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Every Day

Planning Our Thanksgiving Shopping

Have you been planning your Thanksgiving stock up shopping yet? I realize it is only mid October but I always plan ahead for the Thanksgiving sales and make a list of what I need to look for that usually go on sale.

Not only have I been thinking about what to buy but I have also been stashing my grocery money so that I have plenty when the sales start.

Last week at Aldi’s, I saw that they have their turkeys in the store already. I don’t remember what brand they were but I believe they were $ 1.29 a lb. Since I keep track of the prices that I paid last year, that is quite a hike in price. 


Last year, I paid $ .48 a lb. for store brand turkeys at Top’s(which is pictured) and Wegman’s. I also paid $ .48 a lb. for a Shady Brook turkey. Butterball turkeys which are our favorite were $ .87 a lb. at Aldi’s.

So you can see that the price has risen as much $ .42 a lb. at Aldi’s for a name brand. I expect that the prices will be much higher this year on all turkeys. But even with them rising, it will be one of the cheapest meats that you can purchase and these kinds of prices on turkey only come around once a year.

How many I will buy this year will depend on how much freezer space I have. But I know that I can use turkey instead of chicken in many recipes so that will cut the cost of my meat for the year. 


Besides turkeys, I always stock up on butter. Last year I paid $ 1.99 a lb and bought about 30 lbs. I will have to count how many I have left in the freezer and determine how many to buy this year. It will be interesting to see if the per pound price is higher.


I also need canned pumpkin since I am getting low. I paid $.89 a can for the ones I have right now.


I already stocked on the rolls of sausage when Aldi’s had them on sale a few weeks back for $ 1.49. I use them for breakfasts and for sausage stuffing to stuff the turkeys with. But they will probably go on sale in November also. 


Also on my list is cream soups, herb dressing cubes, stove top stuffing, fresh cranberries, fresh potatoes, pickles and green olives, chicken broth and stock, fresh onions, celery, and frozen pies. I stocked on a few cranberry sauces too.


I use the cream soups in recipes all year. I get enough of the herb dressing cubes to stuff how ever many turkeys I buy. I freeze them until I use them. I stock on a few stove top stuffing because they will be cheap and I can use them to stuff chicken breasts and pork chops during the year.

We only use butter in this house for recipes and for some cooking and baking. Fresh cranberries go into the freezer to make quick breads and muffins.

Fresh potatoes are usually the cheapest price per pound in November. The pickles and olives, chicken broth and stock will be at rock bottom prices. 

The celery and onions will also go on sale. I usually buy extra onions and celery and dice it up and freeze it to use for soups, fajitas, and for other recipes over the next year.

If you bake your own pies, the canned pie fillings will go on sale. But so will the frozen pies. It is a good time to stock on these items because they will be at some of their best prices of the year. I will buy a couple to stash in the freezer. If SF Cool Whip goes on sale, I will get some to put in the freezer. We use this on the pies and on SF jellos and puddings.

Other grocery items that will go on sale are all of your baking items, like sugars, flours, cocoa, chocolate chips, evaporated milk and condensed milk and eggs. I have plenty so I will not be purchasing them this year with the exception of eggs which I purchase regularly.

You will also find turkey gravy and gravy mixes on sale if you use those things.  

Also be sure to remember to shop the beginning of November for marked down Halloween chocolate candies to bake with.

Lastly, the following items are usually on sale during the month also. They are clementines, cream cheese, nuts, bacon, and beef. Whether they will be good prices is yet to be seen. But I will be keeping my eyes open for these things too. 

Is there anything that is not on my list that you buy at Thanksgiving sales because the prices are rock bottom? Please share with us in the comments!   

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

For any of you who do not live in the northeast, I posted the above picture. I wanted to post a picture before the leaves started falling and while they were much redder but you know what they say about the best laid plans. But the maple in our backyard is still pretty even though the frost we have had and the wind and rain have knocked a lot of leaves off it. Here in the Buffalo area, it seems that the pretty colors are far and few in between. Most of the trees turn yellow and then lose their leaves. In the Adirondacks where I used to live, there were trees like this with reds, pinks, and oranges everywhere and the beauty just surrounded us. I was hoping to go back east this fall but that just didn’t happen. So this picture will have to do. 

And every morning I wake up to the noise of trucks backing up and bulldozers working behind us. You can see a road parallel to my home. The builder is now selling 38 homes to be built for this new section.

Above is pictured the candy that I purchased on discount yesterday. The sales were not as good as other years. Rite Aid was the most disappointing. They marked all of their candy up and then took 50% off. For example: All of the fun size bags that you could buy for $2.- 2.50 before Halloween now will cost you $4.59 at the cheapest. I left empty handed.

Walmart had the 3 bags of chocolates. They are now in my freezer for cookies. They had hardly any candy left. They had tons of decorations if you needed those. I was so thrilled to see these Tootsie Pops in Big Lots. Hubby loves a pop once in a while as a treat. His favorite are the chocolate ones. When I saw these limited edition bags of all chocolate pops,  I stocked on 6 bags for him. The candy corn is for me. The Dum – Dum pops will be used for treats for the grandchildren. Lastly the caramels will be used for desserts for the holidays. They were purchased at Dollar General.

I will still be on the lookout for cakes and cookie dough that are Halloween themed. I just haven’t been in a grocery store since last last week. I may go later today. 


I am noticing after looking at the Top’s flyer and  other flyers online, that tomorrow the Thanksgiving sales are starting. I am seeing stuffing, chicken broth, cream soups, cranberry sauce, etc. What is nice at Top’s next week is that they are doing dollar doubler coupons too.  I have noticed that a few stores have Butterball turkeys at $ .89 a lb. That is $.10 – .20 cheaper per lb. than last year. I can’t wait to see what the store turkey prices will be. I will buy a Butterball for our Thanksgiving dinner and perhaps 3 store ones. This year I may cook 2 of the extras the week after Thanksgiving, food saver the meat, and freeze it. I will also make the gravy and freeze it. All of that will make future meals. I will simmer all of the bones and skin from Thanksgiving and the 2 extra turkeys to make lots of stock. That will also get frozen. Much of the frozen turkey will be used in place of chicken in recipes. I can’t buy chicken that cheap. The 4th turkey will be frozen for another holiday during the year. By cooking the turkeys and freezing the meat, it will leave me freezer space for rock bottom priced hams. Both turkey meat and ham get sliced on my food slicer and used for sandwiches for months. I can’t buy deli meat that cheap. 

Are any of you planning on buying more than one turkey this year? I am curious. Please feel free to let me know in the comments below.