Remember your commissary for Thanksgiving savings

FORT LEE, Va. – Spending for the Thanksgiving meal can quickly spiral out of control. By shopping the commissary, military members can save money on this one meal and help manage their budgets for the rest of the holidays. 

“Your commissary can help you prepare a delicious and plentiful Thanksgiving dinner while keeping the cost at a minimum,” said Tracie Russ, the Defense Commissary Agency’s sales director. “Take advantage of all the holiday savings you’ll find in your local commissary and the budget battle is virtually won.”

With these simple tips and money-saving promotions, your commissary will help you lay out a Thanksgiving spread to be proud of while not busting your budget:

• Make a list and stick to it. The commissary website has lots of holiday recipes. Use these recipes to help make your grocery list.
• Shop your pantry. Plan dishes around ingredients you already have on hand.
• Shop commissary store brands. Enjoy the quality and value of low-cost equivalents to national brands. Many of DeCA’s top-selling commissary store brand items are perfect money-saving components for your Thanksgiving meal: Freedom’s Choice water, GoPack fruit, cheese and nut packs shredded cheese, butter and cream cheeses, broths, chicken, shrimp, frozen vegetables, shelf stable vegetables and frozen fruit.
• Load commissary coupons onto your Commissary Rewards Card before you shop. Don’t have a Rewards Card yet? Pick one up at your local commissary and register it online.
• Check out the savings on your commissary website. Head to the Savings Center to get the best deals for coupons, sales flyers and featured items.
• Exclusive savings on select frozen turkeys. Commissaries worldwide will offer limited weekly quantities of frozen turkeys at 48 cents per pound through Dec. 31. Take advantage of these seasonal savings while supplies last. Weekly available quantities of frozen turkeys are expected to increase closer to Thanksgiving. Check your store for brand availability.  
• Turkey Booklet. The commissary and its industry partners have teamed up to offer a special promotion: a coupon booklet that allows you to save more than $21 off a turkey with qualifying holiday meal purchases. Manufacturers have put these qualifying items on deep promotion for even deeper savings. A limited number of these booklets were distributed only to stateside stores (including Alaska and Hawaii). These booklets can be redeemed at any commissary worldwide during November and December.
• Prepared foods: From appetizers to apple pies, your commissary can help save you time and money with their prepared foods.
• Buy produce that is in season. Using fruits and vegetables that are in season and readily available will save you money. See a list on the USDA website.

“With the commissary on your side, bringing the best to your Thanksgiving table can be easy and affordable, leaving extra cash for your Christmas expenses,” Russ said.

-DeCA-

About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.