Looking forward to Christmas brunch this year? Me too! I love the Holidays and food is a very important part of all the celebrating. After watching the kids open gifts, a yummy brunch is a great way to feel full inside and out. Prepare your brunch with love and the family will love it!
Christmas Brunch on a Budget! Enjoy!
Maybe you are hosting guests and would like to have something to offer them as they wake up on Christmas morning.
I’m thinking of memories of Dad making his infamous pancakes, sausage scent filling the house and that special syrup reserved only for Holidays, Mom would whip up. #makingmehungry
Christmas brunch is a special time to sit as a family and remember what the Holidays are all about. After spending money on gifts, decorations, and Christmas cards, it is usually the last thing on one’s mind…to buy more food for the morning.
If you enjoy living a frugal lifestyle or the Holidays are hitting your budget hard this year, this post will help you come up with a great brunch, that will break your belt buckle and not your bank!
Let’s try to keep our cost down to under $12 for our entire Christmas brunch. This brunch will easily feed six hungry mouths. Here are some awesome food ideas that will wow and keep your loved ones, big and small, full all Christmas morning.
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What is the drugstore game? Saving a ton at your favorite drugstore. When we think about saving money, most of us do not think “drugstore” as our go-to place. In fact, just walk into any given drugstore and you will find products with a high markup and you can usually find said products much cheaper at your regular grocery store or big box stores. Yet, if you play the drugstore game, you can not only save on groceries but toiletries and household products as well, and sometimes get your favorite products for next to nothing or free.
For the purpose of this post, I am going to teach you how to save at my favorite drugstore, CVS. However, you can play the drugstore game at other big drugstores such as Walgreens and Rite Aid.
Is anyone feeling a little stressed out right about now? Only a few more weeks until Christmas and it is crunch time for gift shopping. We are looking at that time of the year when most of us break our budgets because we needed that last-minute gift.
Find all of your Holiday gifts on a budget!
Sure, buying ahead is great, but we don’t always know what to gift that certain someone and so we do what we humans do best, procrastinate!
YIKES! It is December 23rd and we need a gift for grandma…or our husband…or our neighbor that got us something and we didn’t get her anything. Sound familiar? What to do? What to do?
One option would be to crawl under a rock until Christmas is over, but that won’t solve anything.
All jokes aside, you’ve caught my gift-giving guide early enough that there is still time to shop and leave those last-minute gifts as things of the past. If we plan ahead, we can keep away from the mall crowds, keep to our budget and keep our sanity.
How to Make Cheap Pulled Pork – Slow Cooker Recipe
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe:
Pulled pork is one of my favorite slow cooker recipes. The way I make it is easy and yummy. There are many other recipes out there with more thought and effort, but I am a mother of two small kids and just don’t have the time to wear the “gourmet chef” hat right now.
I like to cook dinners that are fast, easy, and frugal! This one is a little higher priced than some of my other recipes in my two-week meal planning post, but when you are making tuna noodles for under $3 and Chili for under $4, you can afford to spend a tad more on pork and sweet barbecue sauce!
So let’s begin the slow cooker dump, sit back and watch our latest Gray’s Anatomy episode (yes, I still love that show!), and let our slow cooker do all the work! In the end, you will have a great meal the family will love and the cooking will happen while you take a load off! Slow Cooker plugged in? Here we go!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link I may be compensated but if you choose not to, feel free to browse or carry on with your cooking! My posts are here to help and any money I make is just a bonus! Thanks!
What you will need
1 1lb package of pork – I buy Market Pantry center-cut pork; however, some people use pork shoulder(cheaper). It is up to you but the center cut is already cut and is less fatty, which is healthier for the fam!
1/2 an onion sliced – Pro Tip: Cut the entire onion up when you get home from the store and use the other half for another recipe
1/2 bottle of Sweet BBQ sauce (Update: My son and I have been making our own pulled pork BBQ Sauce and it is so easy to make – See recipe below)
Around a tablespoon – Salt, pepper, and paprika for seasoning
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe Directions:
1. Turn on your crockpot and set it to four hours on high. Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray for easy cleanup.
