Today I made a Thanksgiving Dinner with a $20 budget from Dollar Tree!

The guidelines I follow when making these holiday meals: I shop at one Dollar Tree on one day, the only items I can use from home are oil, salt, and pepper. If that Dollar Tree doesn't have what I want, I find a substitute or go without.

Here's what I bought:

4 packs of country ham $5.00
2 cans of french style green beans $2.50
Buttery homestyle instant mashed potatoes $1.25
Milk $1.25
Margarine $1.25
Fried onions $1.25
Cream of mushroom soup $1.25
Mac and Cheese $1.25
Turkey gravy $1.25
Graham cracker pie crust $1.25
Chocolate pudding $1.25
Cream cheese $1.25

Total $20.00

No Bake Cheesecake:

Soften cream cheese to room temperature and cream with a hand mixer, slowly whip in 1 cup of cold milk. Once fully combined, add pudding and whip for 3 minutes. Pour into pie crust and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.

Green Bean Casserole:

Mix 2 cans of drained french style green beans with 1 can of cream of mushroom soup. Heat over medium high until bubbling. Pour into a baking dish and top with fried onions (You can bake if desired to brown & crisp the onions but I wanted to do this whole dinner without using my oven so I did not)

Mashed Pototoes

Option 1: Boil 2 cups of water and mix in potatoes or for a richer flavor Option 2: Boil 1 & 1/2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of milk, and 2 tablespoons of margarine then mix in potatoes.

Mac & Cheese

Add macaroni, 1 & 1/2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of margarine, and cheese powder into a saucepan. Mix this all and it will look clumpy, then heat over medium to medium high stirring occasionally until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 8 minutes stirring occasionally.

Ham:

I rinsed the ham in a ice bath 4 times until the water was mostly clear, this was to remove the brine/salt from the outside. Then I pan fried it in 2 tablespoons of oil, and 2 tablespoons of margarine. I also mixed my gravy in 2 cups of cold water, and once the ham was ready I poured the gravy in the skillet with the ham and let it thicken up with the ham.

Enjoy!