With Thanksgiving right around the corner, many are doing last-minute shopping for ingredients to prepare the meals that will adorn their tables for family and friends.
Of course, shopping, thanks to grocery inflation, may be quite expensive this year, especially considering many households struggle to afford just their basics.
If you’re struggling to afford a turkey with all the trimmings this year, Rebecca Chobat, the woman behind the internet account Dollar Tree Dinners, shared how she scored an entire Thanksgiving feast for just $20. Chobat showed viewers that you don’t have to break the bank when it comes to holiday cooking, and it can still be delicious and nutritious.
A woman used only $20 to buy an entire Thanksgiving dinner from Dollar Tree.
“I’ve got a $20 budget to make a Thanksgiving dinner using ingredients from Dollar Tree, and I’m happy to say that not only have I already made Dollar Tree Thanksgiving dinner, I do think it was the best Thanksgiving dinner that I ever made,” Chobat proudly stated in her TikTok video.
The woman detailed her entire Thanksgiving menu, which could easily be replicated.
According to Chobat, Dollar Tree, contrary to popular belief, carries a good amount of Thanksgiving-related foods in their stores, including canned turkey for people who either can’t afford to buy a whole one or don’t have the energy to cook it.
On the menu, Chobat was preparing Mac & Cheese croquettes, “Best of Thanksgiving” casserole, and caramel apple cookie bars, which are recipes that had previously gone viral on her page.
“A few extra optional things I recommend buying [are] a baking tray for $1.25, a block of cheddar cheese to add to the mac and cheese, and an extra sugar cookie mix. This would still put you under $25,” Chobat said.
In total, she ended up spending exactly $20 on an extravagant meal with ingredients that no one would have guessed came from Dollar Tree.
Compared to previous years, the cost of Thanksgiving meals dropped significantly.
The costs of this year’s Thanksgiving feast — estimated at $58.08 for a 10-person gathering, or $5.81 a head — dropped an estimated 5% since last year, the lowest level since 2021, according to a nationwide survey of grocery prices by the American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents millions of U.S. farmers.
“If your dollar had the same overall purchasing power as a consumer in 1984 … this would be the least expensive Thanksgiving meal in the 39-year history of the AFBF Thanksgiving survey, other than the outlier of 2020,” the authors of the survey wrote.
However, there are still plenty of households in this country who may not feel that way.
According to a report from USDA, 13.5% of U.S. households struggled with food insecurity at least sometime during the year 2023, a significant rise from 12.8% in 2022 and an even larger jump from 10.2% in 2021. Despite the cost of Thanksgiving meals this year being significantly lower, many store chains, including Walmart and Target, have rolled out Thanksgiving deals.
For example, Target has offered customers a $20 Thanksgiving meal for four, which includes a small turkey, canned vegetables, and stovetop stuffing mix. Aldi has a $47 meal package for 10 people, which it’s advertising as lower than its 2019 prices. Walmart is promoting an “inflation-free Thanksgiving” meal of 29 items that can serve eight people for $56. Amazon Fresh is offering Thanksgiving discounts on turkey, sides, and desserts, feeding six people for less than $5 apiece, plus extra savings for Prime members.
When it comes to providing a table full of delicious meals, you truly don’t have to spend more than $50.
Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t jeuje it up and add your own spin to it, and it doesn’t mean the meal will be any less tasty just because you haven’t splurged on the ingredients.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
