Heather says:
It’s time to make your Thanksgiving Day Dinner shopping list. I know that Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but this will hopefully give you time to take advantage of some sales and spread the cost over two grocery runs. Â In many households this makes the expense a little easier to absorb. Unless you’re paid monthly and then well, it won’t help at all, sorry.
Grab your Thanksgiving Day Menu and all of the recipes, even if you think you know them by heart.
Do you need help making your shopping list?
Spreadsheets aren’t just for accounting, you know.
Open up a spreadsheet in Excel or Open Office -have you ever tried Open Office? It’s free and compatible with Microsoft products, so you don’t have to shell out mega bucks for their proprietary software. There’s nothing for me to disclose, I simply love the tool. If you don’t want to install Open Office, Google docs are another free option and you can share the documents with others.
Once you have your spreadsheet open, list your recipes across the top, one per column. Under each recipe list the ingredients. If a recipe calls for apples, list the number after the ingredient apple x 3 or chicken stock x 2 qt. This won’t take up the whole spread sheet. Â Doing this creates mini-shopping lists for each recipe.
On the lower half of the spreadsheet start new columns. I like to divide my list up by grocery store departments: butcher, dairy, dry goods, produce, etc. Cut and paste each item into the appropriate column combining when appropriate ie 2 apples for the dressing  + 14 for the pies = 16 apples.
Save and print your grocery list and don’t forget to shop your pantry before heading to the store. (This just means cross off the items you have on hand).
Remember, it’s still to early to buy your produce.
Just for fun, what recipe are you most looking forward to this year?
As an added bonus, I have a guest post over at Babble.com’s The Family Kitchen. Holiday Cleaning Tips and Checklists for Thanksgiving.
I'm looking forward to roasting brussel sprouts. Crazy, I know! Only my mother and I like them, so it's the one time of year that I can make them and share. I roast them with garlic, olive oil, a little bit of honey, and a handful of walnuts. Divine!
Brussels sprouts are completely underrated. They are unfairly maligned. I do agree that they are horrible boiled, but roasted, as you suggested? Fantastic!
Thank You for being a guest on Babble's Family Kitchen Heather! Love for quality people and blogs to get the exposure.
Heather, I'm not new to spreadsheets but my brain thinks it is. Any way you can post a facsimile of your spreadsheet with recipes and whatnot? I just can't picture it for some reason. Perhaps moving in three days has my head elsewhere. Moving before Thanksgiving. I must be nuts.
Hi Carye, I went ahead and posted my response as a new post, just to make things a little easier. If you were confused, I'm sure you weren't alone.
I'm following this series with great interest but I confess we are having Thanksgiving for 2 for the first time ever (empty nest) and are having BBQ ribs!
I've been in the mood for BBQ lately. You may have helped me plan dinner this week. Thanks!
We're not doing anything on Thanksgiving Day this year. We'll be having a belated dinner thanks to my husband's work schedule. All the kids care is that there is a "feast" at some point in the near future.