2. Add onions to slow cooker
3. Season each side of pork with salt, pepper, and paprika ( I do a light coating of each)
4. Put the pork on top of your onions
5. Add BBQ sauce
6. Stir after about an hour and a half into cooking.
7. Let it all cook on high for four hours – Sit back, Relax!!
Easy, cheap pulled pork recipe
8. Check and Shred. Your pork will turn a lighter color as shown in the picture below, and shred very easily with a fork.
Yummy, Cheap Pulled Pork
Easy, Cheap Pulled Pork
Yummy & Cheap Pulled Pork
Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Cheap Pulled Pork Final Notes…
Serve this yummy pork on a bun or open face on a piece of bread. I like to serve with corn as a side dish! Enjoy and watch the faces of your family as you serve! You are bound to get a smile.
What is your favorite slow cooker recipe? Please leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you!
Crisp air, pumpkin patches, cider and donuts, football games, beautiful colored leafs-These these are just a few favorite things that are reminiscent of fall!! One other favorite, and maybe one of the best, is my budget-friendly chili recipe. This is a fall go-to recipe my entire family of four loves.
Every year around this time, I incorporate my quick easy, budget-friendly chili into my meal planning rotation. For those of you that do not cook, this recipe is so easy, you can’t go wrong! In my next post I’ll give you an example of my two-week meal planning, but for now, here is my favorite chili recipe!
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Since Chili is a go-to recipe I try to stock up on diced tomatoes, tomato paste, kidney beans, and ground beef when it is on sale. I freeze my ground beef and stockpile the canned goods. You will need to make a trip to the store for the fresh produce, but that is part of the reason this chili tastes so good! Fresh onion and green pepper! Not to mention, it makes your house smell amazing! What are you waiting for? Give this chili recipe a try this fall!
If you are really ready to save on groceries, check out my favorite cashback app Ibotta. I have literally earned hundreds back on food and groceries in the past few years and the app is easy to use, so why not get money back on the cheap meals you are about to make?
The best part about Ibotta is you do not need to clip coupons, which most of us dislike. Everything is organized on the app and it is easy to add your stores to your account or upload your receipt for some extra cashback when you finish your grocery shopping.
1 lb. of ground beef (season with salt & pepper) – paid 2.99 on sale-stock up
1 large can 30 oz. diced tomato – paid 1.39
1/2 an onion – paid . 99(save other half & make again next week)
1 green pepper – paid .62
1 can kidney beans 15 oz. – paid .89 (rinse)
1/2 can tomato sauce 15 oz. – paid .99 (save other half & make again next week)
1/2 tablespoons chili powder paid 1.99 for an entire bottle (estimate .20 per use)
*optional*Dried red pepper-I don’t use because I make mine kid friendly, but some like it spicy.
(Most ingredients were purchased at Target using my REDcard to get an extra 5% off my purchase, the green pepper was purchased at Walmart.)
Fall Chili Recipe Directions:
1. In a large skillet, brown ground beef & drain grease
2. Add green pepper & onion to the meat and cook on medium heat until soft
3. Dump the rest of the ingredients in and stir-See, I told you.. easy, peasy
4. Simmer and stir on low for 30 minutes or longer
*I’ve made this ahead of time and left on the stove top for up to two hours.
Optional: Sprinkle with shredded cheese & dollop with sour cream
Yummy cheap chili
Enjoy Your Chili Fall Budget Meal!
Serve with crackers or garlic toast and ENJOY!!!!
For a family of four, this makes two meals. I have leftovers the following evening, cutting the meal cost in half and the mess! I love serving chili nachos the following day! Just top your chili over tortilla chips and add cheese and sour cream and you have another meal you don’t have to cook! The total cost was $7.67 (this includes my target red card 5% discount) or 3.83 per a meal. This chili is sure to be a winner and it is cheap and filling!
