So it would be smart for you to count up now how many cans of pumpkin you will need for Thanksgiving and Christmas treats, and buy the cans when you see them rather than waiting until baking day. The Detroit Free Press has checked in with some grocery stores in the region to see what the local supplies are like.

In the meantime, the Libby’s site is suggesting other options for holiday treats such as strawberry cheesecake pie.

I’m going to print this off and put in my cookbook shelf. I knew there were recipes available for this stuff, but hadn’t looked it up. I do occasionally make biscuits with baking mix.

I read a book on the Once a Month Cooking concept many years ago, and never did mess with it! I quickly gave that book away.

But Peg did learn some time-saving tricks along the way, so go check out her post.

If you are one of my local readers, there are distribution sites in Monroe, Bedford Township and Dundee, Mich. Grocery orders can be placed on line at www.angelfoodministries.com or bring cash, bank card or Michigan Bridge Card to the local sites during their office hours (which can also be found on the Angel Food site):

• Dundee Assembly of God, 13790 South Custer Rd., Dundee: Pickups will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Dec. 19.
• Bedford Church of the Nazarene, 7866 Douglas Rd., Lambertville: 10 a.m. to noon Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays. All orders due Dec. 7. Pickups will be 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 12.
• Monroe Church of the Nazarene, 3401 S. Custer Rd., Monroe: 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Nov. 21, 10 to 11 a.m. Dec. 5; 1 to 2 p.m. Dec. 8. Pickups will be from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Dec. 19.

If you are wondering what this program is all about, click through my Angel Food Ministries archives.

• ABC Frugality: Decorating for Pennies Part II. She’s got some great tips that work for rental housing.
• Wise Bread: 5 Quick Fixes to Salvage a Good Meal. I’ve done that leftover bread trick many times.
• Make it From Scratch: A little girl’s headband. This is a great set of directions to make a special pattern or design that you can’t find on the retail market.

Buy some goodies at a Christmas bake sale or cookie walk. Here’s the list of the Monroe, Mich., bake sales we have on file at The Monroe Evening News.

If you are capable of doing your own baking, this is not a money-saving tip. However, if you can’t, or won’t, bake your own goodies, or want only one dozen cookies instead of five dozen, the church and craft show bake sales are an alternative to more expensive bakery items or buying refrigerated dough.

For example: About four years ago, I donated a peppermint cake to a fundraiser bake sale. The customer said she planned to serve the cake at a luncheon the next day.

Most cookies and cakes will keep in the freezer for a time if you wrap them well.

The list:

• One 12-pound Grade A turkey (when priced at 40 cents a pound).
• Three 11 to 15.5-ounce cans Green Giant vegetables.
• Two 14-ounce cans Ocean Spray cranberry sauce.
• Three 6-ounce boxes of Stove Top stuffing.
• One 5-pound bag of red potatoes.
• One 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls.
• One 22-ounce pumpkin roll cake.

It’s pretty common for turkey promotions to be in the grocery stores this time of year. Another example I found yesterday is Food Town in Monroe, Mich., and Rockwood, Mich., will give you a free turkey week of Nov. 16-22 if you buy $150 in additional purchase (except alcohol and tobacco) or discounted price of 38 cents a pound if you have at least $50 in additional purchase.

What if you already have the menu arranged for Thanksgiving and you see a holiday feast deal that’s too good to ignore?

Well, now, I think you have your Christmas dinner taken care of!

Or, as my friend Candy suggested, “bless another family” with a holiday dinner.

Those who “have everything they want”, who live in a small home or apartment, or who are trying to reduce their physical impact on the environment, are usually not interested in the knickknacks that have long been popular Christmas gifts. To be honest, there are a lot of people who don’t care for such things. But those who are de-cluttering and living eco-friendly lifestyles REALLY dislike them.

As alternatives, the suggestions I’ve seen from those people include food gifts, theater or sports tickets, movie passes, park and zoo passes.

These are actually good options for frugal families too.

So let’s talk about food gifts. If you look around for food gifts, you’ll find a lot of great options both for homemade and for store-bought items.

You will have to get over the fact that a lot of store-bought food gifts seem expensive compared to regular groceries. They aren’t meant to be regular groceries. They are meant to be gifts. You want them to have seasonal flavors, pretty packaging and feature ingredients you don’t normally see or brands you normally don’t buy.

