Charcuterie Board; those two words are music to my ears. One of my favorite things in the world is a nice cured meat with a soft cheese and a cold glass of Marlborough Valley Sauvignon Blanc. If this trio was a bit healthier, I would have this combination every single day.
I find my favorite nights are the ones where we stay home, put together a fun Charcuterie or grazing board and play a little game of dominoes. The main issue I have with creating a charcuterie board is the price tag adds up so fast! I wanted to challenge myself to put together a Charcuterie Board on a budget and I was pretty pleased with the results.
For this board, I stuck to a strict budget of $30. With that budget, I wasn’t able to get as much variety as I normally would but I am still pretty proud of how the board turned out. With the exception of the strawberries and meat, I did the all of my shopping at Trader Joe’s.
My board shown in this post is from Target, I linked it below with additional reasonable boards that I love.
Now let’s make this Charcuterie Board!
To begin, start with the ingredient(s) that belong in a bowl. For this board, I am only putting olives in a bowl but this would also be the time to include any dips like a hummus or tapenade.
Next: add cheese. Sticking to a budget was most difficult when it came to cheese selection because your girl LOVES a fancy cheese. On the board: the three smaller slivers come from the Trader Joe’s tapas pack and are the perfect amount of cheese for a charcuterie board. The larger bit of cheese is triple cream brie with mushrooms, its to die for! SO DELICIOUS.
Side Note: If you are ever in the Palm Springs area there is a great cheese and charcuterie board shop called On The Mark. It’s a must visit.
Next up: Add Meat, for this board I used pepperoni and salami but my favorite is a hard Spanish chorizo. I normally would purchase my cured meats for a board from Whole Foods, but the budget did not allow for that. There is a great selection of cured meats at Whole Foods!. On this board, the pepperoni is prepackaged from the refrigerated section at Ralph’s and the salami is boars head from the Ralph’s deli.
Add tomatoes or any easy to enjoy vegetable. Another option for non-tomato lovers is bell pepper or carrots. I like to separate my fruits and vegetables with the cheese in case there are any non-strict vegetarians in attendance, in that case, they would be able to enjoy the board’s ingredients as well.
Add fresh and dried fruit. for this board I used strawberries and the chili spiced dried mango from Trader Joes. If you have not tried the chili spiced dried mango, its such a must!
Finally, add nuts and crackers and enjoy!
What are your favorite charcuterie board items that I am missing? I really love a spreadable cheese, sad the budget didn’t allow me to include that.
