Meals With Maria

You Don’t Have To Be Rich To Eat Well With This $20 Dollar Tree Christmas Dinner

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Meals don’t need to be expensive to be festive, delicious, and create lasting memories. Today I’m sharing a festive Dollar Tree Christmas Dinner for only $20. 

Hosting Christmas Dinner

I personally love hosting because I enjoy cooking for the ones I love. It’s a bonus that I don’t need to leave my house on holidays! If your hosting this holiday season, I’ve put together some tips and printables for you so you can plan out your own dinner from the guest list, to the shopping list, to the cooking schedule. These are FREE this season only so don’t delay!

Christmas dinner printables

How to Make a Dollar Tree Christmas Dinner

dollar tree groceries laid out, tomato sauce, marshmallows, pene, craisins, honey roaasted peanuts, walnuts, ranch seasoning, canned corn, frozen green beans, vanilla caken mix, chicken nuggets frozen dinner, lemon lime soda.

Dollar Tree has everything you need to serve a delicious Christmas dinner for only $20. Here is the shopping list I used:

  • 1 box penne pasta (or your favorite noodle for a pasta bake)
  • 1 package oyster crackers
  • 1 container ranch seasoning
  • 1 small package honey roasted peanuts
  • 2 Banquet chicken nugget frozen dinners
  • 1 package of frozen cut green beans
  • 1 frozen garlic bread (or Texas toast)
  • 1 package of Christmas marshmallows (or your favorite Christmas candy)
  • 1 package vanilla cake mix (or strawberry, yellow, or chocolate depending on what you like)
  • 1 package Craisins
  • 1 package chopped walnuts (or pecans depending on your preference
  • 1 package of frosting (I used vanilla but you could use whatever you like)
  • 1 jar Hunt’s pasta sauce
  • 1 bottle of lemon lime soda (if you’re using chocolate cake mix, buy coke instead)
  • 1 bar mozzarella cheese (or if you can’t find the bar, you could use cheese sticks)

The Menu

I always get started by making appetizers and desserts. To start I’m making these Holiday Seasoned Oyster Crackers and serving them with the honey roasted peanuts for something to snack on. I didn’t want to make a more complicated appetizer on a day that’s busy already. You can easily make these seasoned oyster crackers ahead of time so there is no work on Christmas.

For dessert, I made 2-ingredient cupcakes. This was a fun one to get the kids involved with. The recipe is so easy. We topped ours with Christmas marshmallows but you could buy your favorite Christmas candy and sprinkle that over the top of the cupcakes. You also have the option to buy chocolate cake mix and use coca cola type soda instead.

The Main Course

A nice hearty casserole on Christmas is always a great choice. You also have the ability to make the casserole the day before and pop it in the oven day of for less stress on Christmas day. To make a Chicken Parmesan Bake, I used Banquet chicken nugget microwave dinners to cook up some breaded chicken. When you think about it, this chicken is similar to any other breaded chicken you’d buy, it’s just in smaller cubes. Then pasta sauce, penne noodles, and shredded mozzarella to top things off. Dollar Tree even carries parmesan cheese, if you don’t have any on hand.

For a delicious side dish of Christmas Green Beans, I riffed on my Brussels sprouts and butternut squash air fryer dish. I used the same sauce with frozen green beans, Craisins, and walnuts. And to really round things out I threw a frozen garlic bread in the oven because garlic bread is a must with a casserole like this!

Overall, this was a much loved meal and anyone would be lucky to serve it on Christmas or any special day. Since we only needed 12oz of the seltzer for the cupcakes, my kids really enjoyed the sprite with their meal. And I bet you could make it extra festive if you added a few drops of red food coloring to it!

I hope you have a magical holiday season! Make sure to check out my other holiday recipes for more inspiration!

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