Are you planning on doing your shopping at ALDI this Thanksgiving? Want to create a full Thanksgiving feast (with leftovers) for under $50? If you answered yes to either of those questions, follow along and see how you can create a tasty, cheap Thanksgiving dinner from ingredients found at ALDI. Get the prices on all the turkeys.
UPDATED for 2024
🛒What You'll Find In This Post
In this post I am going to show you how to shop for your entire Thanksgiving meal at ALDI.
Before we get into individual prices, let me list some of the classic Thanksgiving dishes. I will then show you how to shop all you need for these dishes at ALDI.
- Turkey
- Mashed Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Squash
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Gravy
- Pumpkin Pie or Apple Pie
- Cranberry Sauce
- Stuffing/Dressing
That is your basic Thanksgiving menu without being ultra fancy.
I am going to list what I would buy for my family of 6. It will be enough to have leftovers. I include ingredients you need to buy such as milk for mashed potatoes. Keep in mind I would have leftovers of the milk as well as the other ingredients.
Jump to:
- 🛒What You'll Find In This Post
- 🦃 What is the Price of a Turkey?
- 🥔 Mashed Potatoes
- 🍠 Sweet Potatoes
- 🌰 Squash
- 🥬 Brussels Sprouts
- 🥣 Gravy
- 🥖 Stuffing/Dressing
- 🔴 Cranberry Sauce
- 🎃 Pumpkin Pie
- The Final Cost - $50.05
- ➕ Extras
- 🧂 Peppercorn/Salt grinders
- 🥜 Peanut Oil for Frying a Turkey
- 🥧 Other Pie Options
- 🍽️ What to Make with Leftovers
🦃 What is the Price of a Turkey?
Here is what a turkey will cost you at ALDI:
Butterball Frozen Turkey | $1.07/lb |
Honeysuckle White Frozen Turkey | $1.29/lb |
Honeysuckle White Fresh Turkey | $1.69/lb |
Butterball Smoked Turkey | $2.29/lb |
Simply Nature Organic Whole Turkey | $3.29/lb |
Here is the breakdown for a 14-pound turkey, the size I like to get:
Butterball Frozen Turkey | $14.98 | |
Simple Nature Organic Whole Turkey | $46.06 | +$31.08 |
My favorite way to cook a turkey is to do a Dry Brine Spatchcock Turkey. It makes for less stress on turkey day as you prepare before hand and it cooks really fast. You just need to make sure you pick up your turkey on Saturday at the latest, so you can do my quick thaw turkey method. Then on Sunday you would butterfly the turkey and season it with a dry rub.
🥔 Mashed Potatoes
Here is a list of prices on potatoes to buy for mashed potatoes
Red potatoes | $3.65 for 5 lbs |
Yellow potatoes | $3.85 for 5 lbs |
Russet potatoes | $3.29 for 10 lbs |
Medley potatoes | $3.29 for 24oz bag |
Russet potatoes are always going to be the best value. You can make great mashed potatoes with them such as my 🍽️ No Peeling Necessary Baked Mashed Potatoes or save the oven space and try either my 🍽️ Air Fryer Mashed Potatoes or 🍽️ Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes.
Besides the potatoes, for basic mashed potatoes you will need some butter ($4.39 for 4 sticks) and milk ($3.05 for gallon of whole milk). I miss the days of getting butter at ALDI for $2, which was the price when I first published this guide.
💲 Cost for my family: $10.73 (You will have tons of milk and most of the butter leftover, you need more butter if you want to make a homemade pie crust).
🍠 Sweet Potatoes
Your basic sweet potatoes are going for $1.95 for a 3 pound bag. There are many different varieties of sweet potatoes but I have only seen 1 type at ALDI stores.
💲 Cost for my family: $1.95
We posted have a recipe on the blog for 🍽️ sous vide sweet potato recipe. Or you could learn how to do them in your 🍽️ slow cooker. Or even mix them in with your mashed potatoes to make 🍽️ gold & orange swirled potatoes.
