Walmart’s holiday meal basket has 26 items in it, and not one of them is butter. That’s typical of the Thanksgiving bundles grocery chains have announced this fall: the headline price covers the turkey and the boxed sides, while the butter, eggs, milk and sugar that turn those boxes into dinner are left for you to supply.
The baskets are still a good deal for a lot of households. But “feeds 10 for under $40” means different things at different stores, so I lined up the major offers by what each one costs per person, how much turkey you get and what you’ll still need to buy. Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov. 26, which leaves about three weeks to shop.
All prices below are what the retailers announced. Store prices vary by location, and some regional chains on this list only operate in parts of the country.
The deals side by side
| Store | Price | Feeds | Per person | Turkey included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walmart | $35 | 10 | $3.50 | Butterball frozen, 10 to 16 lb |
| Lidl | $34.40 | Up to 10 | About $3.44 | Shady Brook Farms frozen, 14 lb |
| Aldi | Under $39 | 10 | Under $3.90 | Farmer’s Choice, 16 lb |
| Food Lion | Under $40 | 10 | Under $4 | Frozen, 14 lb |
| Price Chopper / Market 32 | Under $40 | 10 | Under $4 | Grade A, about 13.5 lb |
| Wegmans | Under $5 a head | 8 | Under $5 | Shady Brook Farms frozen, 13 lb |
| Target | $30 | 6 | $5 | Butterball, up to 10 lb |
On per-person price, Lidl, Walmart and Aldi lead, and they’re close enough that the deciding factor is which store is near you. Target’s meal costs the least in total but sits at the top of the per-head column with Wegmans, because it’s sized for six. It’s still a clean option for a small table.
Give the turkey column equal weight. Aldi’s 16-pound bird works out to 1.6 pounds per guest, and Target’s up-to-10-pound bird gives six people up to about the same. Walmart’s turkey is listed at 10 to 16 pounds, so depending on the one you grab, ten guests get anywhere from 1 to 1.6 pounds each. If your crowd likes leftovers, pick the biggest bird in the freezer case.
What each basket includes, and what it leaves out
Walmart: $35 for 10
Walmart’s basket is the most complete of the group. Along with the Butterball turkey (priced at 97 cents a pound, the same as last year), it includes Stove Top stuffing, russet and sweet potatoes, fresh cranberries, corn, green beans with a can of mushroom soup and fried onions for the casserole, brown gravy packets, rolls, Jiffy corn muffin mix, marshmallows, and pie crusts with canned pumpkin, evaporated milk and whipped topping. It’s sold in stores and online through Dec. 24, with no membership or coupon needed.
The gaps are pantry items: butter for the stuffing and potatoes, eggs and milk for the corn muffins and pie, sugar for the cranberries and pie, and pumpkin pie spice. Also note that the $35 price doesn’t apply in Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Wisconsin or Puerto Rico.
One extra worth knowing: through Nov. 30, Walmart is offering free Express Delivery on the basket with the code THANKFUL. The order has to be at least $35 and include Campbell’s mushroom soup, a Butterball turkey or Stove Top stuffing, and other restrictions apply.
Lidl: $34.40 for up to 10
Lidl’s list is long: the 14-pound turkey, russet and sweet potatoes, onions, celery, baby carrots, chicken broth, two cans each of green beans and cream of mushroom soup, French’s fried onions, two cans of cranberry sauce, two gravy packets, two boxes of stuffing mix, two boxes of mac and cheese, Hawaiian rolls, marshmallows, poultry seasoning, plus pie crust dough, canned pumpkin, evaporated milk and whipped topping. Missing: butter, milk for the mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, and eggs, sugar and spice for the pie.
Aldi: under $39 for 10
Aldi’s meal centers on the biggest turkey here, plus three boxes of stuffing, baby carrots, celery, fresh cranberries, sweet potatoes, Hawaiian rolls, two bags of frozen peas, pumpkin pie mix, pie crusts, whole milk and heavy cream. No coupons, loyalty card or membership required.
