$20 Dollar Tree Thanksgiving Dinner!

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!

[SonShine-JC]

My sister (RIP)🙏 would make miracle's on thanksgiving just like this... One of the best hams she ever made, I kid you not, came from a can that she roasted with a can of coke 😮 it's all we had, and it was so delicious... Last year was our first thanksgiving without her 😢 but this brought back many special memories 🙏 thank you so much ❤ God bless.

[christinaanne]

You have managed to make a Dollar Tree Thanksgiving a beautiful occasion. I would be humbled and honored to sit at a table with anyone who did the most they could with what they have. This is touching and I appreciate it.

[steveedsinger]

My Catholic Church down the street and they're giving away a turkey a pan and a box of fixings. How lucky I am, 🦃

[cmacski]

I think many people forget the premise of being thankful for whatever you have. It’s about singing where you worship, not being heard!

[jds]

I’m hosting this year. Free turkey I won at a work raffle. All of my sides are from DT! ❤

[jenniferharris]

Wow, that is quite a meal for only $5 per plate. You are a frugal magician.

[BrowneyedGirlmjd]

Raise your hand if you think there can never be too many Dollar Tree Dinner videos. Yup - it’s unanimous. ❤️ sending much love and thanks for the effort that you put into planning these dinners. I don’t think you understand the number of families you have touched and the number of dinners that they have been able to have because you put out your videos.

If you are one of those families and you are struggling with food insecurity please please please reach out to the agencies in your area. There is no shame in asking for a little bit of help. Having dinner is not a luxury. It is a basic human right!!!! Down the road when you’re back on your feet you will be able to repay the kindness that you received now. So please call 211, call your local United Way office for a list of the charities they support, call some local churches. JUST CALL!!! Sorry stepping off my soapbox now I just felt called to post this message because I knew someone desperately needed to see it. ❤❤❤❤❤

[jasonsmart]

AS a Brit in the UK i am not totally sure why i'm watching Thanksgiving Dinners using Dollar Store Ingredients but I found it fascinating. Your ability to adapt to the available ingredients was a lesson to us and lets face it, its what our ancestors would have had to have done. Never heard of green bean casserole but it looked good, also mighty impressed with the no cook desert - a winner. Admit have never had instant mashed potato before but believe it has improved a lot over the years and i might well try as reviews seem good. Thank you.

[lifeasranee]

A lot of my clients are on a budget and shop at dollar tree every week for groceries. If they say they can’t do Thanksgiving I tell them to watch your videos ❤

[kathynguyen]

I’ve never been this early before. Really love watching your videos. I’m not struggling with food but I’m a cheap butt and love looking for new ideas.

[ClutchingPearlz]

This year for thanksgiving I’m baking one Cornish hen, have one can of cranberry, one packet of Idaho potatoes, one box of stuffing and that’s gonna be it. Simple but will be filling.

[mangopilar]

That cream cheese brand, has an awesome taste. Also, if you cannot find it, fried onions use croutons at the dollar tree. Thanks Rebecca, for taking the time to demonstrate 20.00 holiday can be done, especially shopping at your local Dollar Tree.😊

[rangerannie]

I'm stretching my SNAP benefits to cover our holiday meals, so your videos are very helpful! Thank you for posting. 🦃
Sacramento, California USA 🇺🇸

[christineceriani]

I'm working Thanksgiving night, but will be making a DT Thanksgiving dinner for myself, with leftovers for Friday!! Thank you, Rebecca!

[nysari_]

I'm so impressed with the variety and generous portions for a meal that feeds 4 for just $20! So glad that anyone who might recreate this gets to walk away with that thanksgiving full belly feeling.

[davisandew]

Just discovered this channel while visiting my sister in VA. We quickly binged all of the long form videos. We can’t wait to watch this episode tonight.

The crazy thing is my sister lives within walking distance of the DollarTree headquarters.

[hannakinn]

I think 2 cans of canned chicken, a box of stuffing mix and a can of chicken or mushroom soup or gravy or ĝravy mix makes a fine Thanksgiving casserole. My mom fixes that for a quick and easy weekend dinner. With some sides and cranberry sauce it's a fine meal.
Creamy corn is a yummy side dish, frozen corn, 4 oz of cream cheese, some butter, splash of milk if needed, a tablespoon of sugar and egg or 2, baked in the oven, it's so good, it's good with some crumbled bacon added.
My local Dollar Tree often has big cans of yams, naturally you can use them to make candied yams as a side but I like to use them to make a yam soup with finely chopped onion or a bit of minced onion or onion powder (if I used tge dried minced onion I put some in a small dish with some water and microwave until they're rehydrated), powdered ginger, butter, milk, chicken broth or chicken bullion, and pumpkin pie spice. It's pretty served with pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) sprinkled on top. It's a good soup starter for Thanksgiving dinner.
Another soup idea is chicken corn chowder, bag of frozen corn or 2 cans of corn (cream style or regular) a bag of instant potatoes, a can of chicken, milk (fresh, canned or shelf stable) butter or margarine, pepper and salt to taste. Put a bit of butter in a pot, drain and cook the chicken, when chicken has a bit of color add the corn some water and the bullion, when corn is cooked add water and milk and stir in the instant potatoes. You can add more milk or water to get to the consistency you like your chowder. This looks pretty in the bowl with some parsley sprinkled on top. My sister likes this with dehydrated onions added. You could sprinkle some of those fried onions on top of the chowder, sometimes my sister wants grated cheese on top. If you have turkey left after the holidays you can use some of that to whip up a quick batch of turkey corn chowder using this recipe.

[lagabrielaa]

Love these videos, I think there can be a lot of snobby chefs online this time of year, and these videos are such an accessible resource. Great job!

[dorkyvonmunchmunch]

I love that you do this for those who need ideas for a budgeted holiday. Everyone should still celebrate with a nice holiday meal. Cheers!

[itslauramichelle]

Oh I super love this! I just ordered some ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner trying to be budget conscious because INFLATION, and times are tough. I was able to get everything we wanted for $68 including ham and turkey, so while my meal is triple plus your budget, I really liked seeing your options and thought process, normally I woulda totally over spent, so I still saved. Happy almost Thanksgiving to you. I am THANKFUL for you, your whit, your tips, and your honesty! XO