6 Ways to Save on Groceries for Thanksgiving Dinner This Year

Shop pre-set meal bundles at national grocers

Retailers like Lidl, Aldi, and Walmart have rolled out holiday grocery deals promising to feed guests for $7 or under per guest with special Thanksgiving meal bundles, with Lidl offering the cost of Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people under $45.

“Shoppers across the country are feeling the effects of rising grocery prices,” says Lidl U.S. CEO Joel Rampoldt. “At Lidl U.S., we want to help our shoppers’ dollar go further and keep their family’s plates filled. This year, we’re including nearly double the number of items offered so everyone can feed their family for less than $4.50 per person without sacrificing quality.”

Each retailer has put together a list of products that allow shoppers to create a full Thanksgiving meal, complete with staples like turkey, gravy, stuffing, rolls, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. These retailers don’t provide Thanksgiving recipes to accompany the products, so you’ll need to source these yourself, and keep in mind you may find your grocery bill is higher if you want to make other dishes or substitute different ingredients than are on their holiday grocery deal list. 

Consider buying the store brand to save money

Money-saving expert Andrea Woroch says an easy way to save money on Thanksgiving groceries is to buy the store brand versus the brand name for popular items. She says consumers can save up to 30 percent on their grocery bill by doing this. 

“Grocery stores have more wiggle room to reduce prices on their own brands,” she says, “so you will likely see bigger holiday grocery deals on those items for Thanksgiving as well.”

At Lidl, as an example, their private-label canned pumpkin that’s part of their Thanksgiving meal bundle costs $1.09, while a can of Libby’s name-brand pumpkin costs more than double.

Pare your menu back to crowd favorites and skip the rest

It might not feel like Thanksgiving without a side of cranberries, but if only a couple of people at the table actually eat said cranberries, you may want to consider axing the item to save money. Having a dish on the table for tradition’s sake only increases the amount you spend. 

Take a minute to poll your guests about what dishes they can’t live without and which dishes aren’t their favorites if you’re hosting Thanksgiving this year to ensure what’s on your table won’t go to waste.

If you need a way to start the conversation, Savings.com recently released a survey about what dishes most Americans would be happy to cut from the line-up and found that dishes like sweet potato casserole and Brussels sprouts were among the least favorite dishes for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Two-thirds of their surveyed audience said they prefer white turkey meat over dark turkey meat, so you could also consider buying a turkey breast versus a whole turkey to save money. It might not be a picture-perfect table without a full turkey, but you’ll be ensuring that all of the turkey will be eaten.

On the flip side, they found that stuffing and mashed potatoes are must-haves for the table for the majority of Americans.

Make your own Thanksgiving desserts

Another area to save big on high grocery prices, Woroch says, is to avoid buying pre-made bakery items. It might be tempting to buy a pecan pie from your favorite grocery store or Costco, but these items have the highest markup in a grocery store. 

As an example, last year Costco sold its massive pecan pie for $16.99, which was up from $13.99 in 2020. If you were to make a pecan pie from scratch, it would cost about half of that.

If the thought of baking is daunting, though, Woroch recommends using a box mix for cakes or cookies. It’ll still be less expensive than buying something from the bakery section.

Many Americans feature multiple desserts for Thanksgiving dinner, so another way to save on holiday groceries is to do a mix of pre-made and homemade Thanksgiving desserts. Grab the pecan pie you love from your local bakery, but compromise by baking cookies from scratch or from a box to help keep your grocery costs lower. 

Host Thanksgiving potluck style

Hosting all of your family for Thanksgiving can get expensive fast. Spread the cost out among those attending by hosting Thanksgiving dinner potluck style. If you’re the host, offer to cook the turkey but assign out what each guest should bring to round out the meal. 

This way you don’t end up with multiple dishes of mashed potatoes and no rolls, and also don’t put the financial burden on just one person. 

“We have a large family, and with food costs being what they are, we find that potluck-style dinners are a good way for everyone to pitch in with the cost,” says Beth Klongpayabal, lead data analyst for the Savings.com Thanksgiving survey. “Best of all, it lets everyone bring their favorite dishes, and then everyone gets to enjoy the meal.”

You can even get kids in on the assignments by having them do things like make name cards for the table. 

Stretching your grocery budget beyond Thanksgiving

Even though most of us will feel the need to unbutton our pants after Thanksgiving dinner is all said and done, it’s likely there will still be lots of leftovers. Using all of the leftovers is key to making sure no dollar goes to waste.

Eating the same meal over and over again can get boring, but there are lots of creative leftover Thanksgiving recipes to help use up ingredients, like a sweet potato and turkey frittata or a copycat Harvest Bowl salad from Sweetgreen that can help. 

Most Thanksgiving leftovers will also freeze well, so if you’re planning on serving something similar for Christmas, you could always repurpose turkey day leftovers for later. Things like turkey, rolls, and stuffing can be easily frozen. 

Thanksgiving desserts can be frozen, too. Cookies and cakes freeze well—my mom often will freeze half of a pound cake to serve at another event. Freezing pies can be tricky, so you may want to give each guest a slice to take home to try to make sure it all gets eaten.

Woroch also says hosting a leftovers potluck with friends the weekend after Thanksgiving can be a fun way to use everything up and keep the holiday going.