Saving money on your main meat dish

Tradition says thanksgiving has two main meat dishes – one turkey and one ham. But that tradition started when it was common for there to be 30-50 extended family members all attending the same thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately for us, most of us do not have to deal with this challenge anymore!

Choose either the ham or the turkey, not both. Or if you are dead set on tradition, go with the smallest ham you can find, even as small as one that will only yield one or two slices per guest.

Alternatively, with Christmas a mere month later, you can choose to do turkey for Thanksgiving, while doing the ham for your Christmas dinner.

Also consider your family preferences. Ham has become more commonplace in our daily diets, while most families only cook a turkey once or twice a year. So the twice annual turkey indulgence could be something your family looks forward to every year, so it is worth it to keep the turkey.