Sunday, March 31, 2024

Here's How I Saved Money Serving an Old Fashioned Easter Dinner Menu for Two

Happy Easter. What a joyous day Easter is. Most families celebrate Easter by cooking up a feast for the dinner table.

Sliced Boneless Ham with
Brown-Sugar Glaze and Mint
Our family often celebrated what I'd call a formal Easter meal with the good dishes in the dining room. But as the children grew up and their children grew up, too, we scaled down to an easier, more old fashioned Easter dinner menu for just the two of us.
For our formal Easter dinner, we'd often order a Honey-Baked ham. This is one of the most yummy taste treats for a ham dinner. So so good.

We'd all get together (the kids and a few years later... the kids their kids) and we'd gather around the dining table -- a tight squeeze -- but we wanted to be together rather than set up separate tables for the youngsters.

What I remember most is the happy faces [such an eye-smiling memory]. I used to put together big kid Easter baskets... meaning no colored eggs, just fun stuff that grown kids might get a kick out of. One year I handed out yellow bunny ears and packed the "baskets" with underwear. Fun! I'd pack and wrap up each Easter basket or substitute "container" with colored cellophane and a big bow. What a glorious moment to see the look on their faces when these big kids got their "Easter baskets." It's a grand memory I treasure.

For Easter dinner, I'd serve that wonderful Honey-Baked ham with mashed potatoes, my homemade sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole with sauteed onions, Mom's corn casserole, Mom's 7-Up jello salad, Mom's strawberry jello salad, and a fresh green salad. For dessert, there'd be a choice of pecan pie, cherry pie, apple pie, cheesecake and wine, water and punch. A bit over on food, but what a good time each of those celebrations was.

But time marches on and with it comes change. Now, there are families on both sides of the married couple children, friends of the grands and their parents. Come the time when holiday celebrations must be shared with other family member families. I completely understand. The Easter family get-together is a casualty -- now no longer done the same as it was before.
My honey and I have many options for Easter Sunday dinner... from being a guest rather than the host and hostess... to eating together... just the two of us.
Oh, we've tried buying a complete Easter dinner from Market Street. That was fun, good but expensive. We tried non-traditional food that could be prepared and enjoyed in a really casual atmosphere, like in front of the TV. [Boo hoo, I didn't like doing this on such a special holiday.] We've even given "eating out" a try. Nothing feels like the celebration Easter dinner should be, except an old fashioned Easter Dinner menu at home.
Nicely, I've got my new cooking skills to make this year's Easter dinner a good memory. My honey is working today of all days [sad face] because a job with inconvenient working hours is better than no job. [hah ha] So today, this Easter, it's just me and my honey. When he comes home from work we'll have a fine Easter celebration. Good food is good anytime, right?

Here's how I saved money on food serving an old fashioned Easter Dinner menu for two, us two. The table is set with my white eyelet table cloth. I put two place settings out using my sculptured china dishes set with two tall wine glasses and two pink cloth napkins. In the center of the table I placed a nice centerpiece decoration that I made using pink and green colors. Pink candles in tall candleholders that match my off-white sculptured dishes flank the homemade centerpiece.

For dinner, I have the wine glasses chilling in the freezer. I made sun tea using green tea bags for a healthy beverage. I'll add a slice of lemon and some mint leaves just before I pour the green tea into the wine glasses -- to add flavor and festive up our holiday drinks.

I made a lovely brown-sugar glaze for the Hormel Cure 81 Boneless Ham (bought with a $2 off coupon).

For the starch, we're having creamy mashed potatoes and candied sweet potatoes with a pecan glaze topping. We saved on the Russet potatoes and pecans by buying in bulk at Sam's Club.

For the vegetable, I am serving old fashioned green beans with a butter and onion topping. I used can green beans because we saved by buying a case of green beans at Sam's Club.

The salad is spectacular if I do say so myself. It's a spinach and baby green salad with bits of green beans, broccoli, red onion rings, quartered strawberries, pinenuts and golden raisins topped with freshly crumbled bacon and a sweet raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Yup! We saved on the pinenuts, too, buying in bulk at you know where.

Dessert is in the slow cooker that son, Steven, gifted me with last Christmas. It's a cherry dessert recipe for a diabetic so I can enjoy a bite of sweet treat, too. Plus, my honey says he loves this dessert.

I calculate that this old fashioned Easter dinner menu -- with our coupon and savings -- is costing about $11, which is $5.50 each. Amazing when I used to spend over $300 on the Easter dinner meal groceries. Eating out was more like $70. So this Easter is a budget winner, and I expect leftovers.

I hope you each and all have a wonderful Easter celebration... no matter what time dinner is served.