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This year I am really paying attention to food prices and availability.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and holiday food conversation is all the buzz.

One good piece of news is this year there is a bumper crop of cranberries! Yahoo! I am from Wisconsin. Do you know which state grows the most cranberries in the country? Yep. Wisconsin. The sight of a cranberry bog at harvest time will take your breath away.

So, you don’t have to worry so much about cranberry prices this year. You know I suggest you buy them fresh and make your own cranberry sauce, but some folks just can’t resist that canned-shaped tube on a serving platter.

Wisconsin is most famous as The Dairy State. We have a lot of cows in Wisconsin. They all must get milked every day. What I have heard is the whole dairy industry is suffering. Butter prices are expected to keep rising because of the shortage of labor and cost of transporting it to the grocery store. So here’s an idea. Buy your butter when you see a relatively good price and freeze it. Butter freezes just fine, and folks use a lot of butter at the holidays in all their special recipes.

Another freezable item. The turkey. Lots of folks buy their turkey frozen on any given year. If you have room in your freezer you might watch for what feels like a good price (an early sale perhaps?) and buy it then and keep it in the freezer until a few days before you want to cook it and then thaw it. It’s up in the air what will happen with turkey prices so I can’t make any promises.

What else is on your holiday menu? Can any of the other items be bought ahead of time and frozen?

Remember last year when nobody could find canned pumpkin? No matter the current price of that important ingredient you might want to buy it earlier and just keep it in the cupboard instead of stressing out and going to three stores to find it, — like I did last year.

Thanksgiving is so important to so many. Another way to save money is to co-op your Thanksgiving this year. That way the host doesn’t have to carry all the monetary burden. Assign the guests a dish and see what beautiful rendition they bring.

Plan ahead and have a Thanksgiving with less stress.

Cheers,