Prepare for Unexpected Parties by Amortizing Occasions
Anyone who’s read my Plan, knows that the first step is to take inventory and find if there’s an area showing a tendency to over stock. In any surplus, some items linger past their expiration date, and that’s money wasted. Then the Plan’s guiding principle is to draw-up a weekly menu, use it to compile a complete shopping list and not deviate in the market–no impulse buying. Of course, I offer directions and outline incentives to make the Plan work. Sill, the question might be asked if the concept of provisioning for events in advance isn’t a contradiction. My answer is that it’s actually an extension, only a slightly different application of the same rules.
Amazingly, Americans can opt to celebrate one or more holidays, eleven months of the year, (the exception is August), each with it’s own special dishes. That’s not including family and social events. With the cost of the Holiday Season fresh in our minds, there’s no better time to contemplate ways to ease these extra expenses for the coming year, because if you could total what you spent in 2011, you would probably be surprised, and projecting that onto the proposed price increases for 2012 you would be even more so. It’s a definite outlay!
The solution that’s worked for me is to amortize occasions by provisioning for them gradually, weeks, even months in advance. I usually start about 5 months out. Please understand, this isn’t food for spontaneous drop-ins, or eligible for pantry over stocking. I keep these products in a separate category for events I KNOW I’ll have to host; a Superbowl party, my turn for a club meeting in March, Easter, a child’s birthday later in April, Mothers’ Day etc. I outline menus for each, underscoring the items I’m sure I’ll need. For example, for the listed events, I’ll need 4 cake mixes, ice cream, two entrees, probably roasts, 4 different fresh or frozen vegetables to go with them, 4 hors d’ourves, crackers, chips,something for the children to eat such as drumsticks or pizza. I’ll concentrate first on the items with a long shelf or freezer life, and the rest I’ll play by ear week by week I’ll even pick up a main entree, if it’s a good price, and can be kept or frozen. As for the Superbowl, I bought a ham, when they were on sale in December, and will work my menu around that. I’m thinking baked beans, roasted (frozen) whole green beans, cheese, crusty artesian bread and rolls. I’ll put out a grill, in case anyone wants to make paninis and, of course, chips and dips.
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Using my Plan, I’ll make a master shopping list of all the menu ingredients for my Special Occasions. Then as I study the fliers for my weekly shopping trip, I’ll also look for any sales on the Special List. It’s surprising how many products can be bought- cake mixes 10/10 or cheeses 3/5-one by one, over time, without major impact on the weekly food bill and added up, it’s truly astounding the amount of money that can be saved by buying this way. However, for those of you on a strict budget, following my Plan, I’d advise you to keep an accurate account of these costs and deduct them from from whatever fund you use for extras such as gifts, just to keep your records straight.
There are some real side benefits to provisioning special occasions in advance this way, It’s fun and stress free to let a menu evolve over a period of time, rather then having to pull it together at the last minute. It’s even more fun and stress free to realize that the occasion is already completely, or in large part, paid for. It’s very interesting to calculate what a major part of the food cost of a party, especially a dinner party, is taken up by ingredients other than the main entree.
Next Freezing Entrees; Did you know many can be made ahead for a party or to prolong leftovers?