🌰 Squash
Acorn or butternut squash were going for 99 cents a pound.
Curious which to get? Check out my post on the differences between acorn and butternut squash.
As for how I would cook the squash, I like to combine them with sweet potatoes and do a sauté, 🍽️ like I did with this Sweet Potato & Squash hash. I prefer butternut squash over acorn, so that's what I am picking for my family. I am figuring on a 2 pound butternut squash
💲 Cost for my family: $1.98
🥬 Brussels Sprouts
You have to have at least one green veggie to add to the meal, right? While a lot of people do green bean casserole, we opt an easier, lighter option. This time of year is when Brussels sprouts are at their peak of flavor. You can slice them in half and throw them in the oven when the turkey comes out and they can cook while the turkey is resting and being carved.
💲 Cost for my family: $2.19 for 1 lb bag
🥣 Gravy
I like to make gravy using a roux. I combine chicken stock ($1.65 for 32 ounces), flour, and butter. The butter we already picked up and used for the mashed potatoes. You will need a stick here for 4 cups of gravy.
You also can forgo the stock and save money by making your own homemade stock with the neck and giblet that come with the turkey. You can make a 🍽️ giblet stock overnight using a slow cooker.
The all-purpose flour I will use to thicken the gravy as well as to make the crust of my pie is $1.99 for a 5 pound bag.
💲 Cost for my family: $1.99 for the flour for the gravy and pie. I save money by using my own homemade stock.
🥖 Stuffing/Dressing
I never stuff my bird. It slows down the cooking for the turkey, which can lead to dry meat. That doesn't mean I don't serve stuffing (or as it is called outside the bird, dressing).
I believe dressing should be a kind of a kitchen sink deal, where you throw whatever you have on hand. Dried cranberries, apples, carrots, celery, etc. Anything I need to use up in the fridge could be fair game.
Also add dried herbs you might have in your pantry. I usually clip some fresh sage from my herb garden to add to my stuffing (and the gravy as well). Let's say you don't have any, so I will add sage to the shopping list. It costs $1.19 for a container of dried.
I am love a sausage stuffing. Pick up ground Italian sausage from ALDI for $2.79. In case you don't have any leftover veggies to toss in, let's get a bag of celery as well for $.95.
🍽️ Get our ALDI Inspired Stuffing Recipe
For the bread, the cheapest option was a baguette selling for $1.89. I would think an Italian loaf of bread would be better. It's more money at $4.39. For now, let's added the baguette to our shopping list. .
We already have the stock from the gravy that you will need for the dressing.
💲 Cost for my family: $6.82 for the sausage, celery, baguette, and sage
🔴 Cranberry Sauce
One of my favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the cranberries. There is a reason why I have 5 different cranberry sauce recipes on the blog. The simplest is my 🍽️Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce.
Just for the basic sauce, you will need a bag of cranberries ($.99), sugar, and water from your faucet. The sugar I recommend is Morena Pure Cane Sugar. It is less processed than normal table sugar.
But for the sake of keeping costs down let's go with the regular sugar. I will use the sugar for my pie as well. The cost is $2.99 for 4 lbs.
💲 Cost for my family: $3.98 for all the ingredients
🎃 Pumpkin Pie
The final piece of the meal has to be the pumpkin pie. I either use 🍽️ Alton Brown's Pumpkin Pie recipe or my 🍽️ Sous Vide Pumpkin Pie recipe.
I am someone who opts for fresh pumpkin every time. But if you are doing all your shopping at ALDI that isn't an option. The second best choice would be to get organic canned pumpkin which costs $1.15 for a 15oz can. You also could use a butternut squash, I know it sounds weird but pumpkin is really a squash too.
You will also need to buy some eggs but you don't need the whole dozen for the pie. The price of eggs at my local ALDI was $3.19
I like to make a homemade crust. It's not too difficult and cheaper than buying a pre-made crust, much tastier too. You already have the flour and the butter.
