White Co Agent: Shop Smart To Save On Thanksgiving Meal

Whether you are cooking the entire spread or just bringing a dish, cooking for Thanksgiving can be expensive.

White County Family Consumer Science Agent Mallory Christian said it is easy to spend more than necessary when preparing Thanksgiving dinner. She said people tend to make too much food on Thanksgiving. She said it is important to keep in mind how many people you are serving to prevent overspending.

“You can go in there with an idea of how many people you are feeding,” Christian said. “You know, how many servings you are looking for for your family. Just kind of keep that in mind because you don’t want to buy a large turkey and have all these leftovers. Leftovers can be a good thing, but you don’t want to have so much that you don’t know what to do with it.”

Christian said when picking out sides, try to estimate how many servings you will need. She said to imagine a serving as the size of the palm of your hand.

“You don’t want to over stuff yourself, no pun intended,” Christian said. “It’s just something to keep in mind. Of course its hard to do when your feeding for a large family and stuff, but just kind of keep that in mind when you go to the grocery store and look at your turkey sizes and stuff like that.”

Christian said a budget is important at any time, but especially during the current economic times. Christian said it is important to set a spending limit, seek out budget friendly recipes and make a list of what you need and stick to it. Christian said shop smart.

“You want to shop those in season foods, which you know is what you see on the Thanksgiving table those pumpkins, those carrots, those apples and stuff like that, because when you shop those in-season foods you’re buying something that is fresh at this time and there more cost efficient as well,” Christian said.

She also said making Thanksgiving more of a potluck would help spread cost around for large families.