No-stress Thanksgiving dinner tips

Life is expensive. We spend much of our time making money to afford ourselves beautiful moments like a Thanksgiving dinner. We want to help you prepare a lovely dinner party on Thursday without breaking the bank or getting overwhelmed. Read further in this gallery!

When buying groceries and decorations for Thanksgiving or other holidays, it's always good to start early. Send a group text or email to get a confirmation on how many people will be coming, because you want to make sure not to buy too much or too little food.

Another reason for starting early is that sales on certain food items may occur at different times over the course of the Fall season. A common time for retailers to put holiday products on sale, is two weeks before Thanksgiving.
However, if you weren't able to stock on deals before, don't worry. There's still time to make an economical yet delicious dinner.

Are you thinking about going shopping on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving? Don't! According to Reader's Digest, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving is the worst day to buy the holiday groceries. It's the day when most people go shopping and you'll be most likely to have a bad time and lose out on competing customers for your favorite items.

To calculate how much food you need per person, including the pounds of turkey you want to serve, there are good calculators available online.

Cheap items to decorate your house and serve your food can be found in dollar stores, goodwill, and thrift stores.

To get organized, make your menu for the dinner beforehand. You can connect your shopping list directly to it.

Grocery stores market all sorts of special products during the holiday season. It's easy to get distracted when shopping, but all those small, extra purchases add up! If you stick to your list, you're much more likely to get shopping done without stretching your budget too much.

Thanksgiving meals are quite heavy on the stomache, and it's best to prepare the guests for the main course by serving them only a few light appetizers. Easy-to-prepare dishes are cut-up veggies, Deviled Eggs (image), or chips and dip. apps like chips and dip, cut-up veggies or the all time classic, Deviled Eggs.

If you try to have something in the cubbard for every guest's taste, your beverage spending can get quite high. Keep your offerings limited and ask guests to bring their own if they want something particular with their dinner.

You can prepare a delicious Thanksgiving meal using canned goods, spices, frozen vegetables, stuffing mix, baking items, and also butter and cheese, which are both freezable.

To stretch your dollar the most, use grocery store savings booklets, phone apps like Flipp or Target Cartwheel, and the SundaySaver. Don't be afraid to ask at the register if the store allows customers to bundle discounts. That way you could add coupons to items that are already on sale and save even more!

You don't need to buy the name brand to get the same flavor. Generic, store brands can be great and affordable substitutes. According to Consumer Reports, they tend to be almost 25% cheaper.

Seasonal produce tastes better, because it is fresher than canned foods and tends to be free from preservatives. In addition, produce from the season is cheaper. Buy whatever is in season where you live; that way you can eat healthier, tastier, and more affordable produce.

If you are worried that pre-prepared food will lose its texture and flavor on the big day, make sure you know how to store each individual item. There are plenty of websites making recommendations on how to store turkey, sauces, or produce in the days before Thanksgiving.

Keep an eye out for discounts on turkeys in the weeks coming up to Thanksgiving. Frozen turkeys are usually less pricey than fresh ones. Moreover, you can also choose to not serve turkey at all! It's edgy but not forbidden to get creative with your main protein. You can choose chicken, for example, which is both easier and cheaper to prepare.

To make Thanksgiving a truly sharing experience, ask your guests to bring a side dish that they are very good at and that they like to eat together with you. This way you lower the stress, save on the dinner, and increase the joy of the party.

Some Thanksgiving side dishes may be part of tradition but not very popular among your guests. If you know what they do and do not like, save on the dinner by leaving out those particular dishes - like sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, for example...

An important part of Thanksgiving dinner is its leftovers for the next day. Make sure you (or your guests) have Tupperware, bags, and bread to make turkey sandwiches afterward. You wouldn't want to throw away any of that delicious food!

Photo: Vicky Ng / Unsplash