Overview
- Walmart is advertising a sub-$40 meal meant to feed 10, compared with about $56 to feed eight in 2024, a headline drop driven by a different mix of items and greater use of store brands.
- Reuters reports Walmart trimmed or swapped ingredients such as onions, celery and broth, leaned more on private-label goods, and switched to a Butterball turkey priced around 96 cents per pound.
- President Donald Trump and the White House highlighted a roughly 25% year-over-year decline using Walmart’s promo, but Associated Press and Lead Stories say the claim is misleading because the baskets are not comparable.
- Wells Fargo estimates a standard 10-person Thanksgiving grocery basket will cost about 2% to 3% less than last year, with item-level declines including turkeys, frozen vegetables, dinner rolls, stuffing, gravy and fresh cranberries.
- Purdue University notes wholesale turkey prices have jumped sharply since last year, yet retailers with advance contracts can still run low-priced promotions, and competitors such as Aldi and Target are also pitching meal deals near $40 for ten and under $20 for four.