I know, you’re probably all sick and tired of hearing about saving money on food by now and everyone under the sun has written about saving money on their grocery bills.  Blah blah blah, same old boring stuff.  While that may be true, Thanksgiving is just a few short days away and there are some crazy deals going on right now!  This is the time of year when you should be stocking up on some of these items so that you can stretch your Grocery Budget even further!

When you’ve got five kids like me, this becomes a really important piece of your budget, and can make a huge difference in helping you meet your financial goals!

Turkey Dinner

So, let’s start with the turkey!

Ahh, the glorious bird that we all love to enjoy every Thanksgiving!

Just curious, are you a white meat lover are a dark meat lover?

Everybody typically lands in one of these camps, and it’s often a hotly debated subject around dinner tables across the country as to which is better.

P.S. It’s the dark meat!

Argue with me in the comments below if you dare!

Anyway, turkey is very delicious, but here’s the thing… Turkey doesn’t just have to be eaten for Thanksgiving!!!

Shocking, I know!

You can enjoy the delicious flaky white meat, are the tender juicy dark meat ANY TIME OF THE YEAR!!!

Yes, you can start dancing now!

Turkey isn’t just reserved for Thanksgiving!  Granted, you’re not going to want to eat turkey several times a week for the rest of eternity, but you can certainly enjoy this feathery feast a couple times a month, and save huge on your grocery budget along the way!

I’m sure you’ve all seen the ads by now advertising frozen turkeys for dirt cheap.  Obviously, it depends on your area and region, stores, etc as to what kind of deals you can find, but now is the best time of year to snag up some Turkeys.

We’ve found the best deal in our little town at Meijer and they are selling frozen turkeys for $0.33 per pound!!!!

We’ve literally purchased several of these birds to store in our freezer!  Where else are we going to be able to feed our miniature army for a couple days for less than $8.00?!

They do have a limit of one, but we’ve made several trips to the store over the past couple weeks while they’ve been running this sale, and we’ve picked up a turkey every time!

Turkey Stats

According to Statista, the average price of a Turkey the last couple years has been $1.50 per pound.  Check out the full stats here if you’d like.

So, if I’m able to get a turkey for less than 25% of this, you can bet I’m going to stock up!

My grocery budget is going to be thanking me!  Get it… Thanksgiving… haha.

Sorry about that, just my little love for puns coming out.

Compare this to other meat statistics, beef averages %5.80/lb, pork averages $3.75/lb, and chicken averages $1.92/lb.  These stats all come from The National Chicken Council.

Cutting Your Grocery Budget

So, let’s do a little number crunching shall we…

How exactly is buying a few turkeys in November going to help cut my grocery budget?

Let’s assume I’m going to cook and eat one turkey a month next year, so 12 turkeys altogether.  Not out of the question and will likely be even more than this!  Most of the turkeys I’ve been buying have been around 20lb birds, so we’ll go with 20lbs for a weight.

20lbs x 12 turkeys = 240lbs of turkey.

240lbs x $1.50/lb average = $360 average value of turkey.

240lbs x $0.33/lb sale = $79.20 actual purchase price of turkeys.

The difference is $280.80! Or $23.40 a month!

That alone is pretty significant.

But here’s the thing…

If it weren’t for these sales, I wouldn’t even be thinking about eating this much turkey.

Instead, we’d be buying beef, pork, chicken, etc, depending on what’s on sale.  We always shop sales wherever possible and stock up.

But these other types of meat are more expensive.

Let’s Compare Turkey vs. Chicken

As I stated above, my price for this amount of turkey is $79.20.

240lbs chicken x $1.92/lb = $460.80.

To buy the same amount of chicken at the average price, I’d be paying $381.60 more, or $31.80 a month!

And turkey tastes waayyyyy better than chicken!

Any time of the year.

Plus, my hens will thank me for not eating their long lost relatives!

Let’s Compare Turkey vs. Pork

As we’ve established, my cost for turkey is $79.20.

240lbs of pork x $3.75/lb = $900.

To buy the same amount of pork at the average price, I’d be paying $820.80 more, or $68.40 a month!

I’d argue that turkey and pork are fairly comparable in terms of quality of meat, so this is a huge savings!

Let’s Compare Turkey vs. Beef

Ok, my turkey is $79.20.

240lbs of beef x $5.80/lb = $1,392!

To buy the same amount of beef at the average price, I’d be paying $1312.80 more, or $109.40 a month!

Now, beef is a much higher quality meat and in this scenarios, we’re only replacing 20 lbs of beef per month, so I can still enjoy those juicy burgers or a delicious steak from time to time.

But just in case you’re wondering, if you replace beef with turkey at the rate of 20lbs per month, that’s a 17.57 times return on your initial investment of $79.20!!!

Who wouldn’t make an investment that yields those kinds of returns?!?!

Your Grocery Budget!

So, I know it’s hard to plan ahead, and I know that you are thinking about the here and now, but what would you do with all of that extra money in your budget next year??

I’ve written about how to save $1,000 in a year before, but you could easily cut even more than that from your budget with a couple of quick trips to the grocery store and some proper planning!

Now, there are also a ton of other great deals going on right now with Thanksgiving coming up, so I’d love to hear what you’re doing to save money on your grocery budget this holiday season and as you stock up for next year!

Drop it in the comments below!

Cheers,

Real Money Robert

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