Holiday Sales Part One: Planning and Prepping for Grocery Savings

Hello Appleseed Readers!  Now that the month of November has begun, we are officially counting down until Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Woohoo!  If you are like me and on a budget for the holidays this year, now is a good time to sit down and think about what you want Thanksgiving and Christmas to "look like." Today I'd like to focus on what I'm thinking about in preparation for Thanksgiving (and groceries).  We will do separate posts for Black Friday prep, online sales, and pre-Christmas shopping.  Ready? Let's go!

Thanksgiving

 Are you having a family dinner? How many people are coming, and what are you serving?  Now is the time to start making lists for groceries so that you can take advantage of the store sales and coupons as they come up in the weeks leading to Thanksgiving.  Here's the run down of prepping for Thanksgiving, Thrifty-style!

• If you do not subscribe to a newspaper, consider buying a few each week this month.  Especially in the week or two before Thanksgiving, you will find a plethora of coupons to help bring down your grocery bill for Thanksgiving AND Christmas.  In fact, I am going to try and plan our Christmas dinner at the same time I buy Thanksgiving groceries...the prices around Thanksgiving can be some of the best of the year for things like turkey, ham, and things that don't often go on sale (like sugar and flour!).  
  
• Along with coupons, make sure you are taking advantage of benefit programs for the items you already buy!  Did you know that retailers like Pampers, Kellogg's, Betty Crocker, etc have reward programs? Before you recycle your boxes from these brands, cut out the UPC codes or log them into a notebook, and when you get several log on to your account (free to set up) and plug in your points.  You can redeem the points for coupons or merchandise.  
• Normally, I use a site like Coupon Mom to match up coupons for groceries.  However, it is sometimes easier to compare store sales with the paper circular.  If you have been watching your grocery bill carefully for a while, you should know what your average "bottom" price is for an item (for example, I know that $1.50 is about what I pay for a package of shredded cheese, and I refuse to pay more).  This comes into play now; a LOT of stores will be running "sales," but if you aren't careful, you may end up paying more than normal or at least above your bottom price.  Example: A local retailer was recently running a "sale" on store brand greek yogurt.  It seemed like a good deal, but when I looked at the unit price, I realized they were asking the same price for the store brand yogurt as they were for my favorite brand name yogurt not on sale!  Just because you see a "sale" sign doesn't mean it's a sale.  
• Things to stock up on around Thanksgiving include: Baking supplies (salt, sugar, flour, etc), meats (which rarely go on sale!) such as ham, turkey, and chicken, and canned goods (e.g., canned pumpkin).  Now is also a good time to go through your pantry and donate or use items close to expiration date and take stock of what you need!
  
• Plan your menu now.  If you are doing a group dinner, call up the participants and ask what people might want to bring.  Not only will it help you plan your shopping/cooking, but it will help them get focused, too.  Don't forget the little things! If you are serving coffee, remember to budget for creamer and sugar (or a flavored liquid creamer).  If you are serving pie, budget for ice cream or whipping cream.
• Don't forget about the generic/store brand! Sometimes even with a coupon, the generic brand will be cheaper.  ALWAYS look at the unit price to make sure you are getting the best deal (consider your coupons, too).  
• If you have a deep freezer, this is a good time to do a clean out.  You can donate unused frozen food that is still good and in original packaging to a local food bank.  If you have small amounts of random leftovers (a chicken strip here, some peas there) do a "frozen leftovers fun night!" to clean out the freezer.  You want to be able to stock up on things like meats for the coming year!
• Above all, remember to keep track of what you are spending.  It is SO hard for me to do that this time of year, but I have found that things quickly can get out of hand if you don't do this!

Happy Saving!

-Megs