Business
Walmart is determined to win the Thanksgiving meal value wars with a $40 dinner for 10 people
Due to tariff implications, American consumers have been more wallet-conscious, hunting for the best deals and ways to save a buck.
This is particularly true for low- and middle-income consumers who have been bearing the brunt of tariffs, according to a recent S&P analysis of 9,000 companies worldwide. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry even told Fortune at its Most Powerful Women conference in Washington, D.C. last week that the “dispersion between the high-income earners and the low-income earners” is what “keeps me up at night.” And, a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll found high grocery prices persist as a fear for many households.
But mega-retailer Walmart is trying to buck that trend ahead of the holidays by offering a low-cost Thanksgiving meal basket—and it’s even cheaper than last year, according to the company’s U.S. president and CEO John Furner.
“Our Thanksgiving Meal Basket this year is our best—and most affordable—yet,” Furner wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. “We want every family in the U.S. to be able to celebrate without compromising time, quality, quantity or tradition.”
The Walmart Thanksgiving meal basket costs less than $4 per person and feeds 10 people. That’s a 25% discount from the basket the company offered last year, Furner said, and the Butterball turkey is its lowest price since 2019. That’s a pretty good deal considering USDA data shows overall turkey prices are up more than 33% since 2019.
Walmart was famously the subject of a directive from President Donald Trump to “eat the tariffs,” after it warned of the impact that new trade restrictions might have on its margins. In the year since, Walmart has worked repeatedly to lighten costs on its employees and consumers where possible, such as extending a year-round 10% discount to employees to combat the wider impacts of tariffs. The Wall Street Journal recently profiled the company’s efforts to improve its relations with employees, having formerly been known as stingy but now having raised wages so often that the Harvard Business School is publishing a case study on its experience.
Photo courtesy Walmart
Aside from the 13.5-pound Butterball turkey, the Walmart meal basket includes ingredients for stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie as well as dinner rolls, russet potatoes, cranberries, corn, macaroni and cheese, and gravy. Walmart first launched the Thanksgiving meal basket in 2022, and customers can order the meal basket for pickup and delivery.
How Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal compares to other options
One of the more comparable Thanksgiving meal baskets to Walmart’s is one offered by Aldi. The low-cost grocer is actually offering an identical deal to that of Walmart, at least in terms of the cost and number of people it feeds.
The difference is, though, Aldi customers have to shop the Thanksgiving list themselves. Aldi compiled a grocery list of 21 items that add up to about $40 and feed 10 people.
“Saving our shoppers money is our mission every day—but is especially important during the holidays when they need it most,” Atty McGrath, CEO, ALDI U.S., said in a statement.
Several meal-delivery companies also offer Thanksgiving meal plans, but they’re costlier than the Walmart and Aldi options. Green Chef last year offered Thanksgiving meal plans that started at about $180 for eight-to-10 guests, and Blue Apron and Home Chef customers could get a meal that cost about $64-$95, depending on the number of people being fed.
