The Cheapest Grocery Stores for Thanksgiving [2024 Study]

As Thanksgiving approaches, hosts around the country are starting to make shopping plans. Whether you’re preparing your Thanksgiving meal at home or bringing in a catered meal, hosting can be expensive — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to save.

To help shoppers, our researchers compared prices from major supermarkets across the U.S. to find the most and least affordable Thanksgiving food options. For those who prefer a pre-made meal, we also compiled the costs of a fully catered Thanksgiving meal at each chain to see which stores offered the best takeaway sales this season.

Key findings

• For Thanksgiving shoppers cooking everything themselves:
  • Most expensive groceries: Whole Foods ($76.92 for eight people)
  • Least expensive groceries: Aldi ($34.83 for eight people)
• For Thanksgiving shoppers buying pre-made meals:
  • Most expensive meals: Costco ($30.00 per person)
  • Least expensive meals: Target ($5.00 per person)

How much will your Thanksgiving shopping list cost you at different stores this year?

Using a standard shopping list of 10 Thanksgiving staples, we set out to find how much it would cost to make a dinner for eight people from major grocery chains nationwide.

Most expensive grocery chains for a Thanksgiving meal

The cost of a turkey was the single biggest expense at every grocery store, with pumpkin pie as the second-largest line item. Gravy and vegetable sides, such as green beans and corn, tended to be the most affordable. On average, we found it costs around $50 to buy the components needed to make a full Thanksgiving meal for eight people. 

Unsurprisingly, of the retailers we reviewed, Whole Foods was the most expensive option. Our grocery list costs $76.92 (before tax), with the price of a turkey ($29.88 for non-Prime members) accounting for the bulk of that total. The upscale grocery store, which prides itself on organic and healthy foods, has more than 500 locations nationwide in 45 states. Ingredients at Florida-based Publix stores were nearly as expensive as Whole Foods, coming in a little more than $3 cheaper with a total of $73.58.

For more affordable options, ingredients from Aldi, Walmart, and Target all cost less than $40, with total costs at those three nationwide chains clocking in at less than half the price of a Whole Foods meal. Shoppers that frequent a pair of regional chains, Albertsons and HyVee, can get everything needed for a holiday meal for under $50.

The most affordable stores for a pre-made Thanksgiving meal

Cooking everything from scratch isn’t for everyone, and as a result, many stores and restaurants offer pre-made meals that can be picked up in advance and easily reheated on the big day.

To help consumers decide which pre-prepared option best suits their needs this Thanksgiving, we compiled details for some of the largest grocery store chains in the country to make comparisons easier.

Of note, these pre-made meals can differ substantially from store to store, both in terms of what you actually get and what they cost. For instance, while Costco’s pre-made option is sure to come with its signature pumpkin pie, Target’s meal doesn’t come with a dessert option.

Here are the full details on what customers get with each grocery store’s pre-made Thanksgiving meals, how much each meal costs, and how many people each meal feeds.

1. Target

• Total cost: $20.00
• How many people it feeds: 4
• Cost per person: $5.00
• What’s included:
  • Basted frozen turkey (up to 10 pounds) 
  • Russet potatoes 
  • Cut green beans 
  • Cream of mushroom soup 
  • Jellied cranberry sauce 
  • Stuffing 
  • Turkey gravy

2. Publix

• Total cost: $69.99
• How many people it feeds: 7-10
• Cost per person: $8.75
• What’s included:
  • Fully cooked turkey (10-12 pounds)
  • Cornbread dressing
  • Yukon Gold mashed potatoes
  • Cranberry orange relish
  • Marshmallow Delight
  • Homestyle gravy

3. Albertsons

• Total cost: $85.99
• How many people it feeds: 8-10
• Cost per person: $9.55
• What’s included:
  • Smoked turkey
  • Cornbread dressing
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Cranberry relish
  • Giblet gravy
  • One dozen rolls

4. Meijer

• Total cost: $59.99
• How many people it feeds: 6
• Cost per person: $10.00
• What’s included:
  • Turkey
  • Cranberries
  • Green bean casserole
  • Stuffing
  • Mashed potatoes and gravy
  • One dozen rolls

5. Safeway

• Total cost: $69.99
• How many people it feeds: 6-8
• Cost per person: $10.00
• What’s included:
  • Fully cooked turkey (10-12 pounds)
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Homestyle stuffing
  • Homestyle gravy
  • Cranberry sauce

