Money Saving Tips For Thanksgiving Dinner

[njiang46]

Money Saving Tips For Thanksgiving Dinner

A lot of people are pinching their pennies this Thanksgiving in an effort to save as much as they can on turkey and all the trimmings.

KDKA's Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos went shopping with Teri Gault who runs the Website "The Grocery Game" for her expert advice.

For Gault, shopping for Thanksgiving dinner is like predicting the future.

She kept track of what holiday fixings cost in local supermarkets last year and when they went on sale in order to make her predictions for this year.

"The regular price of the yams is $1.20, but last year we saw them on the week of Thanksgiving down to 59 cents, so they will go on sale," Gault said.

Gault has several Thanksgiving shopping strategies. One of them is called "gathering."

Instead of doing a big shop just before Thanksgiving, use the weeks leading up to the holiday to spot sales and gather the things you know you'll need.

"You can cut your bill by half maybe more just by investing in the weeks before Thanksgiving," Gault said.

On other things, Gault said waiting until the last minute could pay off.

Last year, she said turkey at Giant Eagle started at $1.79 a pound and then dropped to 79 cents a pound.

During the week of Thanksgiving, the store promised to match anyone's advertised price and some were as low as 39 cents a pound.

"We don't know what they're going to do this year but we know it will be something good so keep your eyes open," Gault said.

The day Gault and Zanos went shopping, gravy was on sale for a $1.25, but double the 50 cent coupon on two and the final price was 75 cents a jar.

The same held true on canned milk for your pumpkin pie.

It was on sale at four for $5, minus a doubled 50 cent coupon and again, the price was just 75 cents a can.

Gault's final money saving tip is to stock up on things to get you through the holiday season.

"You can stock up on things in the weeks before Thanksgiving that will actually get you through to the Christmas season," Gault said.

[kleea1969]

Nov. 18, 2009 at 9:53 PM

Great Post.  I am a huge fan of stocking up on sale items.