Aldi says a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people costs under $39 at its stores through Nov. 25, or less than $4 a person. The grocer says no coupons, loyalty cards, minimum purchases or memberships are required to get the price. The offer began Oct. 14.
The company announced the deal that day from its headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, under the line “No Coupons, No Compromises, No Games.” Aldi says the meal is “a classic, hard to beat Thanksgiving meal for 10 for under $39.” The price is for one set shopping list, and a few items on it are not on shelves yet.
What is in the Aldi basket
Aldi’s Thanksgiving announcement lists the meal item by item. The centerpiece is a 16-pound Farmer’s Choice whole turkey. Around it are three boxes of Chef’s Cupboard stuffing mix, baby peeled carrots, celery, a 12-ounce bag of cranberries and three pounds of sweet potatoes.
The list continues with L’oven Fresh Hawaiian sweet rolls, two bags of Season’s Choice steamable frozen peas, Baker’s Corner pumpkin pie mix, Bake House Creations pie crusts, Friendly Farms whole milk and Friendly Farms heavy whipping cream. A footnote says the price assumes buying the ingredients for a meal for 10 people, so the under-$39 total covers that whole list and not a partial cart.
Anyone planning a table for 10 should shop from that list and not from a looser idea of a holiday meal. Aldi marks the items in stores with a turkey logo, and shoppers who order online can add the full list to a cart in one click.
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Atty McGrath, Aldi’s chief executive, said in the release that “Thanksgiving shouldn’t require a calculator or a coupon strategy.” Scott Patton, the chief commercial officer, said the goal is “to make Thanksgiving shopping simple, affordable and delicious.”
The dates on the turkey, cranberries and pie mix
The Oct. 14 start date does not mean every item was on the shelf that day. Aldi lists the cranberries as available Oct. 26, the Farmer’s Choice turkey as available Nov. 4 and the pumpkin pie mix as available Nov. 11. The price on each of those items stays in effect through Nov. 25.
The rest of the ingredients carry the deal price from Oct. 14 through Nov. 25. With the turkey listed for Nov. 4, anyone shopping today, Nov. 3, may not find the biggest item yet. The pie mix date of Nov. 11 matters for the same reason, since a baker needs it well before Thanksgiving Day.
The offer ends Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. The deal is priced for the 10-person list, and the release describes no smaller or larger version. Aldi gives no price for any other size of meal, so the under-$39 figure applies only to the full list for 10.
Delivery, fees and Walmart’s rival basket
The under-$39 price is available through Aldi’s delivery partners DoorDash, Instacart and Uber Eats, according to the release. Aldi adds that “additional delivery and service fees may still apply,” so the dinner can cost more than $39 once those charges are added.
Aldi is not the only chain pushing a low holiday price. Walmart’s holiday meal basket serves 10 people for $35, which the company puts at $3.50 per person. Walmart says 96% of the items in it are on rollback.
Walmart’s offer comes with its own conditions. The company says free Express Delivery on the basket runs through Nov. 30, 2026, with the code THANKFUL, and that the basket excludes Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin. Each chain built its own shopping list, so the two totals are not a like-for-like comparison of the same food.
On the headline numbers, Walmart’s $35 sits below Aldi’s under-$39 ceiling by as much as $4. Aldi’s release gives no exact total beyond “under $39,” and $39 divided by 10 is $3.90, which is why the company says less than $4 per person. Walmart’s $3.50 per person is the lower of the two figures either way.
How the price compares with the national average
Aldi cites its 2026 ALDI Price Leadership Report and says that over the last five years its shoppers saved an average of 26% on a classic Thanksgiving meal compared with the national average reported by the American Farm Bureau Federation. That is Aldi’s own comparison, drawn from its own report.
The Farm Bureau’s 2026 survey is not out yet. Its Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Survey page says the results will be released Nov. 18, so an independent national figure for this year will arrive about a week before the deal ends.
That timing gives shoppers a way to check the claim. If the Farm Bureau’s 2026 number for a 10-person dinner lands well above $39, the gap will show what Aldi’s basket saves. If it lands close, the saving shrinks, and delivery fees could erase it.
Is a $39 Thanksgiving basket the cheapest way to feed ten?
A holiday meal deal covers one dinner. The larger savings for people 60 and older often come from discounts that stores, transit systems and utilities rarely offer unless a customer asks.
Senior Discounts Worth Asking For lists them, starting with the Senior Pass for national parks and federal lands at 62 and older, and Amtrak and city transit: 10% off most rail fares, half fare on many buses. It also gives the exact words to use when asking, so the question gets a straight answer.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
