Price Check: With turkey prices up, how much will Thanksgiving cost this year?

It’s time to start preparing for a Thanksgiving feast.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, turkey accounts for 44 percent of the cost of a 10-person Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey prices are up 40 percent this year due to the highly contagious bird flu that has infected flocks in the upper Midwest.

The AFBF predicts how much a 10-person Thanksgiving meal will cost every year. In 2024, the survey found it cost approximately $58.08.

To determine whether 2025 prices are up due to rising turkey prices, the Star-Telegram followed AFBF’s 12-item Thanksgiving feast grocery list. This includes the ingredients for a 16-pound turkey, stuffing, a few sides and some pumpkin pie.

We found the cheapest option for a Thanksgiving feast cost $33.93, which is approximately 41 percent cheaper than AFBF’s 2024 prices.

Based on our research, let’s take a look at the numbers in depth. Here’s where to get the cheapest Thanksgiving meal items in Fort Worth.

Methodology

To gather the data, our team shopped for AFBF’s annual Thanksgiving feast for a 10-person grocery list.

Here’s the list:

• A 16-pound turkey
• 12 ounces of fresh cranberries
• Three pounds of sweet potatoes
• One pound of carrots
• One pound of celery
• One pound of bagged green beans 
• Two 9-inch frozen pie shells
• 14 ounces of cubed boxed stuffing (any flavor)
• One dozen Hawaiian dinner rolls
• 30 ounces of canned pumpkin pie mix
• One gallon of whole milk
• One pint of heavy whipping cream

At all seven stores, we looked at the cheapest brands — this usually ended up being the store’s generic brand. Of course, to make all the data consistent, we compared items that were the same value in weight (and if not, we calculated the price by weight to make all data consistent).

However, there are a few specifics you should know.

• No sale, clearance or membership items were noted. We only used the standard price to ensure a fair estimate across all brands.
• Every store carried a Butterball Turkey, so that’s the brand we checked to stay consistent. Note that store brand turkeys may be a tad cheaper. 
• Every store carried six-ounce packages of stuffing. To stay consistent with the AFBF measurements, we calculated the weight for customers to buy 14 ounces’ worth. 
• Target was the only store that didn’t have full amount of carrots. Instead, the price is marked for a pound of baby carrots. 
• Tom Thumb’s generic brand is labeled as “Signature” or “Lucerne” for dairy products. 
• Aldi’s cheapest brand is commonly “Friendly Farms” or “Simply Nature.” 
• H-E-B’s generic brand is “H-E-B,” but its cheapest option is sometimes “Hill Country Fare.” 
• Target generic brands can be found under “Good & Gather” or “Favorite Day” for dairy products. 
• Walmart’s generic brand is “Great Value.”
• Kroger generic brand is “Kroger”; another discount brand the store carries is “Smart Save.”

Lastly, it’s important to know which Fort Worth locations we shopped at.

• Aldi: 8977 Tehama Ridge Parkway
• H-E-B: 3451 Heritage Trace Parkway
• Kroger: 3300 Texas Sage Trail
• Target: 301 Carroll St.
• Tom Thumb: 3100 S Hulen St.
• Walmart: 6300 Oakmont Blvd.
• Winco: 8968 Tehama Ridge Parkway

Where to shop for the cheapest Thanksgiving feast ingredients

Note: This is not a scientific study, but it is a real reflection of items’ prices at various stores in Fort Worth during the week of Nov. 3, 2025.

Out of the seven stores we shopped at, we found that Aldi is the best option. Since some stores did not carry all 12 items, we based our overall ranking on the total basket price for items that every store carried. Aldi did not carry canned pumpkin pie mix and Target did not have fresh cranberries on the days we shopped, so the prices below are for a normalized list of 10 ingredients that all stores carried.

Ranking the seven options from least expensive to most expensive, we found:

• Aldi: $32.94
• Walmart: $37.64
• WinCo: $39.81
• H-E-B: $43.66
• Kroger: $45.50
• Target: $49.00
• Tom Thumb: $60.92

Key takeaways for Thanksgiving shopping in Fort Worth

Some data analysis in this story was conducted using AI. For more information on how the Star-Telegram and McClatchy newsrooms are using AI, go here.

Key takeaways from the data analysis show:

• The best place to get the cheapest 16-pound turkey is Aldi, which carried Butterball turkeys for $0.96 per pound.
• Aldi also had the lowest prices for stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, pie shells, celery, green beans and fresh cranberries.
• WinCo and Aldi tied for their prices on whole milk and whipping cream.
• Walmart had the best prices for a pound of carrots.
• Target had the best prices for canned pumpkin pie mix.
• Aldi is the best one-stop-shop option, but WinCo and Walmart also offer competitive prices.

Ella Gonzales

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Ella Gonzales is a service journalism reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She is part of a team of local journalists who answer reader questions and write about life in North Texas. Ella mainly writes about local restaurants and where to find good deals around town.