You have to add some spice to that pie. Cinnamon is going for $1.09 for a container. ALDI does not have a big selection of spices. I would also get some ginger and/or nutmeg to go with the pie, but if you just had cinnamon or just ginger you would still be fine.
💲 Cost for my family: $5.43 for canned pumpkin, eggs and spices
The Final Cost - $50.05
This year we are a nickel over the $50 mark. In some areas the eggs and milk may be different prices that could make it slightly more or slightly less. When I first published this post it was under $40 but that's not doable anymore without cutting out dishes.
Still for right around $50 you are getting a full Thanksgiving meal that would feed a family of 6 and have full leftovers for the next day and some leftovers for the following day. As you won't use up all the flour, milk, eggs, etc that you buy for the meal.
➕ Extras
Here are a few extra items you could add to the meal if you like.
🧂 Peppercorn/Salt grinders
Nice addition to have on the table for your guests would be a some fresh pepper and salt ($2.59 for a grinder). Freshly cracked pepper is a thing of beauty. It's always nice to have a little extra salt. Pick from either sea salt or the beautiful pink Himalayan salt.
🥜 Peanut Oil for Frying a Turkey
In case you want to deep fry your turkey you can get peanut oil at ALDI for $14.99 for 128 fl oz.. It's a special seasonal item. That is a pretty good price too for that much peanut oil.
🥧 Other Pie Options
If your not in the mood or like pumpkin pie, here are some other options to make pie fillings with:
Frozen blueberries | $3.95 for 24oz |
Frozen medley berries | $7.69 for 32oz |
Granny smith apples | $3.85 for 3 lbs |
Honeycrisp apples | $2.99/lb for 2 lbs |
If you don't want to make a pie, you can make fried apples like that ones you get at Cracker Barrel. You just need to add brown sugar to your list along with the apples. You already have the butter on the list.
🍽️ What to Make with Leftovers
Don't waste any of those leftovers, here are few things you can make with them:
- BBQ Cranberry Turkey Sliders | Uses leftover turkey, celery, and cranberry sauce
- Mini Turkey Shepherd's Pies | Uses leftover turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes
These recipes just use the leftover turkey to make completely new meals. They can be made with regular turkey or smoked turkey:
Do you plan to do your Thanksgiving shopping at ALDI? What did you or will you buy? Or did we miss something on this list? Leave a comment below.
Cindy
We shop at Aldi as much as we can. We usually buy a lot of items we know we will eat and spend anywhere from $100-150.00 dollars but then we have a long time before we need to go again. The closest one to us is 55 miles and it has been closed for remodeling. It is now open and we plan to shop next week. Strategicly trying to avoid the crowds that we knew the opening would bring. Can't wait as we are out of a good deal of items. Some needed for Turkey Day Will buy stock, pumpkin, vegetables Sprouts for sure., carrots, cabbage, apples, among other things. LOVE Aldi stores
Eric Samuelson
Thanks Cindy for sharing. It's kind of out of the way for me to go so don't end up there every often. We got a lot of grocery options here in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Kelly Vermilion
Aldi has great frozen, pre-made, roll-out pie crust, too! It's located it in the dairy section.
(I think it tastes better than Pillsbury's)
Eric Samuelson
Kelly, thanks for the tidbit. I prefer to make my own crust, but for those that don't or can't then that would be an option.
Bobie ball
I make Waldorf salad and onion wraps to cost
c.t .clunan
After thanksgiving I purchased a 48oz Kirkwood turkey breast and was very disappointed. This was a first for me. Followed directions and used meat thermometer and turkey was dry. Expiration date says 10/02/2019. PF SP #12829022000 0300. Very dissatisfied
Eric Samuelson
Sorry to hear that. I have never actually bought that turkey breast, I almost always but a whole turkey. I was just listing it on the post in case someone was curious.
What temperature did you cook it to?