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JUDY WOODRUFF: This week,
many Americans are preparing
for Thanksgiving dinner,

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but food prices are high on
everything from turkey to
staples like butter and flour.

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That's led to a 20 percent
increase in the cost of
the average Thanksgiving
dinner since last year.

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Stephanie Sy recently
spent a day in the San
Diego area following one

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food blogger making her
holiday meal on a budget.

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JESSICA FISHER, Good
Cheap Eats: If I want
to use a lot of onions,

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I'm going to save more
by buying the bag.

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STEPHANIE SY: Just days
before Thanksgiving, food
blogger Jessica Fisher
is hungry for deals.

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JESSICA FISHER: Even if
you didn't use all of
them, you could chop it
and freeze what's left.

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STEPHANIE SY: And
knows how to find them.

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JESSICA FISHER:
And $3 blueberries.

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STEPHANIE SY: It's her
mission to help families enjoy
delicious meals on a budget.

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JESSICA FISHER: The generic
is always going to be
cheaper, unless you find

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a really killer clearance
sale. When you look at
the cans, in many cases,

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they're packaged in the same
manufacturer. They just put
a different label on it.

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STEPHANIE SY: You're just paying
a buck more for the label?

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JESSICA FISHER: Right. Right.

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(LAUGHTER) STEPHANIE SY: She
says, ahead of the holidays,

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shop generic brand items
and seek out grocery stores
with competitive prices.

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JESSICA FISHER: So, these
are the perfect colors.
And, for a $1.50, that's
a pretty good deal.

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STEPHANIE SY: Another tip?
Check the clearance rack

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for hidden treasures like
out-of-season sprinkles.

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JESSICA FISHER: Eden (ph), you
go ahead and put the beaks on.

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STEPHANIE SY: Are
those the beaks? OK.

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Back home, the sprinkles
work just fine for her
signature cinnamon roll
turkeys. Her daughters,

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Cana (ph) and Eden, help mom
shape them using frozen dough.

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A lot of people do have
those cinnamon rolls just
sitting in their freezer.

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JESSICA FISHER: Right. Right.
Well, and they go on sale this
time of year. You can find

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coupons, and you can also
just make a homemade dough
for fairly cheap too.

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STEPHANIE SY: Fisher says her
money-saving system takes just

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a few simple steps and some
planning ahead for Thanksgiving
favorites like stuffing.

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Using cheaper dried herbs
and staying on the lookout
for deals throughout

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the year on items with a longer
shelf life can save a fortune.

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JESSICA FISHER: I bought this
after last Thanksgiving...

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STEPHANIE SY: Oh, wow.

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JESSICA FISHER: ... for
50 cents, because they
had too many, and I was
sure to check the price.

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STEPHANIE SY: Oh, that is
good until 2023. This is
the cheapest stuffing ever.

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JESSICA FISHER: Yes.

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STEPHANIE SY: Overall grocery
prices are up over 12 percent
from last year. Poultry prices,

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including turkey, are up
nearly fifteen percent. The
cost of staples has grown

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dramatically. Butter has
risen nearly 27 percent and
flour nearly 25 percent.

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Fisher, a mother of six,
started her Good Cheap Eats
food blog in 2009 after

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paying off $18,000 of debt.
She is now the author of three
cash-saving cookbooks. She

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says cooking delicious
meals doesn't have to be
tough on your bottom line.

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JESSICA FISHER: Good
Cheap Eats is all about
realizing that you don't

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have to sacrifice really great
flavors just because you don't
have an unlimited budget.

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I can't control the mortgage, I
can't control the price of gas,

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but I can control what
goes in my grocery cart.

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STEPHANIE SY: It's a skill she
thinks is as useful as ever,
as inflation squeezes many

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families like hers.
Fisher says rule number
one is shop your kitchen
before you shop the store.

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JESSICA FISHER: If I'm
going to make a relish
tray for Thanksgiving,
I'm going to look, OK,

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what I could add. Artichoke
hearts. I could do pickle,
just lots of different things

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that you might want to just
see, what do we already
have before we go buy more?

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STEPHANIE SY: Right,
because people forget what's
stuffed in the back there.

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JESSICA FISHER: Right.

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STEPHANIE SY: Everything
she needs for this classic
Midwestern appetizer

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she already had. That
saves money. And Fisher
says time is money too.

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JESSICA FISHER: I am so
excited about this trick,

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because, when I realized I
could do this, I was like, yes!

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STEPHANIE SY: Her top Turkey
Day tip is preparing a
stock box with the veggie
scraps while preparing

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the main meal, so there's
no excuse to waste a
good turkey carcass after
the guests have left.

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JESSICA FISHER: There's
celery. There's parsley.
There's bay leaf.

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There's even some peppercorns
down in the bottom.

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STEPHANIE SY: What this
really says to me is,

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you're not wasting anything. And
that is a big part of budgeting.

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After throwing the turkey
bones and stock box
content in a slow cooker,

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she can forget about it for
hours, but freezes the stock
to use throughout the year.

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Planning for leftover meals is
another Good Cheap Eats tactic.

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A lot of people have a lot
of food left over after

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Thanksgiving. How do you make
sure that doesn't go to waste?

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JESSICA FISHER: Per the
USDA, prepped food is good
when properly refrigerated
for up to four days,

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maybe not having leftovers
all that weekend. You
can package TV dinners.

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STEPHANIE SY: And you freeze it.

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JESSICA FISHER: And
you can freeze it.

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STEPHANIE SY: Fisher says, if
you're really on a tight budget,

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keep your holiday meal
simple and focus on family
favorites. Years ago,

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she realized her family
only really eats the
white meat on a turkey.

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Now husband Bryan prepares only
a turkey breast, instead of a
whole bird. A Thanksgiving meal

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that's tasty and gobbles up
less of your dollar, that's
something to be thankful for.

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I like to always, like, put
a little bit of cranberry on

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my turkey and then a little
bit of stuffing. Mmm.

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For the "PBS NewsHour," with
a full stomach, I'm Stephanie
Sy in San Diego, California.