25 Ways to Save on Thanksgiving Food Shopping
If you're hosting fewer folks for Thanksgiving this year—or plan to dine solo with a side dish of Zoom—you may have a yen to splurge on holiday fare. But if you decide you want to economize on your Thanksgiving groceries, for whatever reason, you’ll need some strategies.
Grocery prices have risen in 2020, and that includes Thanksgiving standards. The average price for turkey of all sizes is up 27 percent from last year: $17.99 last week versus $14.13, according to Basket, a shopping app that tracks grocery prices.
Still, there are plenty of ways to trim your Turkey Day outlay without skimping on taste or quality. Consumer Reports asked experts for their advice; we also put out a call to regular consumers for their time- and money-saving tips and tricks. Some of the strategies can help you stretch your grocery dollars for weeks after the holiday, and most are good year-round.
Turkey-Time Tricks
1. Nab the big, free bird. The bigger the bird, the less you'll pay per pound and per serving. So check your grocer's current circular for promotions on free and discounted frozen turkeys, and get the biggest one available. You can freeze the leftovers or even the whole bird, saving you money on meals down the road.
We perused the weekly circulars and shopping apps of some chains to get an idea of the deals. Winco, for instance, is giving free turkeys to those who spend at least $100; BJ's Wholesale Club offers a free Butterball bird for loyalty club members who buy four "qualifying" items. At a few retailers, you'll get a free turkey if you buy a nice-sized ham. Other grocers have slashed frozen turkey prices. Even pricey organic turkeys have been discounted at some markets.
Whatever deal is available in your area, move quickly. Stores generally make these offers while supplies last, and may not be offering rain checks during the pandemic. And, as with any promotion, make sure you don't buy more groceries just to get the freebie. "If the deal calls for you to spend $100 on groceries, do so intentionally, thinking about pantry items you need to restock," says personal finance blogger Andrea Woroch. "This way, the $100 you spend isn’t on ingredients that go to waste."
2. Alternatively, think small. If you'd rather not be stuck with tons of leftovers, buy a smaller turkey, a roasting chicken, or a turkey breast, which will cost less than a whole bird. The basted frozen turkey breast under Target's house brand, Good & Gather, for instance, is selling for 79 cents a pound; an 8-lb. breast would run you $6.32. And it would feed 11 to 16 people, given serving sizes of 1⁄2 to 3⁄4- lbs., says Amy Keating, a registered dietician who leads food testing at Consumer Reports.
You could even get away with Costco rotisserie chickens, at $4.99; at around 3 lbs., each will feed 4 to 6 people and save you the time and effort of roasting. "If you slice it and garnish it on a platter with traditional Thanksgiving items—cranberry and stuffing, for instance—it would look great," Keating says. "You could even use a prepared turkey gravy with it." (You'll need to buy before Thanksgiving, though, since Costco will be closed that day.)
3. Keep it simple. Skip pricey buys like seafood appetizers, sausage for stuffing, and store-bought side dishes. "Focus on the main dishes instead of lots of cheese and crackers, which can be expensive," Keating says. For side dishes, consider low-cost potatoes and other root vegetables; fresh yams are among the few Thanksgiving foods that are less costly this year than last, the Basket analysis finds. Indeed, a side dish with just a few ingredients can be very satisfying, Keating notes: "A butternut squash, cubed and sautee'd in oil with a small onion and spices or fresh herbs, simmered in chicken stock and then puree'd, makes a perfect, inexpensive starter," she says.
Jacob Pinkham, a consumer from Huntington Beach, Calif., says he uses just a few common ingredients for his stuffing recipe—half a loaf of dried bread, parsley, thyme, a small onion, salt, pepper and butter—which he prepares in a food processor before loading into the turkey cavity. "Plain and simple is best," he says.
4. Price frozen veggies. Frozen produce is nearly as nutritious as fresh fruits and vegetables, and often can cost less per pound year-round—especially this year. Makers of packaged and frozen foods are giving retailers bigger promotional allowances—that is, payments for displays and advertising to promote their products—to make up for skimping on those subsidies earlier in the pandemic, explains Burt Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group, a retail consulting company based in New York. "That’s going to be reflected in lower prices," he says.
Year-Round Tactics
5. Plan, plan, plan. Planning well to minimize your trips to the store can keep you safer, save you time, and reduce your impulse purchases. Linda Test of Mena, Ark., says she plans meals to the point that she now shops every three weeks rather than twice a week as she did in the past. Among her tactics is to use up fresh fruits and vegetables in the order they go bad. “Salads and spinach are first,” she says. “Carrots or rutabaga are last.”
