Sticking to a $100 weekly budget can be challenging, especially during special occasions like Christmas. However, we successfully managed to stay within our budget while preparing for both a road trip and a family Christmas celebration. Curious about how we did it? Read on to discover our secrets to creating a festive and tasty menu without breaking the bank.
Christmas Party Food Shopping Strategy:
This week was extra special with a family Christmas celebration and a road trip on the horizon. Balancing the need for quality ingredients for our special dinner and breakfast with the budget constraints required careful planning. Here’s what I needed to bear in mind:
- I had to make sure we had stuff to make a special dinner and dessert for our little family Christmas. That meant a nice cut of meat (well, nicer than the usual, anyway), sauce, special cheese and of course, butter!
- For our special dessert, I wanted to make it large enough to last us a few nights (because I’m ALL for extended gratification!).
- For our road trip the next day, I wanted to make sure we had a yummy, special breakfast for something to make it a bit more fun.
- I also knew we were running out of rice and oats, so I had to replenish our bulk supply for our meals across the week and for our road trip. I knew we would also need some for meals when we got back. A homemaker is always thinking ahead!
Christmas Party Food On a Budget Receipt Breakdown:
Our $100 Christmas party food haul included food for the week as well as our budget-friendly and decadent Christmas meal. We were thrilled to tiptoe just $2 over budget while getting special items like chicken breast, ham, chocolate, butter, and more. This enabled us to have a delightful Christmas meal without compromising on taste or variety.
- Proteins: Chicken breast, sliced ham
- Carbohydrates: Bananas, Rice, Milk, Carrots, Dates, Rolled Oats
- Fats: Butter, Cream Cheese, Desiccated Coconut
- Treats: A LOT of Chocolate, Pesto and Passionfruit Sauce
- Non Starchies: Coleslaw
Stretching Christmas Party Food Shop:
Getting Christmas party food on a budget is no mean feat. It required a lot of from-scratch cooking, a few really budget meals, and snacks made from really cheap ingredients. Here’s exactly what I made to make our Christmas Party Food shop stay under budget, and ensure we had treats the whole week.
- Sourdough Ciabatta buns, recipe from Alexandra’s Kitchen. I doubled the recipe and made 16 buns, which we will fill with ham and coleslaw for our lunches and dinners on the road trip.
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies, recipe from yours truly. These will serve as snacks during the week and for our road trip. The recipe made about 50 cookies!
- Sourdough Pain Au Chocolat, recipe from Baking with Butter. I made about 10, which will be a lovely treat breakfast for on the road!
- Economical Meringues, recipe from Alison Holst. This recipe made about 50 medium-sized meringues, which I crushed and mixed through strained homemade yoghurt for our Christmas dessert.
- We still had about 2 cups of rice left, which I boiled up. This rice served us for 4x meals (12 servings).
- I thickened a batch of this Tomato Lentil Soup so that it was a richer, bolognaise-y, sauce to serve with the rice. This lentil bolognaise did 4 meals for us.
- 2x Sourdough Overnight Bread, which comprised our lunches for the week.
- About 6 Litres of Homemade Yoghurt, which I strained.
- An adapted version of Nadia Lim’s Healthier Date Caramel Slice, using dates, coconut and chocolate. I already had coconut oil and Peanut butter on hand. This has done our desserts for the week! (Side note: I used this Nut-free No Bake Cookies recipe as the base, and it was SO delicious!)
Christmas Party Food on a Budget: Menu Breakdown
To have Christmas Party Food on a Budget means that you have to throw in low-budget meals with those decadent treats. Here’s what that looked like:
- Breakfasts: Oats and honey.
- Lunches: Toast with P.B and Honey
- Snacks: Carrots, Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Dinners:
- Friday: Lentil Bolognaise on Rice, Date Caramel Slice for Dessert
- Saturday: Lentil Bolognaise on Rice, Date Caramel Slice for Dessert
- Sunday: Leftover tart (bought by hubby’s uncle)
- Monday: Lentil Bolognaise on Rice, Eton Mess Creation for Dessert
- Tuesday (Schanknecht Christmas): Chicken stuffed with pesto and cream cheese, wrapped in Ham. Eton Mess Creation for Dessert
- Wednesday and Thursday (Road Trip)
- Breakfasts: Pain Au Chocolat. Lunches and Dinners : Ciabatta Buns with ham and coleslaw. Snacks: Cookies, carrots and bananas.
The Keys to Success
Making Food From Scratch
Our secret to achieving a delightful Christmas celebration on a budget lies in making food from scratch. While pre-packaged items were avoided, we embraced versatile and unprocessed ingredients to create a variety of meals. This approach not only saved money but also ensured that our food was free from additives and preservatives.
Strategic Ingredient Selection for Versatility:
In crafting our $100 grocery list, we prioritized ingredients that offer versatility, nourishment, and affordability in their unprocessed state. With the exception of coleslaw, pesto, cream cheese, and ham, every item was chosen with the intention of serving multiple meals and diverse recipes.
Maximizing Ingredient Usage:
The carefully selected ingredients provide a wide range of uses. For instance, chocolate, butter, and flour can be transformed into cookies and pastries, while milk serves multiple purposes, from yogurt and hot drinks to scones and pancakes. Even the chicken, purchased for the Christmas dinner, can be portioned and frozen for future use in stir-fries and curries.
Strategic Shopping Philosophy:
Our approach to grocery shopping revolves around a key principle: pre-made sauces, bread, slices, or pastries rarely find a place in our low-budget shopping list. By avoiding these convenience items and instead focusing on versatile, unprocessed ingredients, we ensure both budget-friendliness and the ability to create a variety of homemade, nourishing meals.
Conclusion:
our savvy approach to ingredient selection enables us to enjoy a delightful Christmas party with scrumptious food while staying within our budget constraints. By opting for versatile, unprocessed items, we ensure not only affordability but also the ability to create a diverse array of Christmas party delights. Embracing this strategy allows us to stretch our budget without compromising on the festive culinary experience, making our Christmas celebration both memorable and pocket-friendly.
