Where to Shop for the Absolute Cheapest Thanksgiving Meal in 2025

Weekly groceries are already crazy expensive (I bought some canned tomatoes and chickpeas and bread the other day and I swear it was $50), so you are perfectly justified if you are getting nervous about the Thanksgiving grocery bill. But have no fear, an online lender called NetCredit has put in the work and figured out where to buy Thanksgiving dinner if you want to save some serious cash. 

The company compared the prices of a long list of Thanksgiving staples—turkeys, boxed stuffing, canned green beans, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, etc.—at the biggest national and regional grocery chains, and have now revealed where to go for the cheapest Thanksgiving groceries. You can read the full study, but we pulled together the most notable findings.

Cheapest Boxed Stuffing

Walmart and H-E-B (a large Texas grocery store chain) tied for the cheapest average boxed stuffing price at $1.88. 

Cheapest Pumpkin Pie Ingredients

While Walmart sells the cheapest canned pumpkin ($1.16 on average), Target sells the cheapest cinnamon ($0.42), City Market (a chain in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming) sells the cheapest pecans ($4.88), and Harris Teeter (located in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic) sells the cheapest vanilla extract ($2.50). 

Cheapest Butter, Milk, and Eggs

If you’re stocking up on fridge staples, Walmart is the place to go. You can get a dozen eggs for $1.97 on average and butter for $5.51. H-E-B does edge out Walmart when it comes to milk, with an average price of $2.77 (though the study doesn’t specify how much milk we’re talking about). 

Cheapest Turkey 

Here’s the real question: Where can you find the cheapest turkey? Amazingly, nine chains offer 12-lb turkeys for under $12. That’s particularly impressive this year as the wholesale price per pound of a turkey has gone up 40% year-over-year thanks to 2025’s extremely low turkey population (remember the bird flu?). 

The cheapest turkey of them all, though, can be found at Walmart for an average of $11.12, which is 50 cents cheaper than the second cheapest turkey, which can be found at H-E-B. You can also find sub-$12 turkeys at Acme, City Market, Fred Meyer, and Harris Teeter. The most expensive turkey found in the study comes in at $25.68 on average and is sold by Vons. 

Cheapest Thanksgiving Dinner for 6-8 People

After creating a basket of Thanksgiving ingredients, NetCredit priced it out at multiple branches of the top grocery stores and compared the average total cost. They found that Walmart offered the cheapest total bill with an average of $52.74. And it was the cheapest by a wide margin. H-E-B was the second cheapest at $60.79. That same basket at Vons will cost you nearly $90 on average. 

Conclusion

Walmart truly is the people’s grocery store. If you’re looking to save money, it’s worth braving the chaos and unflattering lighting this Thanksgiving.