6. Shop warehouse clubs and smaller grocers. Warehouse clubs, such as BJ’s Wholesale Club and Costco, are managing their inventory well, so you’re more likely to find the items on your list in stock, Flickinger says. The same goes for smaller regional chains; they may have an edge on keeping their shelves stocked because their distributors aren’t necessarily the same suppliers that stock bigger chains.
7. Use shopping apps. Three we like are Basket, Ibotta, and Flipp. Basket shows real-time grocery prices online and in-store at local grocers, so you can see which total bill will be lower before you shop; it crowdsources its data, the same way a traffic app like Waze works. Ibotta and Flipp both coordinate your store loyalty cards with current discounts and coupons. With Flipp, you scan the app at checkout to apply savings at the point of sale. With Ibotta, you select rebates in the app and photograph your receipts to import savings, after the fact, to an Ibotta account. Savings are transferred to a payment app, such as PayPal, or a gift card. Some loyalty programs, notably those of Safeway and Stop & Shop, also let you build rewards toward gas purchases at affiliated gas stations.
8. Plot a path. Some store loyalty club apps let you locate items by aisle. This could help you get through the store quickly and reduce backtracking if your grocer has created one-way aisles.
9. Use the calculator on your phone. Unit price shelf stickers under each product can help you better compare prices of like items. But if the store doesn’t have the stickers, use your smartphone’s calculator. Divide the price by the number of units in each package you’re comparing.
If, say, one soda’s price is per fluid ounce and the other’s is per liter, ask Google how many ounces are in a liter and do the conversions. You can often do the same calculation from home when checking a store’s offerings online, saving you time in the aisles. (Only nine states require unit price shelf stickers; Consumer Reports urges supermarkets in all states to use them.)
10. Go with store brands. The cost of store-brand foods and beverages is at least 20 to 25 percent less than name brands of the same product, Flickinger says. (When CR members were surveyed about the grocery stores and supermarkets they liked best, three grocers earned top marks for their store brands: national names Costco and Trader Joe’s, and Central Market, which is based in San Antonio and is a subsidiary of the privately owned H-E-B supermarket chain.) You can often find store brands right next to comparable name-brand items.
11. Use a cash-back credit card. Check the websites of cash-back cards you already hold to see if they’ve upped their benefits for grocery purchases. Cards offered by Delta, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and United have introduced higher percentage rewards for grocery spending during the pandemic, as have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred cards, says Ted Rossman, an industry analyst at CreditCards.com.
If you’re looking for a new cash-back card, consider the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card; it returns 6 percent on the first $6,000 in groceries each year and on certain streaming services, 3 percent on gas stations and transit, and 1 percent on other purchases. The card is currently offering a $300 rebate for spending $3,000 in the first six months, and the $95 annual fee is waived for the first year. Keep in mind, Rossman says, that you may need a credit score of 740 or higher to qualify. The annual percentage rate on this card ranges from 14 percent to 24 percent, so it’s best to use it only if you pay off your balance each month.
12. Shop at quiet times. Type a specific store location into Google’s search and you’ll get a “Plan your visit” box in the company profile that lays out the busiest and slowest times for every day of the week so that you can see exactly when the store will be the least crowded. If your schedule is flexible, shop around 10 a.m. Thursday, after senior hours typically end, says Keith Fix, CEO of Retail Aware, an analytics company that tracks in-store consumer behavior and is based in Omaha, Neb. Another good time is 10 a.m. Wednesday. Weekends are the most crowded.
13. Review and compare store circulars in advance. You can find most circulars online, and reviewing them there eliminates the need to handle paper copies at the market entrance. Checking the ads in advance allows you to make price comparisons, so you can plan where to shop ahead of time.
14. Embrace digital coupons. Most grocers also will accept manufacturers’ paper coupons, and may even double or even triple their value at checkout. Certain retailers do it every day or week; others, less regularly. In the Northeast, Stop & Shop doubles manufacturers’ paper coupons every day. Bi-Lo, in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, doubles coupons with a value of 60 cents or less every day, unless noted otherwise at the individual store. (At both chains, other restrictions apply.)
15. Do a pantry inventory. A four-person family could lose at least $1,500 per year on wasted food, says the Natural Resources Defense Council. Check out the organization’s SaveTheFood hub for numerous tips and tools on how to reduce food waste and save money. Also, use the free FoodKeeper app from the Department of Agriculture for guidelines on how to store foods. Or do as Maggie Pallan, a professional chef in Las Vegas, does. She maintains a spreadsheet of what she has at home, to avoid buying duplicates. “I treat my home grocery shopping the same as my business,” she says.
