Beautifully Budgeted Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is a special one for me as it is the first time our family is celebrating in our very own home. As excited as I have been about preparing the perfect pairing of food and feel to celebrate our gratitude, I've also been swatting away vicious, joy stealing, standard lowering dollar signs. Thankfully, and creatively, I conquered those green monsters! I thought I'd share a synopsis of my savings in case you are still in need of ideas. 

Food: As for groceries, I started with a blank menu on the hunt for good deals. I was pleasantly surprised to find Whole Foods with the least expensive organic produce and other Thanksgiving food staples in comparison to Kroger and Publix. Don't forget your reuseable bags (like I did) for more discounts when you go. After scooping up the best fresh deals, I then searched online by main ingredient for the best recipes to make with that item. While going about this and making my menu, I discovered many recipes calling for eggs, which I usually do not have. However, did you know ground flax seed is a perfect egg substitute when baking? I recently purchased a  giant 40 ounce bag of Organic Golden Ground Flax at Costco for only $8.89. In price comparison to eggs, you can never beat this! For every egg called for, take 1 TBS flax with 3 TBS water and stir together for your recipe. This substitution is perfect for my sweet potato casserole as the flax has a hint of nutty flavor being a perfect compliment. My summer garden is another resource that saved me some on this meal. Collard greens are one of the easiest and bountiful vegetables to grow. Not being able to eat them as fast as they grew, I froze several bags, which will now accompany us at our Fall Feast. If you have never tried growing greens in the past, give this no fail leafy vegetable a shot. You will boost your health, save some money and may discover a green thumb you never had. So, besides the bird, some delicious inexpensive delights I recommend  cooking up: balsamic glazed carrots, sweet potato casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, southern style greens, homemade mac n cheese, cranberry compote, savory stuffing and sweet apple crumble for dessert

Feel: Now, onto decor. Not wanting to spend any money on this, I got out my craft bag and went treasure hunting in our yard to find supplies. A simple 'Gratitude' banner will hang over our dining room window. Use ribbon or yarn to tie from one side of the window (or mantle) to the other then cut out triangle 'flags' from cardboard cereal boxes. On each flag decorate and write a single letter to spell the word of your choice. Fasten to your ribbon to finish. For the table, instead of filling vases with flowers, I am filling them with wine corks, pine cones and twigs for a natural arrangement. For lighting, float candles in glass vases filled with fall colored water. Simply fill your vase with water and add desired amount of food coloring with candles floating on top. Lastly, what does the feel of it all matter if you do not have JOY in it?! First and foremost, be joyful in your day of thanks. Happy Thanksgiving!