: Christmas 2010 how to Save Money on Holiday Meals

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(478 Words)
Holiday meals may be rich, but you are not. You may want to do all you can to save on the delicious meals that you plan on eating during the 2010 Christmas holidays. Try the following money-saving strategies.
Eat in instead of eating out
In general it is usually far more expensive to eat out than it is to eat in. This might be magnified during the holiday time because some restaurants may have special holiday meals. You might want to make a concerted effort to cook more rather than going out for meal after meal. You can often get very similar food for half of the cost or less.
Add in many low cost sides to offset the cost of expensive main dishes
For many holiday meals the most expensive items are the main meats such as ham. You may spend quite a bit for just a little of these items. Especially if you are having a large dinner party, the price can add up very quickly. One way to lower the cost of your Christmas meal is to try to make more of the sides that do not cost as much money. You may have sides such as green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, bread and more. You can also serve a delicious yet inexpensive first course so that people are not as hungry. Everyone might enjoy the meal as a whole and you may spend less if you can get less of the main dish.
Price around for special holiday deals
Many people are aware of the deals that retailers have for those shopping for gifts, but a lot of grocers offer special holiday packages as well. They may include a main dish, a certain number of sides and even dessert. Not only can it be convenient, but it might be less than if you were to purchase all of these items separately.
Purchase grocery items in bulk
You may be feeding more people than normal during the holiday season. You may usually buy in smaller packages because you do not need enough to justify the larger or bulk packages. If it would not go to waste because of the increased number of people then you might save by purchasing these larger packages. You can find many of these at places such as Costco.
Buy from less expensive places
Many people like to cater in for the holidays. Instead of choosing an expensive restaurant look to get party platters from a more reasonable place such as Costco.
Holiday meals can add up in cost. There are many money-saving strategies, however, that can give you the meals you want at decent savings. Of course use the well-known strategies such as using coupons and shopping during sales. Combine as many of the above tips as you can to get the best deals for Christmas of 2010.