Christmas how to Save Money on Holiday Groceries

You may spend quite a bit on holiday groceries for Christmas. Of course many people do not have a lot of extra money to spend with the economy of 2010. Consider the following money-saving tactics.
Look for Christmas specials
Some stores will specifically have meal packages that are Christmas specials. They may come with everything you need for a great Christmas dinner such as the main course, vegetables, stuffing, yams, fruitcake and more. They are often far cheaper than if you were to buy all of the individual items on their own. Price around because different stores offer different deals and some might be far better.
Buy in bulk
You may have a lot of people over for your Christmas dinner. You may be used to buying in smaller quantities and just be planning on buying a bunch of small packages of food. Instead look for the larger packages that are usually too big for you. You will usually save on the per unit (such as ounce) cost when you buy in the larger packages.
Have more of the less expensive sides instead of as much of the main dish
Oftentimes the biggest cost of Christmas groceries comes from the main meat dishes. A lot of people like to buy ham, for instance, but this is very pricey. If you want to be able to serve the main dish but would like to buy less of it then you can look towards sides that are much less expensive such as potatoes. When you make the plates then give them a variety of different foods that they will enjoy so much that they might not realize if there is a little less of the main course. If it is a buffet, a lot of people may take less of the main dish if they see a lot of other food that they like.
People may also take less of a main dish if they are not as hungry when they start it. You can accomplish this by purchasing appetizers for Christmas dinner. Instead of spending a fortune on these at a regular grocer, look for them at places like Costco, which has a lot of huge easy-to-make boxes of appetizers for very little. You can put out a big salad at the beginning as well.
Of course to save money on Christmas groceries you should price compare between the different stores. Look for the special sales that often pop up this time of year. Look at the Sunday newspapers for coupons. The more strategies you combine, the more you will save on your groceries for the 2010 Christmas season.