If you have a big family or love to entertain, you already know what a struggle it can be to fit food for all of those people into your budget. Food is expensive, so you need every tip you can find to help you save a few dollars. Armed with ideas like these, you can continue to entertain as much as you want without blowing your food budget.
Limit your menu on each occasion. Don’t go crazy trying to provide a wide assortment of foods every time you entertain. Plan a simple meal based on the things you find on sale and prepare large quantities of your dishes.
Utilize generic products. Serving generic foods instead of name brand foods can help you stretch your food dollars as far as they will go. If you don’t want your guests to see the plain packaging of the generic foods, you can always move everything into serving dishes before your guests arrive.
Prepare foods yourself rather than using pre-prepared foods. If you’re willing to forego the convenience of pre-prepared foods and do the hard work yourself, you can save big bucks. Don’t forget to prepare as much as you can ahead of time to avoid any craziness on the day of your gathering.
Shop ahead of time for your meals. If you start shopping for your gathering ahead of time, you can take advantage of sales at your local grocery store. Collect the items you need over time as they are featured in the store’s sale ads.
Choose simple recipes. You don’t need to fuss with complicated recipes as you prepare for your gathering. They are harder to create and more expensive than their simpler counterparts. Instead, look to tried and true dishes that require fewer than ten (or so) ingredients.
Serve mix drinks. Note that I said “mix drinks,” not mixed drinks. When we have big family get-togethers, we limit our drinks to tea, water, and Kool-Aid. That’s it! The cost of purchasing soft drinks or beer for large groups of people is just too high to do it every time we entertain.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
You will always buy in bulk and that helps. Like you mention keep a basic menu where everyone is eating the same meal.
You have shared some good and practical tips here. I agree with your one point fully as i myself do this and that is “Shop ahead of time for your meals”
To me, planning ahead is the key.
Plan out your menu (research simple, great tasting recipes–they are out there).
Shop early. No need to go the day before for your ingredients.
And also, as the post mentions, keep it simple.
As long as it tastes good, you’ll be just fine.
We do the mix drink tip too. any get together we have we always do fruit punch( kool-aid) and iced tea. Saves a ton instead of buying expensive soda.
http://www.saving-money.net
Another great way to save money is to join a loyalty membership. I use http://www.cashforgasandgroceries.com and get a $25 Visa gift card each month just for shopping at the same grocery store or gas station. It’s simple, all I do is mail in my receipts each month.
Here is a great way to nearly cut you food budget in half. Go to http://greatfoodforall.com/ and check out the deal $60-$80 of food for $30. They are not nationwide yet, but are growing fast. Another great thing is that you can order the food online.
Simplification works for all . Orginization and being able to stick with what you develope as a plan . Just a diet the same does not work for everyone . This is a good post