Grocery chains are promising that your Thanksgiving dinner will be easier on your wallet this year—but the fine print tells a different tale. Those cheery ads about “affordable feasts” may sound like a reason to cheer, yet behind the cranberry-sauce sparkle lies a marketing trick as old as leftovers. Before you reach for that $40 turkey kit, here’s what you should really know.
Big Retail’s Gobble Game
Walmart, Target, and Aldi are each waving their discount flags, but the savings come with a sleight of hand. Instead of cutting prices across the board, they’ve quietly switched to cheaper private-label goods. It’s the same Thanksgiving you know, just with fewer familiar names on the boxes.
At Walmart, the shift is clear. Out of 15 meal items, nine now come from its Great Value brand—up from nine out of 21 last year. The turkey, once a Honeysuckle White, is now a Butterball, priced at 96 cents per pound compared to last year’s 88. The meal serves ten for under $40, down from roughly $56 for eight. But that’s partly because there’s less on the table: onions, celery, and broth have quietly exited the guest list.
Aldi’s Discount Magic Trick
Over at Aldi, thrift has become a selling point worth toasting to. The chain’s Thanksgiving basket fell from $47 to $40 this year—thanks to careful substitutions. The Butterball bird is gone, replaced by a Jennie-O at about 30 cents less per pound. Even the pie crust got a makeover, upgraded from a single shell to a frozen two-pack.
The differences seem small until you realize they add up. The grocer’s strategy matches what many shoppers are doing: trading brand loyalty for price relief. With food costs rising 2.7% over the past year and consumer confidence dropping to a three-and-a-half-year low, Americans are swapping nostalgia for necessity.
Target Hits “Rebrand” On Dinner
Target’s version of the holiday deal offers a meal for four under $20, but it too leaned into its own brands. Gone are Campbell’s soup and Del Monte green beans—replaced by Target’s Good & Gather line. Bread and frozen corn got the same treatment. The company says it adjusts based on shopper demand and stock, but the timing is telling: most customers grab their meal kits just days before Thanksgiving, when choices (and patience) run thin.
Cheaper—But At What Cost?
The government may call 2.7% food inflation moderate, yet it hits differently when your holiday spread shrinks. According to NielsenIQ, 58% of shoppers are now deeply worried about food prices, and more than 30% say they prefer store brands outright. Retailers know that—and they’re feeding it back to you in glossy ads about “affordable tradition.”
But here’s the kicker: that math only works if you ignore the missing sides.
The Bottom Line
Yes, your Thanksgiving dinner may ring up for less this year, but don’t mistake substitution for generosity. The savings come not from magic, but from menus trimmed thinner than pie crust. Still, if you’re okay with a few brand swaps and smaller spreads, there’s no shame in it. After all, gratitude, not gravy, is the main course.
