Thrifty Mommy » thanksgiving

Recipe Ideas for Leftover Turkey

Karen Weideman — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:03:49 +0000

Thanksgiving is only a few hours away. One of the things I hear weeks before Thanksgiving is people concerned about the amount of turkey they’ll have left over. They want to serve their family and guests turkey, but they’re hesitant because of the waste involved. Rather than letting good food go to waste, try some of these ideas.

Turkey sandwich - This one is a given, but it is one of my favorites. Some people like their sandwich with mayonnaise and onions. I like mine with mustard on white bread.

Turkey salad - This is another family favorite. I chop up some turkey, add some mayo, diced dill pickles, salt, and pepper, and it’s as good as chicken salad. I also like to make ham salad.

Turkey and rice - Cook rice according to package directions, add desired seasonings. Throw in some chopped turkey and some vegetables. You might also like to make a gravy.

Turkey wraps - Add some turkey, cheese, and fresh vegetables to a lettuce slice or tortilla.

Turkey soup - There are many varieties of turkey soup. You could make a cream based soup or a Mexican style soup. Use your favorite chicken soup recipe using turkey instead of chicken.

Other sources for recipes:

AllRecipes.com – Some ideas include Turkey a la King, turkey enchiladas, turkey pot pie, turkey tetrazzini, and more.
Recipe Goldmine
National Turkey Federation
Healthy Eating Made Easy

What are your favorite ways to use leftover turkey?

image sxc.hu

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35 Plentiful Ideas for Thanksgiving

Karen Weideman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:41:11 +0000

Thanksgiving is only a week away. I know, I can hardly believe it. To save you some time, I’ve been searching around for great resources for you. There’s a wide variety to choose from. Enjoy!

For the kids:

Decorating and Entertaining:

Recipes and Food Ideas:

Other:

Which ideas do you think you’ll try?

image (c) Linette Gerlach

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How to Save Money on Thanksgiving Dinner

Karen Weideman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:25:22 +0000

Many of you will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house this year. It doesn’t take long to figure out that this feast can break your food budget. Here are some tips to help you to spend less and hang on to that money for upcoming Christmas expenses.

Prepare the foods yourself. Don’t go out to the ham store and order a precooked ham or turkey. I’ve heard of some people paying $30-40 for a precooked ham. Yikes!

Shop the pre-Thanksgiving sales. Some stores offer tremendous weekly specials to lure you in. Look for buy 1 get 1 free specials on vegetables, potatoes, stuffing, and frozen pies. When the turkey and sweet potatoes hit rock bottom prices, go ahead and buy those too. Make sure you freeze the turkey and follow these safety tips to avoid food-related illness.

Ask others to contribute. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner by yourself is a big undertaking and it’s costly too. Most people will ask what they can bring. I recommend suggesting something easy like a pie and green bean casserole. If you can’t think of anything at the moment, tell them you’ll get back to them in a few days. If the person doesn’t offer to bring anything, you can say, “Is there a special dish you like that you’d like to bring?”.

Borrow or use natural decorations. Avoid spending money or new decorations. See if someone has something you can borrow. If not, go outside and gather pretty fall colored leaves, pinecones, acorns, etc. If you’re looking to save money on new decorations, try stores like Michael’s and A.C. Moore. Many of them offer 50% off sales before the holiday. Sometimes The Dollar Tree has some good finds.

You might also want to read Tips for Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner.

What ways can you save on Thanksgiving dinner?

image sxc.hu

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Avoid Food-Related Illness On Thanksgiving

Jennifer Chait — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:56:26 +0000

There are more than 200 known diseases that are transmitted through food. The CDC reports that in the U.S. alone that “Foodborne diseases have been estimated to cause 6 million to 81 million illnesses and up to 9,000 deaths each year.” Many illnesses caused by food are the result of poor food handling which is likely to happen around the holidays when people are cooking new dishes they’re unfamiliar with and especially because they’re cooking large turkeys.

Not only are foodborne illnesses serious from a medical standpoint, but they take time away from your family, and can create costly medical bills. This Thanksgiving, make sure your family plays it safe with the following resources…

A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey
If you have a specific turkey question you can call the Butterball Turkey Talk Line (1-800-BUTTERBALL) all throughout November and December.
Countdown to the Thanksgiving Holiday – heavy on the safety aspects.
Food safety for a successful community meal (pdf) – this guide focuses on transporting food safely, say to a relative’s home for the holidays, how to safely plan family meals like a potluck, and covers all sorts of other useful tips as well.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Plan for your holiday budget now!

Jennifer Chait — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:03:20 +0000

It’s just September I know, but in order to maximize your holiday savings for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other autumn and winter holidays, it’s best to plan your holiday budget now. To get ready for bigger money savings this year do the following…

Take stock: Go through your holiday decor boxes, gift wrap storage, and greeting card you’ve been hanging on to, and make a list of what you already have vs. what you actually need and carry that list with you, in your purse from now on. It’s tempting to buy holiday stuff when you see it on sale (which it will be soon) but it’s a total waste of money to own three or four Halloween banners, 18 rolls of gift wrap, or six sets of holiday lights.

