This time of year, meaning the upcoming holidays, is the best time to stock up on certain food items. The 6-7 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best weeks to stock up on baking supplies, spices, canned goods, turkey, ham, butter and eggs.
I will usually try to stock up on enough dry goods, canned goods and spices to last my family for the next 4-6 months. Around Easter, they will have a sale again, although typically not as good.
Stock up on eggs, you must be crazy right?? Wrong. Even though they have an expiration date, they can last 4 to 5 weeks past their expiration date!
According to the American Egg Board:
“The oil coating which seals the shell’s pores helps to prevent bacteria from entering the egg and reduces moisture loss from the egg. RAW SHELL EGGS REFRIGERATED IN THEIR CARTONS WILL KEEP FOR ABOUT 4 TO 5 WEEKS BEYOND THE PACK DATE WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT QUALITY LOSS. (The pack date is usually a number from 1 to 365 representing the day of the year starting with January 1 as 1 and ending with December 31 as 365.)”
So stock up on eggs because they are a great source of protein that won’t break the bank. I personally love to do a breakfast casserole or frittata on Thanksgiving and Christmas because they feed a crowd without killing my grocery budget. Plus I’m sure you’re going to be baking a lot more than normal too, so you’ll be needing extra eggs.
Turkeys will be at their cheapest the last full week before Thanksgiving. Then on “clearance” after Thanksgiving until they get rid of most or all of their turkeys.
Same goes for hams, only right before Christmas rather than Thanksgiving. I will usually pick up an extra turkey and ham to eat later in the year. They are both good in the freezer for at least 6 months to a year. And who says that you can only eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
My husband loves the leftover turkey or ham to use on sandwiches. After we eat the holiday meal and everyone has had their fill, I will package the leftover meat up into about 1 lb packages.
I store them in the freezer and use for lunch meat for my family for the next few weeks. My husband likes this meat way better than regular deli meat, and it ends up being MUCH cheaper per pound.
So for the next 6 weeks watch your grocery ads and see what you can grab for a steal.
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