Happy Thanksgiving! Eric and I will be celebrating with my family, but from ages 18-25 I was single and on my own for Thanksgiving. Sometimes I’d go to a restaurant with another single friend. Sometimes I’d be invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with a friend and her husband. A couple times I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for a few other single friends. One thing everyone seemed to agree on was that there’s no point in cooking the HUGE Thanksgiving recipes for just 1-4 people. It’s too much food, time, and expense. So I thought I’d share a collection of recent recipes I’ve posted that are perfectly sized for a newlywed (or retired) couple, a few single friends, or cooking for yourself. They’re also EXTREMELY affordable. The entire meal you see below is under $5 a serving!
Some people like starting a holiday meal with a salad. If you’re one of those people, this spinach salad with Asian pears, marinated cranberries , sliced shallots and toasted hazelnuts is a perfect salad for the colder season. It’s simple to make and only costs 80 cents a serving. (vegetarian and gluten free!)
This recipe for cranberry sauce uses seasonal satsuma mandarin orange zest to add some tang (I love the word tang!). The recipe actually makes 10 servings because the leftovers last forever and are a great condiment. I like to use it on sandwiches, to make cranberry muffins, or in wraps. It’s a super cheap side dish at only 20 cents a serving. (vegetarian and gluten free!)
Here’s a green bean casserole recipe to knock your socks off!! The addition of tomatoes gives a bright burst of flavor to your basic casserole. Vegetarian with gluten free options, and affordable at 44 cents a serving. (vegetarian with a gluten free option)
Sage and Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes are a great enhancement to a classic dish. The brown butter and sage add a depth of flavor to the mashed potatoes without taking away from the sentimentality of a holiday favorite. Mashed potatoes are so cheap to make, these are just 40 cents a serving (and both vegetarian and gluten free).
It’s not Thanksgiving without stuffing, and a great way to make it fancy with just the two of you is to cook it in individual serving dishes. You can even have a little bit of leftovers with this recipe, it’s only got 7 ingredients and costs just 36 cents a serving. (vegetarian option!)
You can’t have a holiday meal without a bird!!! But for just two of you it makes a lot more sense to go with a Cornish Game Hen, like this one stuffed with lemon, garlic, and sage butter. You get quite a bit of meat for $1.40 a serving. (Gluten free too!)
For dessert, a whole pie is too much for two people. But how about pumpkin pie ice cream served with pumpkin bread? A combination that’s sure to please. The ice cream is only 32 cents a scoop and the bread is only 10 cents a slice!
Hope you all have a happy, healthy, and affordable (or cheap!) Thanksgiving.
What a beautiful feast just for two!
I have been drying and freezing ends and what-nots of bread loaves so this dressing recipe should work well. Thank you.