Communicate with family and friends: You can plan a less material based holiday season if you try, but it helps to have family and friends on board. Set limits on gift costs or decide to have a gift wheel, where one person gets a gift for someone else, but not everyone. Visit Buy Nothing Christmas for tips on how to buy less and make the holidays more meaningful this year. BND advocates note, if a Buy Nothing Christmas is too extreme, try selling your family on, “A Buy Less Christmas. Or a $100 Christmas. Or a Regifting Christmas. Or a Green Christmas. Or a Slow-Down Christmas.” You can apply the buy nothing advice to ANY holiday, not just Christmas BTW.

Make a list: Make a list of holiday gift ideas and plan on finalizing it soon. Then take said list with you shopping to avoid impulse buys. Stick to the list!

Plan to shop online for what you can: People seem to purchase more stuff in stores than online; likely because there’s more temptation involved when you can see and touch stuff for real. See how much you can get online, before heading to the stores. You can also score some sweet deals AND many online stores offer gift wrap for free (or cheap) and will ship directly to the recipient, which save you time and money.

Free up your schedule: If you can make time instead of shopping you can give the gift of time vs. gifts that cost money.

Plan for budget meals: Shopping ahead of time for goods like canned pumpkin, frozen foods, and so on can save you money and you’ll avoid the holiday shopping rush. If you’re holding lots of meals with friends and family plan for who will bring what by October, to avoid folks purchasing the same items twice over.

More holiday budgeting tips coming up soon! Now, tell me some of the ways you’re planning on saving more this holiday season?

[image via Buy Nothing Christmas - get your own free coupons!]

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Are You Shopping Tomorrow?

Karen Weideman — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:15:52 +0000

I’m sitting here at my parent’s house. They live about 1 1/2 hours from us. We planned to come for the day and return home tonight so that tomorrow we could start packing for our move (we’re moving next week!).

I had no intentions of shopping tomorrow. After all, we live out in the boonies and I’m lucky to find a decent restaurant. I’d have to drive almost an hour to next largest city to get take advantage of Black Friday sales. I’d almost considered signing up at Tree Hugging Family for Buy Nothing Day. And then I did it . . . I saw the sales papers. Oh dear.

Hubby really likes House and Target has the season sets for around $13-14 per set. I can get seasons 1-3 for less than $40, which is about the price of one season. One sales paper led to another and now we’ve decided that we’re staying the night and heading out early in the morning to catch some deals.

Hubby and I will get out by ourselves to shop while the kids sleep comfortably in their bedroom at my parent’s house. Part of me thinks we’re a little crazy and then another part says it will be fun to get out alone and do something together.

How about you? Are you shopping tomorrow? Please take a second to answer in our poll to the right, or leave your comments below.

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Happy Thanksgiving

kellys — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:42:25 +0000

Karen and I just want to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. We hope you have all your family around you, whether they are biological or chosen. We want you to tell us what you are thankful for this year. Here are just a few things I am thankful for.

The 33 years I had with my grandma
My salvation from sin and eternal separation from God
My Phidjins
My husband
My kids
My family
My church
My friends
Sleep
Summertime
You, our readers

We hope you eat too much and take a good nap. Happy Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving Sale at Michaels

Karen Weideman — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 05:29:10 +0000

Michaels is offering specials throughout the week.

Click here to view the doorbusters for Friday. This link also has printable coupons for 25% off your entire purchase and 50% off one item.

On Saturday, one of the great specials is a Fiskars paper trimmer (reg $79.99) for only $29.99. There are also printable coupons for 20% off your entire purchase and 50% off one item.

Michaels has hot buys for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Check out these deals. Many of them are 50% off or more.

Happy saving!

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Lifeway After Thanksgiving Sale

Karen Weideman — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:13:31 +0000

Lifeway Christian Stores are having a two-day sale!

On Friday, November 28 only they are having early bird specials. Get these items for only $5:

The Beloved Disciple by Beth Moore (reg $14.99)
Veggie Tales dvd, The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s (reg $8.97)
Facing the Giants dvd (reg $14.98)
Christmas stuffed dog with scarf, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (reg $10)

Two day sale items:

Hermie and the High Seas dvd $5
Amazing Grace dvd $7.99
Michael W. Smith cd, A New Hallelujah $7.99
Chronological Study NKJV Study Bible $19.99
The Word of Promise: Next Generation NT, ICB $19.99
Cast of Characters by Max Lucado

Other sales:

Diamond Rio Christmas cd $5
The Promise of Christmas cd $2.99
One Incredible Moment by Max Lucado $5
One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham $5
Really Woolly Christmas dvd $5
NIV gift Bibles $9.99
Amazing Grace dvd $10
Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore $10.99
God’s Word for Students GWT $9.99
The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, book and dvd $7.99
Big Bible Sticker Book $5
Portable Electronic Bible in NIV and KJV with free case $49.99
Love Comes Softly Box Sets by Janette Oke $25.99
50% off select family-friendly dvds (Saving Sarah Cain, The List, One Night with the King, The Final Inquiry, The Ultimate Gift)
Guitar Praise game $89.99
Buy 1 Box of Christmas Cards Get 1 Free

View the online circular.

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Sam’s Club Black Friday Sales

Karen Weideman — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:56:14 +0000

Sam’s Club is offering their sales to members only. The stores open at 5 am and complimentary breakfast will be served until 8 am.

Click here to view the sale ad. I could go for a big tv or some living room furniture. How about you?

Post from: Thrifty Mommy