Plan a Thanksgiving Without Spending a Fortune

Preparing a Thanksgiving dinner can be expensive and stressful, especially if you don’t shop until the last minute. You don’t have to be an Extreme Couponer to seriously slash grocery costs during the holidays. If you follow the tips below you are guaranteed to save money, prevent stress and actually enjoy the big production.

1. Don’t rush to buy everything all at once right before Thanksgiving. You will buy a lot more than you need and forget some things you have to have. You will end up having to go back to the madhouse at the grocery store filled with a lot of stressed out people—that’s usually contagious.

2. Plan a menu, write it down and list all the ingredients and amounts needed to make each dish. Go through your cupboards to see what you already have and cross those items off the list.

3. Go online and comparison-shop your local grocery store's ads. Most grocery stores such as and have printable coupons on demand. Both of these grocery stores offer double coupon savings every day up to 50 cents each.

4. In most grocery stores offering 2 for 1, 3 for $10 etc., you don’t have to actually purchase the two or three items advertised to get the discount. For both and , each item is considered a separate sale and is discounted as soon as it is scanned. That means if you buy only one item in a 2 for 1 deal, you still get it 50% off its regular price.

5. Buy a frozen turkey. They cost up to 40% less than free range or organic turkeys.