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Thanksgiving meal for 4 under $30

Posted on November 20th, 2008 – 6:05 PM
By John Ewoldt

Food prices may be higher than anyone can remember, but Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t have to be an expensive meal. The good news is that the entree costs less than $1 per pound. That’s right, anyone should be able to buy a frozen turkey for 99 cents a pound or less. The best deals I’ve seen are at Aldi and Rainbow. Aldi’s turkey price is 99 cents per pound and Rainbow’s is 58 cents with a coupon and a $25 purchase. SuperTarget’s Market Pantry turkey is 78 cents on sale through Saturday.

If you’re really watching the pennies, Aldi is the place to go. You can get a 14 lb. turkey for $13.86, stuffing (6 oz.) 79 cents, gravy (12 oz.) $1.19, dried cranberries (6 oz.) $1.19, fresh dinner rolls (12 ct.) $1.69, frozen green beans (16 oz.) $1.39, cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz.) 49 cents, French fried onions (6 oz.) $1.99, sweet potatoes (15 oz.) 69 cents, deep dish pie (42 oz., apple, peach or berry) $4.49, and whipped topping (8 oz.) 69 cents.  

The prices above are all private label brands except for the Butterball turkey, but let’s get real. Private labels are much, much better than they used to be and in my experience, often exceed the quality of the name brands. And you can save 30 percent on store brands compared to name brands.

 That’s my bargain tip for this Thanksgiving meal. Start by paying less than $1 per pound for your frozen turkey (Cub and Rainbow will both match a competitor’s ad if you bring it in) and then buy all private labels (unless the name brand is cheaper on sale with or w/o a coupon). Based on my past price comparisons, Aldi will probably be the overall low price leader, followed by Wal-Mart SuperCenter, SuperTarget, Cub and Rainbow. 

If you’re going organic, I’d do one-stop shopping at Trader Joe’s. Runner up: Whole Foods 365 brand.

Send me a note if you think I’m off-base here, but this is a time AND money saver. By the way, Aldi even takes care of holiday recipes with the above ingredients at www.aldi.us. Final point: save your receipt if you’re worried about private label quality. Save the container and demand a refund if the pie or dinner rolls tasted like tofu.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

12 Responses to "Thanksgiving meal for 4 under $30"

JPKK says:

November 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am

It’s too bad we don’t have a Kroger brand store in the Twin Cities. They offer the best selection of private label brands with 3 tiers an equal price higher quality, slight lower priced equal qaulity and the dirt cheap lower quality tier.

howdoodie says:

November 21st, 2008 at 11:30 am

Do they really pay you to write this crap? Good God. Don’t you think anyone interested in saving a buck already knows that turkeys are on sale?

Julie says:

November 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm

A real feat would be feeding 30 people for under $30. That’s how many people are coming to my house for Turkey Day.

Rebecca says:

November 21st, 2008 at 12:29 pm

Is Aldi’s really a high quality place to go? I went in there once, the one in Minnetonka, and it just looked dirty to me. I live in the north metro now and pass by the Aldi’s on Hwy 65 in Blaine… but never have stopped in. Are the prices that much cheaper?

I also heard that you have to pay to use a shopping cart, and you have to bring your own bags? I guess I should check them out sometime, but I hate grocery shopping… I try for quality food and organic as often as I can afford it… so I don’t want to scrimp on quality…

Jim says:

November 21st, 2008 at 12:52 pm

You don’t pay to use a grocery cart. You stick a quarter to release a cart and get the quarter back when you lock the cart up again.

You are free to use your own bags or you can pay for them at 10 cents a piece. Don’t get outraged by this, its a good deal for you and the environment. These costs are usually born by everyone, included in your purchases at other stores.

Even if you buy the bags, as I usually end up doing, you’re saving so much on the rest of your purchase that it’s really no big deal.

John Ewoldt says:

November 21st, 2008 at 1:16 pm

Rebecca, I’ve shopped Aldi almost since they came to the TC several years ago. Like any chain, some locations look cleaner than others. The prices are definitely lower compared to store brands’ prices at other supermarkets. Aldi is so price competitive that they prefer to locate near Wal-Marts. What other retailer can you say that about?

And Jim is right about the cart/bag situation.

Kate says:

November 21st, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Rebecca, I find Aldi to be very worthwhile for some of my shopping. You probably can’t get everything on your grocery list there (I certainly can’t), and the selection is very limited. I find the best strategy is to hit Aldi first, buy what I can (and save a ton of money) and then get the rest at Cub. I use the Mounds View location on Highway 10, and it has never been dirty when I’ve gone there. Can’t say about the Blaine one.

Incidentally, my local Cub has stopped carrying bran flakes, and my local Super Target doesn’t seem to have them either, so I get them Aldi (at a lot less than they used to cost me at Cub, when they had them!).

linda says:

November 21st, 2008 at 2:49 pm

I paid 57 cents a pound for turkey at Cub last night. That’s $9.12 for 16 pounds. Cub is also giving “holiday bucks,” coupons for cash to be spent during the holiday season, AND the usual gas coupons.

And I always take my own bags. It doesn’t kill you to do this. Honest.

Kris says:

November 21st, 2008 at 2:56 pm

There’s an Aldi’s somewhat near me, but I’ve never been. I was going to check it out a couple of weekends ago, but noticed in their ad that they don’t take checks or credit cards. Only cash and some debit cards. Well, I didn’t have any cash on me at the time and I don’t have a debit card. I realize this is done to save money - which is fine - but it’s not going to become my standard shopping place with those restrictions in place. Just something to be aware of before you visit the store. I do know quite a few people who like the store and have had very good luck with their products, so I guess I’ll make it there someday!

nancy says:

November 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pm

While this meal may be cheap, other than the frozen green beans and the turkey, nothing is fresh, most things are canned and high sodium. Frozen fake whipped cream, canned onion rings and mushroom soup, a pre-made pie (check the fat content), canned gravy (?) when you could make your own with the drippings from the turkey and some broth. Sadly, these are not healthy food choices, which is a reason why so many low income folks suffer from obesity and health problems. Cooking from scratch with fresh food doesn’t have to be expensive - it just requires some education in nutrition.

DrDon says:

November 21st, 2008 at 4:41 pm

I can do Thanksgiving Dinner for less than $20….A frozen lazagna 96 oz, a salad, cheese/onion/garlic bread, and a cheap bottle of wine. And I will serve 4 with this menu.

Guests will bring the pumpkin pie with Cool Whip.

Maplegrover says:

November 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Mmmm…nothing says Thanksgiving like boxed stuffing, a pack of gravy mix, canned sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole! Just like the lunchlady used to make.

Doesn’t anyone care about cooking anymore? How about this, John, buy fresh sweet potatoes for less than $1 a pound instead of canned; fresh asparagus for $2.00 a bunch instead of the horrible casserole; get some day old bread, a stock of celery, onions and some sausage to make some homemade dressing (will 6 oz of stuffing in your box actually serve 4 people? Well, maybe becuase it will taste like dirt); grab some flour that you probably already have in the pantry to make some real gravy out of the pan drippings; and a bag of apples to make a homemade pie for dessert (I’d even let a frozen pie crust slide in place of making it from scratch).

Buying fresh and actually cooking something does not have to mean spending more money, but it certainly means more taste. I guarantee I could make a Thanksgiving meal at roughly the same cost as your budget option and it would actually taste like someone cared about the people they were serving.

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