There’s no gravy and no white potatoes in it, which are the two gaps most hosts will notice first. You’ll also want butter, sugar for the cranberries and eggs for the pie. Timing matters at Aldi: the prices run through Nov. 25, the turkey has been in stores since Nov. 4, and the pumpkin pie mix doesn’t arrive until Nov. 11.
Target: $30 for 6
Target’s meal is the most ready-to-serve: a Butterball turkey up to 10 pounds, russet potatoes, Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce, green beans, fried onions and condensed mushroom soup for the casserole, Stove Top stuffing, jarred Heinz turkey gravy and two take-and-bake baguettes. Gravy and cranberry sauce come ready, so there’s less cooking. There’s no dessert at all, though, and you’ll need butter and milk for the potatoes.
The regional chains
Wegmans (under $5 a person for 8) includes a frozen pumpkin pie and Jiffy corn muffin mix. Food Lion’s meal for 10 goes further on dessert, with two frozen pies, pumpkin and apple, plus whipped topping. Price Chopper and Market 32’s feast for 10 includes King’s Hawaiian rolls and everything for a pumpkin pie except the eggs, sugar and spices.
Count the side portions, not just the turkey
“Feeds 10” is mostly a statement about the turkey. The sides tell a different story. Walmart’s basket has a 5-pound bag of russets for ten people, which is fine, but its sweet potatoes are listed as three potatoes. That’s a small casserole for a table of ten, and the marshmallows in the basket will cover more than the potatoes under them. Target’s six-person meal comes with a 3-pound bag of russets, which is closer to what a crowd that loves mashed potatoes will eat.
Before you commit, picture each dish on the table and ask the person who usually cooks it whether the quantity looks right. Doubling one or two sides is cheap. Discovering on Thursday afternoon that the stuffing won’t stretch is not.
Delivery changes the math too. Walmart says pickup and delivery fees from $0 to $19.95 may apply, and Aldi notes that ordering through DoorDash, Instacart or Uber Eats can add delivery and service fees. On a $35 basket, a $10 fee raises the cost per person by a dollar. If a store is close, picking up in person keeps the advertised price intact.
How to fill the gaps without wiping out the savings
Every basket assumes you have a working pantry. If you don’t, the add-ons can eat a good chunk of the savings. A few ways to keep that in check:
- Write the gap list before you shop. Go through the basket item by item and note what each recipe needs. Butter, eggs, milk, sugar and pie spice show up on almost every list above.
- Buy the add-ons at the same store, in the store brand. All of these chains sell house-brand butter, eggs and sugar, and a separate trip for name brands can cost more in gas and time than it saves.
- Don’t buy the basket items you already have. Aldi, for example, prices its meal as a list of individual items marked in the store, so you can skip the stuffing that’s already in your cupboard. Walmart sells its basket online as a one-click bundle, so compare that with adding only the items you’re missing.
- Swap the turkey if you find a cheaper one. Target prices its own Good & Gather frozen turkey at 79 cents a pound for the third year in a row. A 14-pound bird at that price is about $11, compared with about $13.60 for the same weight at Walmart’s 97 cents.
Which deal fits which table
For a family of six who wants the least cooking, Target’s $30 meal plus one store-bought pie is hard to beat. For eight to ten guests, Walmart’s basket covers the most dishes for the price, and Lidl’s is nearly as complete if there’s a store nearby. Aldi makes sense for hosts who care most about a big turkey and plan to make gravy from the drippings anyway.
For a bigger crowd, two small baskets often work better than one big one plus extras. Two Target meals feed 12 for $60, which keeps the $5 per person and adds a second turkey for leftovers. Whichever you choose, buy the frozen turkey early. It needs days in the refrigerator to thaw, so the last weekend before Thanksgiving is too late to start with a big frozen bird.
