I just received the grocery store advertising inserts for this week and took a quick look through them — all I can say is that things are looking pretty grim for my $1 Thanksgiving Dinner for 6 People. None of the grocery stores in my area are offering a free turkey promotion and since next week ads begin the day before Thanksgiving, it would not be advisable for me to count on something from them pulling me through.
Looking at what still needs to be purchased on my Thanksgiving dinner menu, I still need the following:
Turkey (Turkey, 3 onions, celery, turkey oven bag)
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce
Vegetables
Pumpkin Pie
Butter
Salt
Pepper
I do have a $4.00 off a $20.00 purchase coupon at CVS and I believe have enough coupons to reach $16.00 in various free products (I will have to wait until Friday when I am finished house sitting to make sure) which will allow me to get $4.00 worth of the above product for free. I’m hoping that will allow me to cross off three of four of those so things aren’t quite a dire as they may appear, but it will still leave me vulnerable at not being able to get the turkey dinner. That means I may have to make the move to put into action my Secret Free Turkey Plan.
I am going to hold off a couple of days and hope I can find a business in the area that is giving away free turkeys as a promotion of some type. The other possibility is that Saturday brings a good moneymaker deal at one of the drug stores or Target which allow me to make enough to get a turkey. I have mixed feelings about putting the secret free turkey plan into action. While I think it is within the rules, I was truly hopeful that I could achieve success through regular couponing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the coupon deities are looking favorably upon me.
I had a brief moment of hope when I noticed that Safeway is offering a $15.00 off a $50.00 purchase coupon beginning the 25th (yes, on Thanksgiving Day, but I thought I could make an early trip to get it) when you purchase $150.00 worth of gift cards. This deal would have worked perfectly if I could buy a $150.00 Safeway gift card that I could use for my shopping in the future, get the coupon and then use it to get a turkey. This hope was dashed when reading the fine print revealed that Safeway gift cards are excluded.
I am really going to need to put my creativity into overdrive if I don’t want to listen to my sister brag about winning the bet…
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Does Safeway sell CVS gift cards?
@Sam,
Not sure what gift cards they stock. It is on my list of things to investigate to see. I am not hopeful for there being anything that would be of use to me since I rarely shop…a CVS gift card would be an amazing stroke of luck.
Remember if you get your turkey day of, it will probably still be frozen and won’t be ready in time!
I propose an exclusion for the salt & pepper – although I think I remember you decided during your previous challenge not to take packets of condiments etc. from restaurants, we all know that it is THEORETICALLY possible to get plenty of salt & pepper for free. I’m guessing you already own salt & pepper yourself, so it seems silly to buy more just for this bet with your sister. Would she concede that far? It would at least shorten your list a little….
This is just an idea. Why don’t you have the people from your blog donate? Maybe u have a pay pal account that people could put a $1.00 in and anything over that you get you can use for the food bank
Jeffrey,
Do you take any medication? If so, get a prescription filled at CVS, get $25 gifts card or at Safeway and get a $30 gift card. However, the gift card would not be able to go towards your prescription. Would your sister allow this?
We have Kwik Trip gas & convenience stores here in Minnesota and there is a coupon for a FREE pound of onions along with a FREE apple or orange and a FREE loaf of bread coupons in this month’s circular. Their circular comes out in the newspaper every 1st Wednesday of the month.
Forget the salt/pepper use what you already have. I think there is a $1off produce IP at Target you can try that for the onions, celery and other veggies.
good luck.
@Trifish — Thank you for the reminder.
@Jess — I think salt and pepper shouldn’t be too much of an issue to get. I’ll know more when I make my CVS run and see what else I still need to get.
@Michele — I could probably get people to donate, but if I ever did that, all the money would go to help the food banks, not me win a challenge.
@Paige — Fortunately for my health (but not necessarily this challenge), I do not take any medication.
@Jan — maybe I need to make a quick move to minesota 😉
@gwen — do you have a link for that target coupon?
Jeffrey, Walgreens had some good “thanksgiving food” coupons in this week’s insert, and I think they had a money maker this week as well, if you could do something there??
And here is a link to a blog with a Target free turkey scenario…if you could figure out some coupon magic there…
http://www.examiner.com/budget-grocery-in-san-antonio/get-your-thanksgiving-turkey-for-free-at-target-november-14-20-2010
@cinnamontoastgirl
I will check out Walgreens again to see what I can do there (I don’t usually shop there so only glance at the deals each week)
Unfortunately, the Target deal won’t work for me since the Oster roasting oven ends up not being free and it is something I wouldn’t normally buy so the cost of the turkey would end up being $26 🙁
Jeffery, I’m pretty sure i heard your sister ask for that warming tray/buffet server thing for Christmas.
@Megan lol – if only it were than easy 😉
What if you could get someone to buy the warming tray and still do the deal(maybe sweeten the deal with some extra freebies you can get)?
I’d be happy to mail you those FREE onions!
I received a $10/1 turkey coupon in the mail from Zanotto’s in Willow Glen. I have no idea if is enough of a discount to make it free, but you are welcome to it if it will help you with this challenge.
I sure hope you reconsider your Walgreens reluctance. Right now, they have a $3 money maker when you buy Vicks Dayquil Sinex or Nyquil Sinex. You could use the overage to buy Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce @ .89 and Smart Balance Spread @ 2.00. They also have Green Giant Canned Vegetables @.59 and gravy is .50 a can, or .38 if you use the coupon in SS-10/31. Also, Walgreens usually has premade pie crusts that you might be able to use for your pumpkin pie.
(Note: make sure to buy the pie crusts that have to be baked, as opposed to the graham cracker crusts that are meant for pudding pies and cheesecakes. Then again, pudding pies are very economical and easy to make, if you want to substitute one for a pumpkin pie.)
@Kim,
Thank you for the offer — I may take you up on that if things get desperate.
I noticed one local bank is running a “open a checking account, get a turkey” type special around my area. (upstate NY) so don’t forget to check places other than grocery/pharmacy types.
Betty Crocker potatoes should be free at Kroger this week. Pick up salt and pepper packets from a fast food joint. You can probably find butter this way as well. Check the Earth Fare website for free cranberries. Nix the oven bag because you don’t need it. Coors beer has a free turkey promo for Alabama residents if you can find the coupon. If not, you should be able to stack enough free meat coupons at Publix to get a free turkey breast. Target and Kroger have some good $$/off meat coupons out right now. Use your cresent rolls for pie crust. Pumkin should be close to free at Rite-Aid. Green Giant veggies are $0.19 at Kroger this week. Good Luck!!!
Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Maybe you could postpone Thanksgiving to the next day and find some great deals after the holiday : )