Easy and Cheap Christmas Recipes: Frugal Ideas for Your Christmas Cooking

One fun and easy way to celebrate the holidays is with a cheap Christmas recipe. After spending money on dozens of presents, hours wrapping the darn things, and minutes seeing all that work come to fruition, nobody wants to waste their time or money cooking in the kitchen. An easy, cheap Christmas recipe can make the holiday a little more bearable for those of us that celebrate to exhaustion.

French Toast

I really enjoy having breakfast early on Christmas morning, since we are usually up by 5:00am (the only day of the year I can act like a five year old and get away with it). A quick breakfast of french toast is a nice way to start the day.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup milk

10-12 slices white bread

Butter (as required for keeping food from sticking)

Maple syrup or other syrup of your choice

Preparation:

Break eggs into a wide bowl or pie plate. Beat lightly with a fork. Stir in milk. Heat a griddle or skillet at medium-high heat. Melt a small bit of butter on the skillet. Place the bread slices, one at a time, into the bowl or plate, letting slices soak up milk/egg concoction for a few seconds, then turn to coat the other side. Soak or coat only as many as you plan to eat, because the egg mixture will not keep for very long. Transfer coated bread pieces to the now-hot griddle or skillet, heating slowly until bottom is golden brown. Turn and brown the other side. Serve French toast hot with butter and syrup.

Serves ~4.

Turkey Gravy

The Christmas turkey is a tradition like no other, so why not add some gravy to enhance that delicious entrée? This turkey gravy recipe is cheap, easy and requires few ingredients.

Ingredients:

Canned chicken or turkey broth

1 medium onion, diced

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp Thyme

1 tsp Sage

1/2 tsp Marjoram

1/4 tsp Paprika

1/2 tsp Rosemary

Preparation:

Heat on medium all ingredients except for the cornstarch and thyme. Next, mix cornstarch with thyme and 1/2 cup water in a small mixing bowl. Mix until the lumps are gone. Heat the broth mixture to boiling, then add the cornstarch combination to thicken the gravy. Stir continuously.

After the whole blend has boiled for 1 minute, turn the heat down to its lowest setting. The gravy should have thickened somewhat. If you would like it thicker, just repeat the step by making more of the cornstarch mixture and mixing it into the boiling liquid. Serve hot with your Christmas turkey.

Apple Crisp

Of course, after eating all the turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, etc., you're going to want some dessert! Well, this cheap recipe is wonderful, and it's pretty easy, too!

Ingredients:

4-5 cups apples (I use Granny Smith, but other good choices are Gala, Fuji, or Honeycrisp)

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup oatmeal

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup butter

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup apple juice or water

1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350. Peel, core, and slice the apples into small pieces. Place them in the bottom of a lightly greased glass baking dish. Mix all other ingredients in a separate mixing bowl until they are moistened, then spread the mixture over the apples in the baking dish. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

These cheap recipes are easy ways to cook for a holiday celebration. In another article, I wrote about how to make a delicious roasted pumpkin soup. That recipe is a bit more complicated, but it is worth the trouble to have some warm soup on a cold Christmas night!