It may seem a bit strange to talk about buying a turkey in December. But now is the absolute best time to snag an incredible deal on Turkey and save money on meat. Learn how tips for buying turkey after Thanksgiving! This sets up you for success at the best price.
💲Shop Around
Don’t automatically buy the turkey at the first store you go to. You can easily shop around at all the local stores to find the best deal. I recommend using flyers and online apps, so that way you know what the price is before you get to the store.
This will save you from aimlessly driving around wasting fuel too. Grocery ads should be your best friend when it comes to being frugal. They are your first notice of when sales are going to happen.
🥘 Servings
The number of servings you get out of a turkey is outstanding. For example, you can buy a 10-pound turkey and end up with enough food to feed 8-10 people. That is incredible! If you take the meat off the bones and save it, then you can toss it into casseroles or other dishes.
When combined with other foods like pasta (which also happens to be very inexpensive), you can usually feed 6-8 people on 1 pound of meat. So, essentially you can end up with a ton of servings that will last a long time when added to other foods.
If you want to serve the turkey as the main course, be sure to add additional food to the meal. Side dishes like potatoes and salads are inexpensive and will stretch the meat even farther.
🦃 Use Turkey Instead of Chicken
Chicken and turkey taste enough alike that you can easily swap the two. How awesome is that? For example, my Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup would be fantastic with turkey. If you do save money on turkey here are ways to use it.
Another great recipe for trading out the chicken would be my Chicken Stuffed Avocados. They are delicious, and turkey will make them be just as good. Here are a few ideas that would also be great:
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Turkey Salad Sandwiches
- Casseroles
- Stir Fry
- Turkey Fajitas
- Turkey Tacos
- Soups
- Breakfast Bakes
- Sandwiches
🍗 Divide and Conquer
Just because you buy a large turkey or two, doesn’t mean you have to cook the entire thing at once. You can easily cut up the turkey, just like you would a chicken. Then place the different pieces in freezer-safe bags and store them in the freezer.
Then as needed, you can grab some out and cook it. This is important because then you only cook what you need. You aren’t forced to eat leftovers for days and days unless you want to. It doesn’t take tons of time to cut up the turkey either, and it saves you when you are ready to use it.
You can use the turkey legs in the Slow Cooker Turkey Legs recipe that uses only 3 ingredients and doesn’t taste like Thanksgiving leftovers. Break down on turkey into sections and it is completely different tastes and meals.
🍲 Freezer Meals
One of the best ways to be frugal is to use your freezer to its full potential. Buy turkey on sale and prep it so you can enjoy it in other meals. You can freezer prep soups and other inexpensive meals. It’s a great idea to prepare the turkey and recipes when you get it home.
That way, you are less likely to put it in the freezer and forget about it. Take the time to plan it out and prepare the dishes, so they are at arms reach anytime you need them. Just date everything, so you know when you put it in the freezer.
Don’t forget to use the Freezer Labels for these so you can date them and not forget how old the food is! They are editable so you can write out what you have inside
🍴 No Waste
I know if you eat turkey the same way every day, odds are you will get bored. Then it’s tempting to throw it out. If you do that, then you wasted the money you saved. Instead, add some pizzazz to your menu, and don’t waste it.
If you can add some variety to your meals, you won’t care that you are eating turkey frequently. However, if you stick to turkey sandwiches every day, it’s not going to take long to bore your taste buds. When you save on meat, you can really maximize how you reduce any waste.
they don’t have turkeys on sale where I live after Thanksgiving. they are on special for 2 weeks and that is that. they go up in price after the holiday. I buy many turkeys before the holidays. The same with ham they are on sale before Easter and that is when I stock up. After Easter they go up in price`
I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to recipes that will use up Thanksgiving leftovers, and most of them are focused on the turkey 🙂
https://www.pinterest.com/klinkj0806/thanksgiving-leftovers/
I have made the Turkey, Mushroom and Puff Pastry pockets and we loved them. As puff pastry is not a low cost item I will finally be biting the bullet this year and attempting to make it myself. When butter prices drop at Aldi that is!
There is also a Turkey and Stuffing Bake recipe on the board that we’ve made and liked – and of course there are always Turkey “Paninis” made in a frying pan. We have a panini maker but I honestly never pull it out, since I can press down on the sandwiches using a wide spatula and get pretty much the same effect – minus the pretty grill lines, lol.
This year I plan to snag at least 2 turkeys at the lowest price possible – I’ve always done the deals in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving but will make a note to check stores a couple days after for markdowns too! Thanks for the tip!
Wow, you scored big time!!
We recently made the BEST turkey soup ever. We just threw in a bunch of left overs/canned goods we had on hand. The smell lingered for hours… made me want to eat more after we were already full!! Cheers for happy accidents!