Skip to main content

New Year Eve's Preparation

 

Having a gathering is always tricky because of the preparation that is required and the added expense to your budget.   We normally host the activities and provide the beverages, main dish, and aside.    Our guests then provide other dishes to round out the food.  Our budget for such gatherings has historically been $20.00, but through careful shopping, we normally come in under budget.  


New Year’s Eve


This year, our immediate family will be together on New Year’s Eve.   We will have appetizers for dinner and signature drinks.  Our son’s drink of choice is sparkling apple cider and we will have frozen mudslides.   Our dinner will include wings, a cheese board, a vegetable platter, and random chips, pretzels, or crackers.   All of these items have been put together from our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer.   Therefore, the added cost is $0.00.    


   


New Year’s Day


This year our good friends are coming over for a game day on January 1st.   In keeping with the tradition of Pork and Saurkraut, we will be serving bratwurst, macaroni, and cheese, sauerkraut, and various drinks.   Since kids will be present, we limit the sodas or Kool-Aide Jammer to 1 and then drink water.   Normally they will bring a dessert,  chips, and dip.   In addition, if we have any leftovers from our family gathering the night before, we will put them out as well.    



In order to keep the work down, we will prepare all of the dishes prior to our guests coming.    We will grill the bratwurst on the outside grill and then place them in the oven with a pan of water underneath to keep warm.    In addition, the macaroni and cheese can be cooked in the crockpot.   Finally, the rest of the items will be on platters in the refrigerator and will only need to be pulled out at the last minute.   



Have a very Happy New Year!  May next year be better than last year.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Bean and Corn Salad--> $0.44 per Serving

  Black Bean and Corn Salad This recipe comes from Pennies & Pancakes.   Unfortunately, this blog is no longer active, so I am not sure how much longer we will have access to her recipes.    Here is the link:   Black Bean and Corn Salad.   Therefore, I am repeating her recipe below, because it is just that good.  Makes 7 Cups  Ingredients:  2 15 oz. cans low-sodium black beans (drained and rinsed) 1 15 oz. can sweet whole kernel corn (drained and rinsed) 1 red bell pepper (diced) 1/3 cup red onion (finely diced) 2 scallions (finely diced) 2 cloves garlic (minced) 1/3 cup diced cilantro 2 Tbsp. lime juice (Or the juice of 2 limes) 1 tsp salt *opt. 1 small jalepeno (minced) Directions:  Open and rinse both the black beans and the whole-kernel corn.   Then place them into a bowl.  Next, cut up the pepper and onion.   Add it to the bowl.  Finely chop the cilantro and scallions,  and mince the garlic to add t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Frugal Five: #49

  The Frugal Five: #49 With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     .          1- Haircut Savings Since haircuts are $30 per cut plus tip, each time my husband asks me to cut his hair, I am happy to.    This is a huge saving!   He gets his hair cut every other week, so on average, we save $60 per month on just his haircuts.    2- Beverages from Home  Each day I make coffee and take a travel mug with me to work.   In addition, I make homemade tea to pack for my lunch.    Since Starbucks’ coffee prices have gone up, my daily savings for my daily coffee has increased to about $5.75 per day.    In addition, sodas at work run about $2.00 per...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Frugal Five: #46

  The Frugal Five: #46 With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     This week I focused on garden frugal ideas and savings.  Gardens take a lot of work and can take a chunk of cash.   Let's see how we can keep the price down and get the same results.          1- Free Seeds  How can we get free seeds and when do we start planting for the spring?   Previously, I was able to pick up seeds from my local library through a seed-sharing program.   However, since we moved, my local library doesn’t participate in this type of program.     Therefore, I looked for other opportunities to secure free seeds.   I found the Free Seed Project.  Through this ...
Post a Comment
Read more