Buying food for the holidays ahead of time because...

[Orchidflower]

Last year I was shopping closer than today (11/17) to the holidays at WalMart and noticed a jump in prices that was large enough $$$ that it irritated me. Even WallyWorld tries to get into your pocket bigtime when they can. So, this year I am going to WalMart and buying all my nonperishable groceries waaay before Thanksgiving and Xmas. This is my effort to beat the system. Just a heads up in case anyone is interested.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I've got two turkeys in the freezer, one for thanksgiving and one for Christmas, one was free with a $200.00 purchase and the other was $6.99 with store card. Also have fresh cranberries and as you are doing, as much stuff as possible ahead of time.

Funny, I remember when I was w*rking, we always ran out of food near the holidays and went to hotel holiday buffets instead of eating at home. Invariably, I'd be dragging this time of year recovering from the flu. Had the flu this year also but could rest enough to get over it.

Ever notice the way no one smiles in the checkout line the day before these holidays? So grim, I'm been having the store deliver more often this season.

 

[FUEGO]

Our walmart can be so bad about stocking food that you HAVE to buy stuff a week or two ahead of time just to make sure you have it on hand. If you want to buy the cheaper store brand stuff at least.

 

[Goonie]

We just shop as normal...buy what we need or want, when we need or want it. Not too worried about pre-holiday price hikes....we always keep bags o' taters, winter squash, canned goods (which usually come from Aldis), and frozen veggies, stocked up. And I'll pick up a nice beef roast at the butcher shop next Wednesday for our T-giving dining pleasure (we won't be home from Nashville 'til Tuesday).....unless I drive up to the Norwegian store and snag a bison or elk roast instead!

As for Christmas dinner, we always go down to the local Masonic Temple to eat. An old member there set up a trust fund to provide Christmas dinner every year, to anyone who wanted to go there...rich or poor, single or with a big family, young or old...no one is ever turned away for any reason! So we go there, have a nice dinner with all the trimmings, visit with old friends, meet new folks and make new friends, and generally have a good time and good fellowship!

 

[Dawg52]

As far as food goes, my old company still has me on the Christmas turkey list so I have a bird in the freezer from last year to smoke. The women in the family brings lots of other stuff and my nephew brings me a couple of slabs of ribs from his bbq restaurant. Bless his soul. So not much to do food wise. And just the other night I took care of all my Christmas shopping. Cabelas is the theme this year. All I need now is a batch of eggnog and I'm good to go.

 

[ziggy29]

As for Christmas dinner, we always go down to the local Masonic Temple to eat. An old member there set up a trust fund to provide Christmas dinner every year, to anyone who wanted to go there...rich or poor, single or with a big family, young or old...no one is ever turned away for any reason! So we go there, have a nice dinner with all the trimmings, visit with old friends, meet new folks and make new friends, and generally have a good time and good fellowship!

We have a community-wide Thanksgiving dinner here. It was originally intended to be for the needy, but grew into a community event where all are welcome. It's common to have both the needy and the city's business and community leaders side by side. Everything is by free-will donation, so those who can afford to pay are encouraged to make a donation and those who can't afford it have a full feast at no charge.

Each year there's generally enough in donations to pay for the following year's event; i.e. this year's dinner will be funded by last year's donations.

 

[Orchidflower]

Actually, WalMart raised the prices AFTER Thanksgiving last year to a surprisingly much higher amount. I assume the same procedure will take place this year, also.
By the way, I just got back at 1 pm today from WalMart (11/17) and was surprised to see so many people shopping for groceries there. More people trying to beat the rush like me?
I mean, this is Tuesday and not an especially hot day for grocery shopping is it?

This community of 400,000 I'm living in now has a Mr. Thanksgiving that puts on a dinner for the past 30 years. He's worried about having enough money this year donated for it. I'm sure he'll do it as this community is really good about working together. Obviously, not a community with all that many transients having most of the population here being born, living and dying in this area. Makes a huge difference in the sense of community folks have towards an area when there are generations of their family here. Small town living has it's better qualities, too, I see (even tho I still prefer major metros myself).

 

[crazy connie]

I run with a well stocked pantry and the deep freeze is in good shape. I will shop on Monday to take advantage of the sales and get 2 turkeys. Always look for sales on meat that has been marked down. Only needed items are a bag of potatoes and some milk and eggs. All else is in the house currently. It is not uncommon for stores to raise the prices a few cents on all of the non-traditional must haves.

 

[Walt34]

We have a coupon for a free store-brand turkey, or 80 cents off/pound any other.

A few years ago I did the shopping for Thanksgiving and DW said get a "small turkey" without defining what "small" meant. Well, the 12 lb. one I got was the smallest in the bin....

Now she is more careful to define her terms.

 

[freebird5825]

I caught a sale on frozen turkey yesterday - 39 cents per lb.
A nice 13 lb turkey-bird is now sitting in my freezer.
I already stocked up the pantry for the winter over the past month or so. I no longer drive in snow anymore unless I absolutely have to.
Fresh produce prices around here make me nutz. For example, red potatoes 1.29 per lb loose or 3 lb bag for 3.99. Black seedless grapes 1.99 per lb. Celery bunch 2.99 each.
Highway robbery!

 

[ziggy29]

red potatoes 1.29 per lb loose or 3 lb bag for 3.99.

So the bag identifies people who can't do math?

 

[W2R]

We have a community-wide Thanksgiving dinner here. It was originally intended to be for the needy, but grew into a community event where all are welcome.