6. Sam’s Club

• Total cost: $100.00
• How many people it feeds: 10
• Cost per person: $10.00
• What’s included:
  • Whole turkey
  • 24-count yeast rolls
  • Macaroni and cheese
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Pumpkin pie
  • Brussel sprouts
  • Cranberry crunch salad
  • Sweet potato mash

7. Kroger

• Total cost: $90.00
• How many people it feeds: 6-8
• Cost per person: $12.86
• What’s included:
  • Butterball bone-in turkey
  • Mashed Potatoes
  • Turkey gravy
  • Homestyle stuffing
  • Green bean casserole
  • Maple pecan mashed sweet potatoes
  • Cranberry sauce

8. Hy-Vee

• Total cost: $119.99
• How many people it feeds: 8
• Cost per person: $15.00
• What’s included:
  • Butterball turkey (10-12 pounds),
  • Two large sides of mashed potatoes
  • Two large sides of your choice
  • Beef or turkey gravy
  • 12 dinner rolls

9. H-E-B

• Total cost: $129.99
• How many people it feeds: 8
• Cost per person: $16.25
• What’s included:
  • Turkey
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Cranberry sauce
  • Sweet potato casserole
  • Turkey gravy
  • Cornbread stuffing
  • Green bean casserole

10. Wegmans

• Total cost: $179.00
• How many people it feeds: 10
• Cost per person: $17.90
• What’s included:
  • All-natural, slow-roasted turkey (12-14 pounds)
  • Herb bread stuffing
  • Signature whipped potatoes
  • Green bean casserole with crispy onions
  • Macaroni & cheese
  • Homestyle gravy
  • Cranberry orange relish

11. Whole Foods

• Total cost: $169.99
• How many people it feeds: 8
• Cost per person: $21.25
• What’s included:
  • Whole turkey with gravy
  • Sea salt and cracked pepper green beans
  • Creamy Russet mashed potatoes
  • Classic holiday herb stuffing
  • Zesty cranberry orange sauce

12. Walmart

• Total cost: $168.88
• How many people it feeds: 6
• Cost per person: $28.15
• What’s included:
  • Roasted turkey
  • Turkey gravy
  • Traditional stuffing
  • Mashed Yukon Gold potatoes
  • Crispy green beans
  • Cranberry sauce

12. Costco

• Total cost: $269.99
• How many people it feeds: 8-10
• Cost per person: $30.00
• What’s included:
  • Antibiotic-free turkey breast roast pre-seasoned in cooking bag
  • Crème fresh mashed potatoes
  • Traditional stuffing (old fashioned)
  • Brussel sprouts casserole
  • Green beans almondine
  • Cranberry, apple, orange relish
  • Turkey gravy
  • 10-inch pumpkin pie (baked)
  • 10-inch apple pie (unbaked)

How to save this Thanksgiving

• Earn credit card rewards at checkout. To get the most out of your shopping trip, use one of the best credit cards for buying groceries to earn rewards on your purchases.
• Use helpful grocery hacks at the store. Groceries are a significant expense for families of all sizes. Getting some insider tips on how to spend less on groceries can help reduce the overall cost of your essentials.
• Use travel credit cards when visiting family. The days and weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are a busy time of year for travel. When you book trips, use one of the best travel credit cards to earn rewards for future holidays.

Methodology

All price data for individual grocery items comes directly from each store's official website. Prices were collected from stores in cities where the cost of living is close to the overall average for the United States, according to Numbeo. 

All price data represents the pre-tax cost for the most affordable brand of each item available. We found how much it would cost to buy enough food to feed eight people. The complete list of items and quantities is as follows:

• One 12-pound whole frozen turkey
• One box of instant mashed potatoes
• Two packets of gravy mix
• One package of a dozen dinner rolls
• 12 ounces of stuffing mix
• Two cans of cranberry sauce
• Two cans of green beans
• Two cans of whole-kernel corn
• Four pounds of sweet potatoes
• One 8-12 inch pumpkin pie

Prices and menus for pre-made meals come directly from the official website of each store or an official press release. To calculate the price per person for meals with a range of people it can feed, we used the middle number of that range (i.e., if a meal is advertised as feeding six to eight, we calculated its per-person cost for seven people). 

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Author Details

Josh Koebert

Josh Koebert is a Senior Data Journalist at FinanceBuzz who writes about personal finance trends. As an experienced researcher, Josh’s data-driven stories focus on the intersection between economics and consumer behavior: where personal finance meets everyday life.