Subtitled: "How To Serve 35 Guests Party Food On A Budget"

I tend to be a bit more generous with my food budget when I am entertaining or serving others.  I go to the best supermarket in the area to make sure I am serving the freshest foods.  I purchase the best cuts of meat, even asking for the butcher’s advice.  I splurge on restaurant-brand condiments instead of store-brand.  Presenting the best foods to friends and family doesn't necessarily mean being wasteful. 

But, one thing I don't do is buy store-bought food platters anymore. Here's why...

I realize that it might seem strange to put "impulse purchase" and "good" in the same sentence, but this statement is true. 

Just today, an impulse purchase I made about 2 years ago paid off. 

I recently came across a story about a coupon train. A coupon train happens when a group of people gets together in an effort to share coupons.

The first person (the conductor) cuts all coupons from the paper and takes what they need. They pass the other unwanted coupons to the second person who takes what they need from the coupons and then adds their unwanted coupons to the pack.

Each consecutive person does the same thing, discarding any expired coupons along the way. Coupon trains are usually limited to a group of 10 or so people, and each person pledges to keep the train going. The group may re-start the train with the beginning person, and add or drop members at the end of each train.