getting the food together for my Thanksgiving meal, I'm going to want my table to look nice. I am fortunate to have nice dishes from wedding gifts, but beyond that my table is looking a little sparse.  To start, what will cover my table?

Tablecloth v. Placemats
For my Thanksgiving, I'm going to go with placemats, for a few reasons. 1. I do not have a tablecloth that is big enough for my table when it is extended. 2. I might have to use more than one table, and I certainly do not have 2 tablecloths. 3. My meal is going to be pretty casual and I think cute placemats will work better for my style.

That said, I only have 4 placemats, and I'm expecting 10-12 guests. I've always meant to get more placemats... it just somehow always fell to the bottom of my list. :)  So, with a few days left, what to do for more placemats? I could buy some, but that wouldn't be very frugal.  I could probably buy some super cheap ones for the same cost as I can make them, but I'd rather have placemats that are exactly what I want and can use for many years to come. After trolling the internet for an embarrassingly long time, here are the best (easiest & cheapest but still cute) placemats to make.

1. Double-sided fabric placemats. by Centsational Girl

2. Easy no-sew paper placemats. (I would highly recommend laminating them, and you could also use pieces of fabric instead of paper, which could also be laminated.), by Thoughtfully Simple






I think I'm going to opt for the double-sided fabric ones. I won't have to buy much fabric because I've got a lot of it already, and I like the idea of getting two different placemats in one. I think I'm going to do one side a solid neutral color- ivory or taupe perhaps, and the other side printed fabric. I'll post pictures and final costs once I make some!

What are you putting on your table? Anything DIY?

My frugal Thanksgiving shopping list

Here is a shopping list for Thanksgiving (plus a few staples). I've researched the lowest prices in town (most good until 11/24).

• sweet potatoes, per lb   Hyvee $0.59, Walmart $0.28, Checkers $0.44
• white potatoes               Dillons 10lbs/ $1.88, Aldi 10lbs/$1.79
• frozen vegetables          Dillons Kroger brand $1.00
• green beans (canned)   HyVee brand green beans $0.39, Aldi $0.59
• stuffing                           Target Kraft Stove Top Stuffing $0.89
• rolls                                Checkers $0.99/dozen, Aldi $0.99/dozen
• cranberry jelly/sauce     Hyvee $0.95, Aldi $0.89
• butter                             Checkers 1lb $1.98, Aldi 1lb/$1.99
• sugar (granulated)         Dillons 4lb/$1.99, Checkers 4lb/$1.99
• sugar (powdered)    Checkers 2lb/$1.25
• flour                               Dillons 5lb/ $2.49 (but I suspect Aldi or Checkers will be cheaper)
• cream soup                   HyVee $0.67, Checkers $0.60
• french fried onions        Walgreens $1.50
• pie crust                        Aldi $1.89
• cream cheese              Aldi $0.89
• snack crackers    Checkers 2/$3.00
• egg nog    Checkers 1qt/$1.88
• pineapple, whole    Aldi $0.99
• Don't forget the turkey! My turkey entry.

To get my prices, I look at couponmom.com (you do have to create a free account), which is great except it does not include Checkers or ALDI. So I look at those weekly fliers separately: Checkers and ALDI. I also look at the price book I keep for non-advertised regular prices. (When the price book is a bit more complete you can bet I'll post it!)


My Totals:
I'm not buying everything on this list, because I already have some of it, and guests are bringing some things ( green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls, mac’n’cheese, a dessert, wine) but here are my totals:

Dinner for 10: Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, cheesy corn, cranberry jelly, plus guest contributions.

Appetizers/snacks: egg nog, crackers/cheese ball, pineapple.

My total cost = $27.53 (or $2.75 per person!)

Photo courtesy http://www.stockfreeimages.com/

Turkey deals round-up for Lawrence, KS

Readers, I confess that I bought a turkey yesterday without doing my research, but I was so convinced it was a great deal I just went for it. Now I'll do my due diligence and do the research, for you all! (I wonder if I can return the turkey I bought if I find a better deal... ?)




WalMart:
$0.74/lb for frozen turkey
$0.98/lb for frozen Honeysuckle White turkey

Aldi:
$1.08/lb for frozen Butterball

Dillons: (with card)
$0.79/lb for frozen Jennie-O
$0.99/lb for Jennie-O (fresh not frozen)
$0.99/lb for frozen Private Selection or Honeysuckle White

Hy-Vee:
"Buy a Hormel Cure 81 Whole Boneless Ham at $2.99lb., Get a Honeysuckle or Jennie-O Frozen Turkey 10 to 12 lb. average weight free." See coupon in ad.


Checkers:
$0.68/lb frozen turkey (with $40 purchase, regular price $1.18)
$0.98/lb frozen Honeysuckle White
$1.28/lb frozen Butterball

The final score: 
Well, looks like if you're buying groceries anyway, Checkers has the best deal. I bought the $0.74/lb (12lb turkey) at WalMart, so I could have saved $0.72 total if I'd gotten it at Checkers. I'm not sure I'll try to return the one I got for that savings.... I'm not sure I can dig it back out of the freezer. :)

If only a Butterball turkey will do, looks like Aldi has the best price on that one. The Hy-Vee deal is worth looking into if you also want a ham, but definitely check it out, it may be cheaper to buy them separately.

Did I miss any good deals??

A Frugal Thanksgiving

I think I might be doing that thing where I decide to do a huge thing and then later when I'm actually doing the huge thing, I'm like, why did I decide to do this huge thing?

That being said, I've decided to host a "mini-Thanksgiving" at my house the day after Thanksgiving Day for my close relatives that I won't see on Thanksgiving Day (since I will be seeing other relatives). I would like to publicly thank my husband for agreeing to this most exciting and possibly disastrous undertaking. This will be our first Thanksgiving as married people, and what could be more grand than hosting our own (mini) Thanksgiving meal at our own house?




Here's what I'm thinking for a menu:

-Turkey (something like a 12-pounder?)
-Dressing (hoping someone else can be talked into bringing this)
-Mashed potatoes (I am a master potato masher)
-Turkey gravy
-Green bean casserole (hoping my Mom will make this)
-Cheesy corn (don't actually know what this is called, but Grandma Gish makes it and its delicious. I'll post a recipe later.)
-Rolls
-Sweet potato pie (never made this before but had some recently and it was SO TASTY.)
-Cheesecake (certain I can get my Dad to bring this)
-Wine!

I think I can do this meal really frugally (I'll tally it up and report!), especially since guests will bring things. With one expception- I don't know where to get a good deal on a turkey! This is where I ask for HELP! Am I missing anything really important? And where can I get a good deal on a turkey?

**NOTE: I later did the research on turkey and Thanksgiving foods! Check out this entry: 

Photo courtesy of http://www.everystockphoto.com/