Preparing for Holiday Meals Now!

I am an affiliate with many companies, which means I advertise for companies, and they compensate me via products, services, or monetary means.  You can read my entire disclosure policy over here.

Preparing for Holiday Meals Now!

I know it’s hard to believe, but we are literally moving into the whirlwind months we affectionately call, The Holidays.

This can be The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, or quite frankly, The Most Stressful Time of the Year.

Taking a few moments each week from here on in can help to alleviate a lot of the stress, both mentally and financially.

Let’s take some time to create a stress-free, debt-free holiday season this year.

Make a List

The first step is to sit down and make a list.

Decide exactly what you plan on cooking over the holidays.

Make sure you include any holiday treats.

Once you have the list of what you plan on making, create a shopping list.

Start a Holiday Meal

I always start a holiday meal box this time of year.

Grab an empty box, bag, tote, or just a corner in your pantry and designate if off-limits to everyone.

I literally take a box and start going through my newly inventoried pantry looking for items I know I will use in my holiday meals.

These items are being set aside specifically for the holidays.

Do you have traditional foods that you serve every single year at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners?

Are there new recipes that you would like to try this year?

Start by making out the menus, and then the ingredients needed to make those recipes.

Next, go through the pantry to see what you already have on hand.

Check to see if you have anything in your pantry already that you just put onto your list.

Your pantry should always be the first place you shop.

Put those things into the holiday box.

Each week, buy something from this list and add it to the holiday box.

Include Your Holiday Baking Ingredients

The holidays typically include a lot of extra baking, so make sure you include all of those ingredients too.

Hands-Off the Holiday Box

Make sure everyone in the family knows that whatever is put in the holiday box stays in the holiday box.

These groceries are not everyday groceries.

They are being set aside for a purpose.

Everything in the holiday box is for the holidays.

I have always told my family, If you see anything in the kitchen that looks really, really good, DON’T TOUCH it! 🙂

Start Now

Starting a holiday meal box now will really help to take the bite out of your grocery bill later.

It might end up costing the same in the end, but it sure helps to not have to pay it all at once, doesn’t it?

Of course, this gives us time to look for those holiday food deals.

Plan ahead, and let’s have a stress-free and debt-free holiday season this year.

Buy Now