I Made A Stunning Charcuterie Board For $17 & There's A Hack To Making It For Cheap

The cheese

While the winner of my recent cheese taste test was Your Market Fresh medium cheddar cheese from Walmart, the cost of it rings in at $6.07 for 250 grams, so I opted for my second place winner: the no name cheddar from No Frills which costs $3.49 for 200 grams.

I find this cheese to be chewy and velvety, with some nice crumble and bounce and it comes in at an incredibly affordable price point, which is a definite plus.

A charcuterie isn't complete without at least two types of dairy, but instead of going for a second cheese, which would add too much to my bill, I opted for a no name flavoured sour cream, which was actually a really nice addition to dip vegetables in.

Cheddar: $3.49

Dip: $2.29

Crackers and meat

Again, one of the main staples of a charcuterie board are meat and crackers which can also get incredibly pricey.

I chose the cheapest crackers I could, which turned out to be some random water crackers, but for the meat, I decided to shell out a bit more and get the President's Choice Splendido Antipasto Misto since it's really the star of the show.

It comes with a mix of ready-to-eat cured meats like prosciutto, coppa di parma and mild Genoa salami, all of which are very delicious. They suggest serving it with grapes or PC Splendido Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, both of which are much too pricey for me at the moment.

Crackers: $1.59

Deli meat: $6.49

Bulk Barn

Instead of buying fresh fruit to accompany the board, I went to Bulk Barn to see what I could find to supplement everything I had.

Given that I already had my cheese, dip and meat, I was looking for a dried fruit for some natural sweetness, some candy for some artificial sweetness and something crunchy for a bit of texture.

When shopping at Bulk Bark, I try and look for prices that are close to or under $1.00 per 100 grams of product, because otherwise, the total bill can add up pretty quickly.

While I was tempted to buy Reeses Pieces candies for a bit of a seasonal colour, I instead opted for a generous scoop of pretzels, a handful of sweet berry candies and about a cup of dates.

What would have cost me at least $5 (if not much more) for those items if I were to buy them in a grocery store instead cost me a fraction of the price just by shopping at the bulk retailer.

Save those loonies and toonies, folks — they add up!

Pretzels: $0.28

Berry candies: $1.62

Dates: $0.76

The other bits

My boyfriend likes to bake, and he had whipped up a herby bread the previous day (I am keenly aware of how lucky I am), so I added two slices of that to a bowl to serve alongside the board with some fancy olive oil and balsamic reduction we'd been gifted for Christmas.

I also cut up some leftover cucumber we had left in the fridge that was about to die, and it made for a wonderful fresh taste on the board amid so many heavy flavours.

Bread: free

Things we already had: olive oil, balsamic, cucumber

The final product

As you can see, I ended up with a pretty cute little charcuterie board that altogether cost me under $17, without tax.

One of the tricks to putting together a fun charcuterie board is to create an "S" pattern with one item, which I did with the crackers, and then tuck other things into the crannies of the "S."

As well, layering your items on top of each other creates some height, which adds some visual interest, and adding things into little bowls or ramekins is a cute way to add some definition, or to keep your dip from spreading all over your board.

I busted out two little candle holders and tea lights I got from Dollarama for a bit of ambience, and my partner and I tucked into our charcuterie board while playing a game of Scrabble (I won, in case you wanted to know).

Total cost: $16.52