The holidays are upon us, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Thanksgiving may be the holiday that most clearly centers around food. No gifts, costumes, or fireworks distract from the feast. As you gear up for the holiday, we put together a comprehensive guide for your Thanksgiving dinner. Get your questions answered for selecting the right turkey, find the best deals on Thanksgiving dishes, and try out these classic and creative Thanksgiving recipes.
What Turkey Should I Buy?
Most Thanksgiving dinners center around turkey. Stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce, common staples of the holiday menu, earn their place on the table because of turkey. Many even refer to Thanksgiving as Turkey Day. The USDA estimates people across the United States eat over 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving. As you head out to pick up this necessary item, we have a few tips for you.
Choosing a Turkey
From the size to the healthiest option, choosing a turkey can be challenging. Whether you are a seasoned turkey roaster or attempting your first turkey cookout, use these guidelines to help you select the perfect bird.
Types of Turkey
Fresh Turkeys
Most turkeys are sold frozen. The best place to find a fresh turkey is at your local co-op or ordering one directly from a turkey farm. A fresh turkey is one that has never been stored in a temperature lower than 26° F while a frozen turkey has been stored in a temperature lower than 0° F. The USDA recommends buying a fresh turkey only if you plan to prepare it in the next 1 to 2 days.
Organic Turkeys
A turkey that has a USDA “Certified Organic” label meets all the USDA’s requirements. The USDA looks at how the birds are raised, including both their environment and their food being free from antibiotics, antifungals, herbicides, and synthetic chemicals.
What Does Free-Range Mean?
This term can mean different things but guarantees that turkeys can be outdoors during the growing cycle. This could be a very small area by the main barn or an open pasture depending on the farm. Looking for third-party certification or contacting the farm for more details on living conditions will give you the information you need to make an ethical decision.
What Does Cage-Free Mean?
According to the National Turkey Federation, a national advocate for the U.S. turkey industry, all American turkeys are cage-free. Since turkeys are not raised in cages, this label can be ignored.
What Does Pasture-Raised Mean?
This label is not regulated by the USDA, but instead documentation for this label is strongly encouraged, not required. Third-party organizations do monitor farms and hold them to standards with specific requirements on space per bird and what pasture means. You will need to do your own research to find which turkeys actually spend their lives in pastures.
Hormone-Free
Federal regulations do not allow hormones or steroids for poultry. This label can be ignored. All turkeys are hormone-free.
What Does Kosher Mean?
If a turkey is labeled kosher this means the meat has been processed according to kosher practices and under rabbinical supervision. All kosher meat is processed with kosher salt.
Natural Turkeys
As you peruse the options for turkeys, you will see many labeled “natural.” This means that the turkey has no artificial ingredients and usually means it has been minimally processed. It may still have a salt solution injected into it, however. Check the ingredients label.
Basted or Self-Basted
This means that the turkey has been injected or marinated with a baste or brine solution to cut down on prep time and to ensure a juicy, tender Thanksgiving centerpiece. The ingredients label will list what the brine or baste includes and how much has been injected into the bird.
Finding the Best Thanksgiving Dinner Deals
Both Aldi and Walmart put out a Thanksgiving dinner guide that lets shoppers feed 10 people for $40 dollars or under. Find out which stores have the best deals and where to shop for your Thanksgiving recipes.
Turkey
At Aldi, you can buy a Jenni-O frozen premium turkey for just $0.77 a pound. However, Walmart offers an all-natural Butterball turkey for $0.97 a pound. In a meal that is already full of carbs, we’d recommend choosing a turkey that leaves out the phosphates and sugar. It’s worth the extra 20 cents a pound to eat a little healthier. Choose Walmart.
Cranberries
For this choice, you will need to consider how much work you would like to put into Thanksgiving dinner. Either way you cut it, Aldi is the choice. Aldi has canned cranberry sauce for $1.72, and fresh cranberries for $0.99 for 12 ounces, 43 cents less than Walmart. If you are looking for a cranberry sauce recipe, take a look at our favorites.
Mashed Potatoes
When it comes to potatoes, the size of your feast may influence where you shop. You can buy a 5-lb bag of russet potatoes for $1.99 at Walmart. On the other hand, Aldi is selling a 10-lb bag of russet potatoes for $3.25, a cheaper price per pound. Check out our collection of mashed potato recipes here.
Green Beans
Whether you are choosing the convenience of canned or frozen green beans or cooking them yourself, Walmart is the place to shop. Their canned green beans cost the same as Aldi’s, but both their frozen and fresh green beans are cheaper. If you do decide to taste the difference of freshly prepared green beans, try out this recipe for healthier green beans.
Corn
While it looks very different on Thanksgiving tables across the country, corn makes its way onto most holiday menus. Walmart and Aldi’s prices are very comparable, but Walmart takes the win in this category. You can buy a can of sweet whole-kernel corn for $0.50, rather than $0.55 at Aldi. If you need a corn recipe, you can find several here.
Stuffing
Whether you actually stuff your turkey or cook this dish separately, stuffing is a Thanksgiving regular. Many people use stuffing kits rather than preparing this dish from scratch. Aldi’s chicken or cornbread stuffing mix is much cheaper than Walmart’s turkey stuffing mix. You will need to decide if the Stove Top name brand at Walmart is worth paying two extra dollars. Or you can make the stuffing yourself, using one of these recipes.
Pumpkin Pie
Both Aldi and Walmart include ingredients for pumpkin pie in their Thanksgiving feasts. If you are picking up ingredients to make a pumpkin pie, Aldi is the place to go. Every ingredient is cheaper at Aldi than Walmart, except for the pie crusts. Looking for a pumpkin pie recipe, check this one out.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving feast!
References:
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/guidelines/2024-0006
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/guidelines/2024-0001
https://www.walmart.com/i/shoppable-lists/Thanksgiving-value-meal/929
https://www.aldi.us/products/thanksgiving/feast-for-10/k/259
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