This year's holiday feasts will cost more than ever, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food prices jumped four to five percent in 2011 and are expected to continue climbing next year.

Toni House , author of Savvy Shopping: How to Reduce your Weekly Grocery Bill to $85 per Week or Less, says consumers can have their fruitcake and eat it too, without breaking the bank. House, a mom with executive level experience in accounting and the restaurant industry, House succeeds in paring down her monthly grocery bill for her family of four to $250.

"It takes savvy shopping," she says. "Worried about going broke serving big holiday meals? Forget it. Consumers can save on the Christmas trimmings and trim the 2012 household budget with planning, patience and grocery shopping 'guard rails' to keep your cart in line."

House offers these tips:

• Be patient – wait for good deals. Save pricier purchases for double coupon days, and with the holidays coming up, save now to splurge a bit on the holiday meal.

• Be detail-oriented. There is a lot of fine print involved in being a savvy shopper, from expiration dates, special offers to asterisks. Know exactly when a coupon expires, how much it's for, how much more it will be worth on double coupon days and whether or not it's worth the price in the first place.

• Plan ahead. Plan a menu for at least three meals in advance. Combined with leftovers, that should give five days or more of meals, depending on the meal. This puts the consumer in control of her shopping list instead of always playing catch-up, replacing what has run out, or buying only when an item is needed for the special dinner menu.

• Design menus that use the most expensive foods less often. For instance, from now on at least twice a week, try using meat more as a filler than a main dish. Instead of making spaghetti with meat balls, or sausage, or chicken breasts, make spaghetti with a meat sauce of ground turkey, ground sausage or ground chicken breakfast sausage.

• At the grocery store, buy ONLY what can be eaten. That means no paper plates, toilet paper, plastic cups, toothbrushes, jar candles, greeting cards. Grocery store prices for non-food items are higher than you'll pay almost anywhere else, so make a hard-and-fast rule and stick to it.

• Use coupons, but only for products actually needed. If, for example, you buy twice as many hot dog buns as you needed last week and come across a two-for-one coupon for more hot dog buns, there is no need to buy more for the sake of coupons.

House's $85-a-week budget does require tossing out some pricey products the family may have grown accustomed to and changing the way meals are planned. Yet there are plenty of delicious, often healthier, and less expensive substitutes.

House says in a family accustomed to being spoilt in the dining room, the family member responsible for grocery shopping will meet resistance when she/he cuts back. But you must "take the bull by the horns and lead the family in the right direction."

Toni House's money-saving tips can be found at her website.