I made a Dollar General Christmas dinner for $25 – I got ham for $3.50 & cake ingredients, my tip saves $5 on Saturdays
A THRIFTING pro has been able to make a Christmas feast on a budget by shopping at Dollar General.
She stayed within her $25 budget, and her money-saving tip meant $5 was taken off her bill.
TikToker Dollar Tree Dinners (@dollartreedinners) loves to share “unique and affordable recipes.”
However, since not everyone has a Dollar Tree near them, the TikToker decided to shop at Dollar General for her Christmas dinner post.
“Food deserts are very real and not everyone has the ability or mobility to shop at stores like Walmart,” the influencer continued.
The first thing the social media user shopped for was the ham, buying the Armour cooked ham for $3.50.
“It’s whole ham slices, so to me it was the most similar taste and texture to a spiral sliced ham,” she said.
Next, she spent $2 to purchase Doll pineapple slices, $1.50 on dijon mustard, and $2 on brown sugar.
The TikToker was inspired to make a pineapple upside cake, so she threw in a box of Betty Crocker box of cake mix for $1.75.
The Maraschino cherries were $2.75, but they didn’t fit in the budget.
Instead, she purchased a dozen eggs for $2.50.
At $4.25, the butter was also too expensive. So the thrifter bought margarine for $1.50.
“People love to hate on margarine,” she said.
“But if you only have $25 and butter costs about a quarter of that, you’re either gonna go with margarine or you’re gonna go without,” she said.
She skipped fresh milk, which costs $2.70, and chose evaporated milk, for $1.15. It can be diluted with water to make regular milk.
The macaroni and cheese was 85 cents, and the influencer decided to “splurge” on a box of scalloped potatoes for $2.15.
Next were the veggies: two cans of French-style beans for 67 cents each, a can of $1 cream of mushroom soup, and two $1 cans of carrots.
The brand-name fried onions were too expensive at $2.75, but the Funyuns were only 50 cents, so she got two of them.
For a deviled egg recipe, the influence grabbed some mayo for $3.25.
Her final item was a bag of frozen dinner rolls for $3.
The full total was more than $25.
But, since she shopped on a Saturday, she had a five-dollar off a $25 coupon, bringing her total came to $24.99.
She purchased enough items to cook a ham, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes, carrots, green bean casserole, rolls, and a pineapple upside cake.
Fans online were impressed with her affordable shopping haul.
“Using the FunYuns instead of the fried onions was so smart one person said.
“The 24.99 was so satisfying to see with the 25 budget,” a second wrote.
“I cry knowing someone out there is watching this, feeling empowered to make the holiday special no matter what,” a third added.