Save Money on a 4th of July Barbecue
How to Plan a Fourth of July Party on the Cheap
What you need for a backyard barbecue without spending a fortune. Grocery store essentials for your holiday party...and some easy recipe ideas.
Crack open the beer, scarf down some burgers and you have yourself an Independence Day blow-out. But you’ll need to spruce up the menu just a bit to impress family and friends.
How to Prepare a Money-Saving Backyard Barbecue:
- Burgers Buy ground beef in bulk (you can always freeze what you don’t eat.) Head to either Sam’s or Costco at least two days early to get the prime pick of the meats. If you don’t have a warehouse club membership, search for coupons online and check your local store’s weekly sales flyer. They are likely to have a special on hamburger meat. If not, go with hot dogs. Remember, plan your menu around what’s on sale. Be sure to cook meat thoroughly. You can find food safety tips on Kroger’s web site.
- Potato Chips Take advantage of two-for-one specials and buy one bag each of corn chips and regular potato chips. Also, if you own a deep fryer, you can save money by purchasing fresh potatoes, cutting them up and deep frying them for home-made french fries. Enlist help from family members for the labor intensive jobs like cutting up all the potatoes.
- Soda Hands down the best deals on soda are at warehouse clubs. But if you don’t feel like splurging on the carbonated stuff, buy flavored drink mix and make a pitcher of lemonade. Or combine the lemonade with ice tea for a combination that will surely be a huge (yet inexpensive) hit at the party.
- Fruit Salad Forget about fancy prepared salads you buy at the store. Simply cut up kiwi, wash some fresh blueberries and open up a few cans of mandarin oranges (drain the juice first,) Then mix all the ingredients for an attractive, yet easy-to-make fruit salad.
- Dessert Head to Trader Joes and buy several boxes of their whole grain muffin mix. It’s inexpensive and healthy. Your guests will think you made the muffins from scratch, they're so good. And if you're feeling festive, add some left over blueberries from your fruit salad, or chocolate chips to the mix.
- Entertainment Bring out those old-fashioned games from the closet, or if the weather is nice, watch the neighbor’s fireworks from your deck. And if kids are present, pull out the Slip ‘n Slide or let them play in the sprinkler with squirt guns.
Remember, keep the party simple. Buy paper plates in bulk and use disposable table cloths so clean up is easy and all you have to worry about is having a good time.
The copyright of the article Save Money on a 4th of July Barbecue in Consumer Education is owned by L. Marie Dubuque. Permission to republish Save Money on a 4th of July Barbecue in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
