Thanksgiving food costs are down; here’s how to drive them even lower

The good news for Thanksgiving 2023 is that food costs are down compared to last year. The American Farm Bureau estimates you can feed Thanksgiving dinner to a family of 10 this year for $61.17 compared with $64.05 act year.

But if you’re a smart shopper, you can drive your costs down even more. To do that:

Start with a plan
Scan weekly good ads (online these days) to find what’s on special for Thanksgiving.
Create your meal, and your shopping list, based on local sale items.
Be flexible to get deals. If green beans are on sale but broccoli is not, go with the beans, for example.
Scout a variety of stores to get the lowest price turkey (keep salt content in mind).
Do in-store math to see if deals are really deals. I found that potatoes on sale at 99 cents a pound were not a deal compared to a five-pound bag that averaged out to 89 cents a pound, for example.
Tie-in other shopping deals to lower your bill. I got my flu shot at a Jewel pharmacy, for example, to Get a 10% off grocery coupon I used for my Thanksgiving shopping. I shopped at a second supermarket on its senior day (Tuesday) to get 10% off my bill there as well. Plus I had a $5 off certificate there I had earned by using its frequent shopper app. At Jewel, I had amassed enough rewards in its shopper app to get an additional $4 off my bill.

Take a look at my Thanksgiving shopping receipt from our local Jewel supermarket to see how all these steps can add up to big savings. I saved 47% off full-price. Almost everything I bought was on sale, a result of pre-planning before I left for the supermarket.