Grocery chains vied for a place on Thanksgiving tables with turkey dinner deals and store brands

Walmart, Target, Aldi and other grocers competed for a place on holiday tables with turkey dinner deals and other promotions to tempt Americans who haven’t recovered from recent food price inflation. Walmart, the nation’s largest food retailer, bundled the makings of a traditional turkey feast into a meal deal three years ago. This year, the 29-item offer, which included a frozen turkey and ingredients for side dishes, cost less than $55 (the exact total depends on the region) and was intended to serve eight. That calculates to less than $7 per person. Last year’s two bundles had different items, but Walmart said the total price of this year’s selected products was 3.5% lower than it was a year ago. “Some of the holiday’s most special moments take place around the dinner table,” John Laney, executive vice president of food at Walmart U.S., said in a recent statement. “We are committed to offering customers even deeper savings.” Target’s version for four people cost $20, $5 less than the company’s 2023 Thanksgiving meal, and included a frozen turkey, stuffing mix and canned green beans and canned jellied cranberry sauce. Aldi offers a frozen Butterball turkey with gravy mix as well as pumpkin ingredients for pumpkin pie and ingredients for side dishes like sweet potato casserole. The German-owned supermarket chain priced it at $47 and said that was less than what it charged for the same items in 2019. Comparing the respective menus to determine which represented the best value is difficult since recommended serving sizes and contents vary. But the promotions, introduced earlier than ever and at a time when many households remained put off by higher prices, underscored the importance of Thanksgiving to grocers, analysts said. While consumer perceptions of grocery prices are based on the cost of staples like eggs and milk, “the Thanksgiving meal has become essentially a new benchmark,” Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, a global marketing and communications company. It’s the occasion for the second-largest holiday meal for retailers behind the feasts that accompany the winter holidays. This article was provided by The Associated Press.