Some ideas:

• Gourmet coffee. The first picture you see in this post is seasonal coffee from Millstone. I saw that display at Wal-Mart in Monroe, Mich. There are several varieties but that peppermint one sounds good! Almost any coffee shop has flavored beans or fresh ground coffee you can purchase to take home. Fair Trade coffees are the coffee of choice at many churches as a social justice project, so ask your church pastor or secretary if they know of a local supplier for Fair Trade or have some available for sale. If you’d like a homemade Christmas coffee mix, here’s my recipe.
• Homemade cookies and candy. You can buy the baking ingredients as soon as you see the sale and coupon deals begin (ahem, now!). In some cases, cookie batter can be prepared and frozen ahead of time. To present the treats, you can buy paper goodie boxes and cardboard cake platters at any store that sells cake and candy supplies, such as Flour Garden or Crafts 2000 in Monroe, Mich. You can also buy favorite goodies at a charity bake sale. Just wrap the goodies carefully for the freezer if you need to store them for more than a day or two.
• Cocoa mixes. See my second picture. I saw this selection of cocoas at Big Lots in Monroe, Mich. You can also get single serve gourmet cocoa packets at the grocery stores this time of year. This is a nice idea for a family with children; or a stocking stuffer for teenagers or college students.
• Boxes of chocolate. If you know someone is on a diet or diabetic, maybe you want to pass on this idea. But a box of chocolate has long been a popular hostess gift. If you live near a Russell Stover or other specialty candy store (I visit the Russell Stover in Dundee, Mich., two or three times a year), you’ve got a huge selection to pick from. Boxed candy also frequently goes on half-price sales at the drugstsores this time of year.
• Regional or seasonal wine or beer. Again, this is a gift idea where you need to know your audience. If they aren’t drinkers, don’t get alcohol. But if you do make that choice, go to a supermarket or liquor store that is known for having a large selection of beverages and ask the clerk where you can find the regional or seasonal labels. For example, there are Michigan beer and wine selections stocked at the Meijer store in Monroe, Mich.
• Holiday dinner. You can order a catered or heat-and-serve holiday dinner for another family at many supermarkets. Omaha Steaks also has a “gifts under $50″ selection.
• Fruit box or basket. You can buy pre-wrapped fruit baskets at the supermarket or order them from a gift company, but that’s not the only option. You can find school groups and clubs that sell fruit boxes, or order a holiday fruit box from Angel Food Ministries. If you want to present the fresh fruit in a basket, look for cheap baskets at the thrift stores.
• Restaurant gift cards. These make nice co-worker and teacher gifts. You can often buy restaurant gift cards from a school or church fundraiser. Great Lakes Scrip is one of the services that handles fundraiser campaigns in the Monroe, Mich. area. Local readers: there also are Monroe-area restaurant gift cards in the Mistletoe Market auction items (watch www.monroenews.com for details).
• Coffee shop gift cards. This is a less expensive alternative to sit-down restaurant gift cards. Think coffee in the morning, coffee beans to take home, pecan rolls, or sandwiches.
• Grocery store gift cards. This is an obvious gift for a family on a budget. But they also work well for college kids who want to stock up their dorm room with snacks.
• Meat and cheese boxes.When I get those for Christmas, I save them for munching during New Year’s or during the college football bowl games.
• Gifts in a jar. These are the baking mixes that are gifted in a pretty jar. Mason jars are hard to find now because canning season is done, but I did see some on a clearance shelf the other day. There are several cookbooks that feature just these kind of treats. The Organized Christmas web site also has a nice collection of recipes. Note: if you are gifted with a Gift in a Jar, be sure to rinse out and save the jar. Give the empty jar to a friend who cans if you don’t preserve food on your own, because they are certainly re-usable.
• Holiday versions of year-round treats. Have you seen the Little Debbie holiday snack cakes? They work very well for “kid treats.” Since they are individually wrapped, I usually buy a box every year to divide up for stocking stuffers. Here’s some of the product line I found at Wal-Mart in Monroe, Mich.

Notice that I didn’t mention fruitcake. But if you know the person you are gifting likes fruitcake, go ahead and get them one!

In the grocery ad for Nov. 8-15, the store is introducing its Busch’s My Way program. You sign up and use either a registered bank card or a key tag or tell the clerk your phone number for your purchases to be recorded.

Here’s the explanation from the store’s web site:

The average supermarket stocks more than 30,000 different items but the average family generally purchases less than 2,000 throughout the year. Busch’s has developed a program to help you focus on those 2,000 items to save time and money.

Participation in this program is free. It’s basically a shopper loyalty program. You don’t have to have a card to get sale prices at Busch’s, but this program is intended to make it easier for you to plan your shopping list around the sales.

If you want, you can order the groceries on line and pick them up curbside for a $6.95 fee (Tip to parents of young children: You might save that much money, or more, by purchasing groceries on line and not taking the kids with you into the supermarket. The kids can’t ask for something if they don’t see it.)

The churches of Whiteford Township in Monroe County, Mich., have announced they will have free food on a “first come, first served” basis for any Ohio or Michigan resident during a distribution from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday Nov. 21 at Crossroads Community Church, 6960 Sylvania-Petersburg Rd., Ottawa Lake, Mich.

The only requirement will be to provide your name and the number of people in your family to the distribution crew.