{"id":99113,"date":"2013-12-15T15:52:55","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T15:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theorganicprepper.ca\/?p=2691"},"modified":"2013-12-15T15:52:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T15:52:55","slug":"how-to-make-a-frugal-and-festive-christmas-dinner-from-the-pantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/how-to-make-a-frugal-and-festive-christmas-dinner-from-the-pantry\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make a Frugal and Festive Christmas Dinner from the Pantry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/a><\/p>\n

Aside from the gifts under the tree, one of the big expenses of the holidays is the food. \u00a0Nearly everyone finds that their grocery bill is up this time of year. \u00a0You’re hosting parties, putting together a no-holds-barred Christmas morning breakfast, and making a gigantic feast for friends and family.<\/p>\n

Stop! \u00a0You don’t have to go broke to enjoy the holidays<\/a>! \u00a0It doesn’t matter what the neighbors are putting on their table this year. \u00a0Particularly if the money is stretched thin, there are lots of ways to make your dinner frugal, but still festive.<\/p>\n

One way to keep your food \u00a0bill under control this year is to focus on treats that you can make right from your pantry. \u00a0If you’ve been following the stockpile principle<\/a>, then the food in your pantry was purchased at the lowest prices available. Because of this, you can focus on purchasing only a few specialty items, like a ham or turkey, and enjoy delicious yet thrifty treats for the rest of the holiday season.<\/p>\n

Don’t feel obligated to invest in out-of-season delicacies like fresh berries and asparagus in December! \u00a0Focus on the produce that is in season, and supplement this with canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. Make the presentation lovely, with fancy toothpicks in the appetizers and your nicest china.<\/p>\n

Another option is a tradition of the non-traditional. \u00a0My daughters used to get tired of the 4 turkey dinners every Christmas so we began to do something different at our house. \u00a0Every year, we picked a different type of food and made our dinner totally different. \u00a0We had Greek food, Mexican fiestas, and Italian dinners. \u00a0Many times, these types of dinners can be put together for far less money than the traditional turkey, ham, and fixings.<\/p>\n

Following are some ideas for homemade goodies that will make your guests feel well-fed and pampered, without emptying your pockets. You’ll discover that many of the ingredients already reside in your pantry, or are standard groceries that will be in your fridge, like eggs and cheese. Links to the recipes are embedded – if the name of the item is underlined, just click the name and it will open up a new window with the recipe!<\/p>\n

Appetizers and Party Food<\/h2>\n

Homemade crackers<\/a><\/p>\n

Yogurt cheese<\/a> seasoned with herbs<\/p>\n

Spicy peach jam<\/a><\/p>\n

Pickle tray with a variety of homemade pickles<\/a><\/p>\n

Homemade yogurt<\/a> mixed with herbs to make a dip for veggies<\/p>\n

Breadsticks with marinara sauce<\/a><\/p>\n

Pineapple cream cheese dip<\/a><\/p>\n

Homemade pizza dough<\/a> (form these into mini-pizzas)<\/p>\n

White chocolate cereal mix<\/a><\/p>\n

Fully loaded deviled eggs<\/a><\/p>\n

Mexican bean dip<\/a>\u00a0(I cook the bean from scratch the day before, and use freeze-dried cilantro instead of fresh)<\/p>\n

Chocolate truffles<\/a><\/p>\n

Creamy potato quiche<\/a> (adapt this to muffin tins for cute little mini-quiches)<\/p>\n

Ham and cheese dip<\/a><\/p>\n

Tzatiki dip<\/a><\/p>\n

Candied citrus peel<\/a><\/p>\n

Garlic roasted pumpkin seeds<\/a><\/p>\n

Holiday dinner recipes<\/h2>\n

\"Christmas-Dinner-dp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Serve these alongside your turkey or ham. \u00a0Also remember that with the addition of bacon or a topping of breadcrumbs and cheese, nearly any vegetable that you have canned or frozen becomes a little bit fancier! Don’t forget simple yet delicious foods like mashed potatoes and salads.<\/p>\n

Carrot apple salad<\/a><\/p>\n

Pumpkin gnocchi<\/a><\/p>\n

Pasta with sunflower seed pesto<\/a><\/p>\n

Honey garlic green beans<\/a><\/p>\n

Wheat berry pilaf<\/a><\/p>\n

Honey roasted vegetables<\/a><\/p>\n

Cranberry apple relish<\/a><\/p>\n

Whole wheat dinner rolls<\/a><\/p>\n

Easy white dinner rolls<\/a><\/p>\n

Desserts<\/h2>\n

Pumpkin pie<\/a><\/p>\n

Apple crisp<\/a><\/p>\n

Cherry cobbler<\/a><\/p>\n

Merlot pears<\/a> over ice cream<\/p>\n

Classic Christmas Cake<\/a><\/p>\n

Honey cookies<\/a><\/p>\n

Oatmeal bar cookies<\/a> with homemade jam<\/a><\/p>\n

Christmas cookies from the pantry<\/a><\/p>\n

7 Layer Cookies<\/a><\/p>\n

Also check out this full holiday menu HERE<\/a> – many of these items can be adapted to use pantry-based ingredients.<\/p>\n

The most important ingredient<\/h2>\n

If you can’t afford the fanciest of dinners this year, don’t despair. \u00a0Roast a chicken instead of a turkey, or make some homemade stuffing baked with drumsticks. \u00a0Don’t focus so much on the finery of the season – focus on the reason.<\/p>\n

The most important element of your holiday dinner is sharing time with the ones you love. Celebrate the peace and beauty of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aside from the gifts under the tree, one of the big expenses of the holidays is the food.  Nearly everyone finds that their grocery bill is up this time of year.  You’re hosting parties, putting together a no-holds-barred Christmas morning breakfast, and making a gigantic feast for friends and family.Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-99113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}