I love that idea! When I was in college, 30-40 of the students that I knew who couldn't go home for Thanksgiving would get together to celebrate in a very similar way. It was inexpensive, not much work ("many hands make light work") and a lot of fun. As for this year, we plan to spend the holidays with dozens of members of his extended family, all of whom live in New Orleans.

 

[lloyds]

Ziggy, the fuzzy math is an old grocery scam. When I was a kid I stocked shelves and boxed groceries. Bread, 25 cents a loaf, 3 for a dollar. An amazing variety of people bit on that one.

 

[ziggy29]

Ziggy, the fuzzy math is an old grocery scam. When I was a kid I stocked shelves and boxed groceries. Bread, 25 cents a loaf, 3 for a dollar. An amazing variety of people bit on that one.

The conventional wisdom is that the larger packages will be cheaper per unit. Usually they are, but not always. It's not the case just often enough that one needs to be able to do the math quickly in their head, or at least find tricks to quickly approximate a comparison.

In the example given about the potatoes, $1.29 for a pound -- call it $1.30 and multiply by 3 for three pounds. Since 13 times 3 is 39, three pounds should be slightly less than $3.90, but the bag is $3.99. Clearly the loose spuds by the pound are the better buy (plus you have more control over picking out the "good" loose taters).

This is how I've tried to help my wife do this kind of "consumer math" in my head, but when I'm around to shop with her, she just says "that's what you're here for" or something like that......

 

[Orchidflower]

Thanks for pointing out the fact that bigger does not mean cheaper, Ziggy29. I ALWAYS check the weight on the small packages vs. the larger ones and then compare prices. Amazingly, the bigger packages (the supposed "Super Value") often comes out higher priced per ounce. Clever rip-off for those who don't pay attention or are just gullible.

 

[freebird5825]

The conventional wisdom is that the larger packages will be cheaper per unit. Usually they are, but not always. It's not the case just often enough that one needs to be able to do the math quickly in their head, or at least find tricks to quickly approximate a comparison.

In the example given about the potatoes, $1.29 for a pound -- call it $1.30 and multiply by 3 for three pounds. Since 13 times 3 is 39, three pounds should be slightly less than $3.90, but the bag is $3.99. Clearly the loose spuds by the pound are the better buy (plus you have more control over picking out the "good" loose taters).

Exactly. For a minute I thought I was doing the math wrong.
I do math in my head rapidly using the rounding method.

I also did not need 3 lbs of taters. I hand picked only what I needed.

 

[FUEGO]

I also did not need 3 lbs of taters. I hand picked only what I needed.

That is what I would do, even if the loose taters were slightly more per unit. If I only need 2 lb taters and instead buy 3 lb "to save money", then end up throwing 1 lb away, I have just wasted money.

 

[harley]

Another reason to stock up early - Pumpkin shortage could mean empty shelves after Thanksgiving -- latimes.com

 

[Khan]

I have put in an order with a local farm: a ~16# turkey cut & packaged into quarters. Now I just have to get the frakkin oven fixed.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I have become lazy in my old age. I either dine out with friends on holidays or get invited to the homes of people who have been slaving on the arrangements for days and weeks. I bring the wine.

 

[harley]

We're eating out in a restaurant for Thanksgiving, for the first time ever. We're meeting my mother. She has so many limitations (mental, physical, self created and real) there was no way to work it out any other way. It will be interesting. I hope it doesn't ruin the feel of the holiday. I may go home and cook a Thanksgiving dinner for us on Friday, just to get the leftovers.

 

[ziggy29]

I either dine out with friends on holidays or get invited to the homes of people who have been slaving on the arrangements for days and weeks. I bring the wine.

We did that last year, right down to bringing the wine. Some friends of ours in town had their daughter, son-in-law (who was on leave from Iraq at the time) and their twin little girls staying with them, so they invited us over since they were going to have a spread that was more than they could eat anyway.

I don't think they're doing that this year, so we're probably going to do that community thing. We'll have a house guest (my wife's best friend from PA), but three still isn't enough to hassle with a big feast.

 

[freebird5825]

That is what I would do, even if the loose taters were slightly more per unit. If I only need 2 lb taters and instead buy 3 lb "to save money", then end up throwing 1 lb away, I have just wasted money.

Exactly. I was raised not to waste food.
If I have excess, my housecleaner is always happy to take extras home for her and 2 young sons. Once she finishes her LPN program "at breakneck speed", she will easily get a job and be more self suffiicent.
I never had a younger sister and she is a great help as well as a good friend to me.

Look around, folks, and find someone struggling with their food costs, who can "help you" eat extra food portions.

 

[FIREd]

Another reason to stock up early - Pumpkin shortage could mean empty shelves after Thanksgiving -- latimes.com

Thanks for the info. I just made a run to the store to make sure I had some canned pumpkin...

This year, I have been volunteered (yet again) to prepare the Thanksgiving feast from scratch. Go figure, this immigrant will be slaving away in the kitchen while the Americans drink, snack, and play the wii . The in-laws will be there off course. But this year we also have special guests, one of my best friends and her husband. They are both Europeans and this is going to be their first Thanksgiving so I want it to be special.

 

[Goonie]

.....I'll pick up a nice beef roast at the butcher shop next Wednesday for our T-giving dining pleasure (we won't be home from Nashville 'til Tuesday).....unless I drive up to the Norwegian store and snag a bison or elk roast instead!

Well, no roast [-]beast[/-] beef this year...and no elk or bison either! Ve vent up to da Norvegian store dis morning, and dem folks dare vere all outta bison and elk, 'cept in da burger form. So ve caught a couple of dem dare fresh frozen bunny rabbits instead! So on Tanksgiving day ve're havin' Flopsy and Mopsy!!!