16. Get senior discounts. Several chains, including Bi-Lo, Harris Teeter, and Hy-Vee, offer 5 percent discounts, either on specific days or when you present a special store ID card. Fred Meyer and New Seasons Market discounts are 10 percent. In some cases, you must be at least 60 to qualify; in other cases, you can use the discount only on select items.
17. Buy in bulk. When 10 cans of your favorite soup go on sale for $10, it’s always wise to load up. And larger packages often have lower per-unit pricing. Notably, WinCo Foods, based in Boise, Idaho, has reopened its renowned, low-cost bulk barrels and bins of dried fruits, pasta, spices, snacks, legumes, nuts, candies, and other items; the store had closed them earlier in the pandemic due to health concerns.
When you buy in bulk, consider donating a portion to a local food pantry (though they prefer cash because they get bigger discounts); the pandemic has amplified the need for these organizations.
18. Barter and share. If you buy in bulk or find yourself with more of some items that you need, consider trading with neighbors and friends. Annette Economides of Phoenix, who with her husband, Steve, runs the website MoneySmartFamily, says she has bartered the citrus that grows on her property for food from folks she has found through a local Facebook gardening group. Earlier this year, she got a carton of eggs in return for oranges and rosemary that grow on her property. “It was a great deal for me,” she says.
19. Track prices. For a few weeks, record prices of the items you buy the most when food shopping. You’ll be able to find the best prices for specific goods and can stock up when a true price drop happens. Price-tracking also helps you see when a “10 packages for $10” sale really is a sale and not just a come-on.
20. Do the math on grocery delivery annual memberships. If you expect to use grocery delivery on a regular basis, calculate the value of an annual membership before you sign up. For instance, Instacart Express costs $99 per year; you pay no additional delivery fee if your orders cost $35 or more. Minimum order fees are $3.99 outside of Instacart Express, so you’ll break even on the annual fee after 25 orders. (Over a year of use, that means you order about every two weeks.)
Alternatively, skip the delivery altogether and opt for pickup, which is typically free, though you may want to tip the person who loads your car. While Walmart’s annual delivery fee is $98 after a 15-day free trial, its pickup is free and its employees do not accept tips.
21. Shop the drugstore. Convenience stores, drugstores, and even gas station mini-marts are handling an expanding variety of fresh foods since the pandemic began, and some are beating traditional grocers’ prices for staples such as milk and eggs, says Heidi Chapnick, owner and CEO of Channalysis, a retail grocery and healthcare consulting company based in Mamaroneck, N.Y. But be mindful of expiration dates, she adds.
“Because some of these companies are new to selling so many different types of fresh foods, their employees may have less experience and training in handling fresh products in refrigeration,” Chapnick says.
Food that has outlived its expiration date can still be sold, assuming it is “wholesome and fit for consumption” and not dangerous to consumers, according to the Food and Drug Administration. So it’s best to just check to see if something you’re buying has expired.
22. Look for “as is” items. The overripe bananas you’ll find at a discount could be perfect for homemade banana bread. Learn where stores have their clearance sections, Economides says.
23. Grow your own. Yvette Beltran-Southwell, who lives north of Dallas, says her family grows rosemary, English thyme, two types of oregano, sage, Italian parsley, basil, and numerous other herbs to economize and reduce food waste. “I have a garden, but even when we were in a town house with limited space, I grew herbs outside in containers,” she says. Homegrown plants also last longer than bunches purchased at the store and refrigerated, she says. And of course, they regenerate throughout the growing season.
24. Get creative with recipes. CR’s Facebook followers have plenty of ideas for stretching their grocery dollars, especially with regard to meat. “We choose recipes that are more plant-based, with meat as a side dish,” Beltran-Southwell says. “On occasion we have breakfast for dinner because it’s fun and cheaper.”
Caroline Sauers of Rockaway, N.J., says that to cut back on ground beef in meatballs, she uses fillers—crackers, rice, mashed potatoes, and even cauliflower that’s steamed and then pulverized in a food processor. Linda Test’s family supplements meat servings with lentils and beans, and eats vegetarian twice a week.
“Beans and other legumes are linked to many health benefits, are inexpensive, and are a great alternative source of protein,” says Amy Keating, a registered dietitian who leads food testing at Consumer Reports. Check CR’s other ideas for meat-based and meatless options.
25. Use your freezer right. Freezing large quantities of sale and seasonal food saves the average family of four $2,000 per year, Economides says. “Why pay $4 a pound for blueberries in winter when you can thaw the ones you bought in summer for 99 cents?” she asks. The Economideses even freeze milk and cheese. Every 30 to 60 days, they check the freezer and build menus based on what’s there.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of an article that first appeared in the July 2017 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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