A Virginia woman shared how she prepared a $20.50 Christmas dinner for up to six people, just in time for the festive season.
Rebecca Chobat, a 30-year-old stepmom who works full-time, cooks for herself and her boyfriend most of the year, but his two children also live with them for a few months.
She started shopping at Dollar Tree about a year ago to supplement her regular purchases and save money, and now she shares her budget finds and tips on TikTok as @dollartreedinners with her nearly 600,000 followers.
In a series of videos that have amassed more than 1.6 million views at the time of writing, she revealed how she prepared a Christmas dinner for six by spending $20.50 inclusive of grocery sales tax at the Dollar Tree.
Virginia stepmom Rebecca Chobat shared how she made a $20.50 Christmas meal that feeds up to six people
Chobat takes people on their shopping spree in the first TikTok video, saying she lays down a few ground rules to ensure she’s maximizing her savings.
“The guidelines I follow when shopping for these types of videos is that I only visit one Dollar Tree and only buy what’s available in that particular store that day,” she says.
“The only things I can use from home are oil, salt and pepper.”
Chobat grabs Stuffing Mix, fried onions, frozen green beans, cream of mushroom soup, two bags of mashed potatoes, two packets of honey ham, frozen berry banana mix, banana nut muffin mix, frozen spinach, cream cheese, mozzarella, homemade biscuit mix, chicken broth and one Tub Cool Whip.
When it comes to shopping on a budget, Chobat says, her main focus is price per meal, not price per ounce or long-term price.
“I have this mindset that it’s not always cheaper to buy something in bulk. It can be a lower cost per ounce, but if buying more means consuming more or wasting more, it’s not really saving money,” she told .
Chobat described all of the items she bought for the Christmas dinner, including stuffing mix, cool whip, frozen berry banana mix, chicken broth, mashed potatoes, and green beans
Other Dollar Tree products that Chobat has purchased from Dollar Tree. Pictured are frozen spinach, banana muffin mix, homestyle cookie mix, cream cheese and fried onions
Two of the dishes Chobat prepared: mashed potatoes and a spreadable spinach dip in a skillet
The honey ham was seared off, with chicken broth added during cooking for more flavor
The green bean casserole made with frozen vegetables, cream of mushroom soup and fried onions
“Dollar Tree isn’t always the cheapest option, but sometimes it’s better than investing the extra time and gas to shop at multiple stores, and the fixed pricing structure can really help people get more variety for their money.”
Rebecca’s shopping list for Christmas dinner
1 box of filling mix: $1.25
1 carton of chicken broth: $1.25
1 block cream cheese mix: $1.25
1 4-ounce block of mozzarella cheese: $1.25
1 bag of frozen spinach: $1.25
1 package cookie mix: $1.25
2 bags of Garlic Flavored Instant Potatoes: $2.50
2 packs of honey deli ham: $2.50
1 bag of frozen green beans: $1.25
1 can of Mushroom Cream Soup: $1.25
1 bag of fried onions: $1.25
1 package Banana Nut Muffin Mix: $1.25
1 pack of frozen berries with banana: $1.25
1 container of Cool Whip: $1.25
TOTAL COST: $20.50 (including grocery sales tax)
In the next video in the Christmas Dinner series, she shows how she prepares dinner, starting with the appetizer: a spinach dip that can be pulled apart in a skillet.
She uses the block of cream cheese, some mozzarella, spinach, and the homemade cookie mix.
Her second course is a bean casserole—which, of course, consists of the green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and a handful of fried onions.
The filling is the third dish on the menu. She uses the chicken broth to make it since the store didn’t have margarine.
She added some more broth to the next dish, the mashed potatoes.
And the rest was used to flavor the slices of honey ham she chose to fry.
The final course is dessert, a fruit cake Chobat made from a banana nut mix and the frozen fruit mix, and served with a dollop of Cool Whip.
Chobat said she started her TikTok account after going down a rabbit hole on YouTube and watching other creators cook Dollar Tree food.
“It really got me thinking about my own upbringing and the types of stores I shopped in as a kid, as well as the type of person who would be most likely to use the Dollar Tree for groceries,” she told the DailyMail .com
“I think something in me felt right about it and I decided pretty much straight away that it was something I wanted to pursue.
“Throughout the process, I learned and adjusted what content I published based on follower feedback and individual situations.
The filling mix was made with chicken broth and was one of the courses of the Christmas dinner
For dessert there was a fruit cobbler. It was made with the banana muffin mix and the frozen fruit
Chobat, posting on TikTok as @dollartreedinners, is serving up her Christmas dinner
“I want everyone to feel represented in some way, even those who only have a microwave, for example.
“There are so many people creating traditional cooking content and I feel like a lot of the individuals who live in less than ideal situations are left out so they feel like they don’t have a place, but I’ll give them one space, and a resource.
“The Christmas video was a particularly proud moment for me, not only because of the low price, beautiful presentation and the amount of people it nurtured. I felt like it was one of my greatest accomplishments as it didn’t look like dollar store food.’
People in her comments section have been impressed with her frugality and recipes.
“I love, love, love your content. My mother was like that. She could make almost anything out of nothing,” one person said.
“This spinach dip looks AMAZING,” wrote another person.
“I’ve been a professional fine dining chef for years and I think you have a nice thing here for people who don’t have much to keep up the good work,” added another.
A fourth supporter wrote: “Love that you make various ideas, including a Christmas dinner, accessible and affordable. Your content is valuable and comprehensive. Keep going!’
Recent figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that shoppers are spending an average of $433 more per month than they did in 2021 — despite purchasing the same goods and services.
Although the monthly figure of $445 fell slightly in September, analysis of October data from Moody’s Analytics shows that inflation is still straining budgets.
Consumer prices rose 7.7 percent year-on-year in October, according to the BLS.