How to Plan a Bougie Thanksgiving Dinner on a Budget

Like many Americans, Jake Cousineau is busy preparing to host Thanksgiving dinner. As an educator and personal finance author, he’s applying some financial strategies to help reduce the costs.

For starters, he’s asking his guests to bring dishes to share.

“The typical model of Thanksgiving where one person cooks is wildly inefficient,” Cousineau says. Not only does the host take on the bulk of the work and expenses, but they often cook so much that food is wasted.

Cousineau, author of “Face Your Financial Fears,” isn’t afraid to ask his guests to bring side dishes to round out the meal — and containers to take home leftovers. That way, the costs are distributed more evenly and less food is wasted.

“Make sure you go in with a plan,” says Sarah Schweisthal, personal finance educator at YNAB, a budgeting app. If you go grocery shopping without mapping out your dishes and the ingredients you need first, then it’s easy to overspend on items you don’t need.

Schweisthal suggests looking up recipes, estimating the cost of ingredients and adjusting from there.

“You can price it out and then decide to cut back,” she says. You can also check what you already have in your pantry.

Similarly, carefully selecting recipes makes it easier to choose ones that feel fancy without adding to the cost.

Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor at the food publications Bon Appetit and Epicurious, suggests skipping out-of-season produce and turning to a classic staple like sweet potatoes with a hot honey butter drizzle, which feels luxurious but isn’t costly.

Browse your pantry and ask an AI tool like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to generate a recipe based on those ingredients to help trim your shopping list, Cousineau says.

“I tell ChatGPT I have these five things and ask it what I can make,” he says. He recently typed in chicken, bell peppers and soy sauce. The chatbot suggested a tasty rice bowl.

For ingredients you don’t have at home, shop soon to find savings, says Annie Berger, a culinary consultant and recipe writer at Meal Better, a website that helps families tackle dinner.

Thanksgiving food sales often start early, she says, which means you can save by purchasing shelf- or fridge-stable items like pie shells, puff pastry and canned goods in advance.

“Shop them when they go on sale, and then use them in a couple weeks,” she suggests.

If you have room in your freezer, you can also buy a frozen turkey early, although Berger has an alternative money-saving approach: Consider serving a smaller bird such as duck or chicken instead of turkey.

Looking for the bougie element of Thanksgiving? Sometimes, elevating a dish to the next level can be as simple as adding chives or putting it in a nicer bowl, Cousineau says. Turn the lights down low, light candles and use lamps to set the mood at no extra cost, he adds.

“My wife has a rule, ‘No overhead lights at any point,’” he says. The softer lighting creates a cozier, more intimate atmosphere for the holiday, distinguishing it from an everyday meal.

“This is the time to go crazy with your garnishes,” Berger says. “It’s a nice way to elevate a dish without having to buy a ton of ingredients.”

Throwing pomegranate seeds or dried cherries over a side dish can make it feel extra special, she adds.

Like Cousineau, Berger prefers to avoid food waste. Her tactic is to transform leftovers into new meals by changing the flavor profile. For example, she turns extra turkey into congee with rice, butternut squash, green beans and chili crisp.

Youngman suggests turkey melts, soup and sweet potato oatmeal from leftover casserole or pie filling.

Hungry yet? Start planning. And keep this in mind: A little creativity can go a long way in saving money, making great food and reducing waste, even when you’re hosting a full table.