How to Save Money on Thanksgiving Dinner: 15 Tips for Thanksgiving on a Budget
The fourth Thursday of November is a day for counting your blessings and feasting on turkey with all the trimmings. However, you probably don’t count the cost of that meal as one of your blessings this year.
The price of the ingredients for a traditional holiday dinner continues to rise. In 2021, Americans spent an average of $53.31 for a feast for 10 people, according to last year’s Farm Bureau Thanksgiving price survey. In 2022, the cost had increased by a whopping 20%, reaching an average of just over $64. While inflation has slowed in 2023, the USDA’s Economic Research Department believes that Thanksgiving 2023 will see about a 5% overall increase in at-home food costs. So it’s safe to say that Americans can likely expect some increase in the cost of food again on this year’s Thanksgiving table.
Hosting Thanksgiving on a budget may seem like a daunting prospect with those statistics, but if you’re looking for some creative ways to save money on Thanksgiving dinner, the following ideas are sure to help.
See more: How to Host Thanksgiving: Do’s and Don’ts
1. Look into big deals from stores.
Walmart and Aldi are offering big deals for Thanksgiving this year. Starting Nov. 1, Walmart is offering three different lists of ingredients that will make up an entire Thanksgiving meal. Buy everything together from any one of the lists, and you’ll save a significant amount of money.
Starting the same day, Aldi is offering up to 50% off on more than 70 traditional Thanksgiving foods.
See more: How to Cook a Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey
2. Make a list and stick to it.
Go through your Thanksgiving recipes ahead of time and make a list of all the ingredients you’ll need for Thanksgiving dinner. Buy a few items in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, focusing on the nonperishables first.
Scour grocery store circulars for sales on pantry goods such as canned goods, cubed stuffing bread, spices, flour, sugar and boxed broth. These items tend to go on sale before the holidays, but not necessarily all in the same week. If you shop weekly and strategically, you’ll save money on Thanksgiving that you may not have if you bought everything in one trip.
3. Be aware of misleading shelf prices.
The shelf sticker price of an item such as cranberry sauce in cans may read 2 for $3, making you think that if you buy only one can, it will be more than $1.50. But unless the shelf sticker has a price per individual can that’s higher than $1.50, you should be able to buy just one can for $1.50.
See more: Where Does Your Thanksgiving Dinner Come From?
4. Get tech-savvy.
Many grocery stores have apps you can connect to your customer loyalty card number. Check your store’s app for digital coupons and select the ones on the items you’re buying. The coupons automatically apply when you’re checking out as long as you’ve scanned the app or your loyalty card or input the number associated with your card.
5. Pay attention to free turkey deals.
Some stores offer free turkeys – or lasagnas, hams and Tofurkeys – to help you save money on Thanksgiving if you spend a certain amount in the weeks preceding the holiday. If you need to buy something extra to spend enough to get that free turkey, make it a necessity like toilet paper or dish detergent, which are items you’d spend money on eventually anyway.
See more: Thanksgiving Timing Guide for a No-Stress Feast
6. Wait until the last minute for the main dish.
If you don’t get the free turkey, another way to make Thanksgiving work on a budget is to wait until the week before Thanksgiving to buy the main dish. Most stores discount turkeys the closer it gets to the holiday.
7. Don’t buy a whole turkey.
If you’re cooking for a smaller crowd, buy a turkey breast instead. It may have a higher price per pound, but its smaller size will translate into a smaller price tag.
8. Make as much as you can from scratch.
It’s less expensive to make a pumpkin pie than to buy one from a bakery. Brewing iced tea as a beverage option is also less expensive than jugs of store-bought iced tea. If you can make it cheaper than you can buy it, you’ll save money on Thanksgiving by making it.
9. Share the financial burden.
Ask your guests to bring items like beverages, side dishes or desserts. It’s a good idea to ask them to bring specific dishes so you don’t have two people showing up with green bean casserole when you hoped someone would bring a sweet potato casserole.
See more: 34 Sweet Potato Recipes for Your Fall Table
10. Do your own chopping.
Precut vegetables are convenient, but they cost much more than whole vegetables. It’s tempting to buy chopped onions and celery for your stuffing, but if making Thanksgiving on a budget is your goal, chopping onions and celery instead of buying them precut will help you stay on budget.
11. Go halfsies with a neighbor or friend.
If there’s a good deal on a large quantity of food, such as a large bag of potatoes, but you only need half the bag for your dinner, find a neighbor or friend who is also cooking Thanksgiving dinner. They may be happy to split both the bag and the cost with you.
12. Save on next week’s groceries with leftovers.
If you spent extra Thanksgiving week, use Thanksgiving leftovers to make budget-friendly foods – like a Turkey Hash or a Homestyle Turkey Pot Pie Soup that you can make with leftover turkey, vegetables and refrigerator pie crust the following week.
See more: 9 Perfect Pie Recipes for Your Thanksgiving Feast
13. Be smart with alcoholic beverage choices.
If cocktails are part of your festivities, offer one signature cocktail made with inexpensive mixers. If you want sparkling wine with dinner, opt for less inexpensive prosecco instead of Champagne. You can also save money on beer by buying a case of one type of beer instead of several six-packs of various kinds.
14. Borrow durable items.
If you need special cookware, a few extra chairs or special serving pieces, borrow them. Ask family, friends or the local Facebook Buy Nothing group if you can borrow what you need instead of buying it.
See more: Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?
15. Don’t buy containers for leftovers.
If you plan on sending guests home with leftovers, ask them to bring empty containers to dinner with them. Or thoroughly wash and save containers with lids from products such as sour cream to use for to-go containers.
With careful planning and asking friends and family for help, it’s easy to save money on Thanksgiving dinner – and that’s something we can all be grateful for this year.