Target $30 Thanksgiving Meal for Six vs. Aldi's Meal for 10

After offering a Thanksgiving meal for four for under $20 last year, Target is going bigger for 2026: a $30 dinner for six, priced from Nov. 8 through Nov. 29. Aldi, meanwhile, says shoppers can feed 10 people a full Thanksgiving meal for under $39 through Nov. 25.

Both deals land as families start pricing out the holiday, and both work out to roughly $5 or less per person before tax.

What is in Target’s $30 meal for six

Target announced the bundle in an Oct. 22, 2026, press release from its Minneapolis headquarters. The $30 price, before tax, covers nine items:

Butterball Premium Whole Young Turkey, up to 10 pounds
Good & Gather Russet Potatoes, 3-pound bag
Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce, 14 ounces
Del Monte French Style Green Beans, two 14.5-ounce cans
Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup, 10.5 ounces
Good & Gather French Fried Onions, 6 ounces
Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Turkey, 6 ounces
Heinz Homestyle Turkey Gravy, 12 ounces
Favorite Day Take & Bake Baguette, two count

The offer runs Nov. 8 through Nov. 29, 2026, and is not valid in Alaska or Hawaii. The green beans, soup and fried onions are the makings of a green bean casserole, a side that was not part of last year’s bundle.

In the release, John Conlin, Target’s senior vice president of merchandising for food and beverage, called Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving “such joyful moments” for the chain’s shoppers.

How it compares with Target’s 2025 deal

Target describes the new meal as keeping last year’s value of $5 per person. In November 2025, the retailer’s meal for four was priced under $20 and included a Good & Gather turkey of up to 10 pounds, a 5-pound bag of potatoes, cranberry sauce, Stove Top stuffing, Heinz gravy, French bread and frozen corn. That pricing took effect Nov. 2, 2025.

This year’s version feeds two more people, swaps in a Butterball turkey with the same 10-pound limit and adds the casserole ingredients, though the potato bag shrinks from 5 pounds to 3. Target also said its own Good & Gather frozen turkey will sell for 79 cents a pound starting in November, the third straight year at that price, and that $5 sides, pies, appetizers and wine are returning for the season.

The holiday lineup also includes more than 10 new Good & Gather frozen appetizers, new Favorite Day pie sizes and flavors, and nearly 60 new food and beverage items in all, along with tablescape accents starting at $5, according to the company.

What Aldi’s under-$39 meal for 10 includes

Aldi’s offer, announced in an Oct. 14, 2026, release from its Batavia, Illinois, headquarters, is built to serve 10 people for under $39, or less than $4 a person. Prices hold through Nov. 25, 2026.

The list includes a whole 16-pound Farmer’s Choice turkey, three boxes of Chef’s Cupboard stuffing mix, baby peeled carrots and celery, a 12-ounce bag of cranberries, 3 pounds of sweet potatoes, L’oven Fresh Hawaiian sweet rolls, two bags of Season’s Choice steamable frozen peas, Baker’s Corner pumpkin pie mix with Bake House Creations pie crusts, and Friendly Farms whole milk and heavy whipping cream. Aldi did not list individual item prices.

“Thanksgiving shouldn’t require a calculator or a coupon strategy,” Aldi CEO Atty McGrath said in the release. Chief Commercial Officer Scott Patton said the company “put together a classic, easy-to-compare feast.”

The national benchmark both stores are chasing

Aldi said it modeled its list on the items in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Survey, and that over the past five years its shoppers saved an average of 26% on that classic meal compared with the federation’s national average. The company also pointed to its own 2026 Price Leadership Report to back up its low-price claims.

The most recent survey results, from November 2025, put the national cost of the 10-person meal at $55.18, or about $5.52 per person, a 5% drop from 2024, according to a summary from the Ohio Farm Bureau. The record high was $64.05 in 2022. Lower wheat prices helped bring down the cost of rolls, stuffing and other flour-based items.

Measured against that 2025 benchmark, Target’s meal comes to $5 a person and Aldi’s to under $3.90, though neither store’s list matches the survey item for item, and the 2026 numbers are not out yet. The federation’s survey page says volunteer shoppers will collect prices from Nov. 1 to 5, with results planned for Nov. 18.

Turkey itself may cost more this year at stores without a fixed promotion. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, in its poultry market outlook updated Oct. 19, 2026, said projected turkey prices were revised higher based on recent price trends, even as turkey production was also revised up.

Picking between the two

The two bundles are built for different tables. Target’s is a smaller, brand-name meal with a casserole kit and bread but no dessert. Aldi’s leans on store brands, includes a 16-pound turkey and pumpkin pie, and is priced for a larger crowd.

For families watching every line of the grocery bill, a look back at how a 1997 grocery receipt compares with today’s prices shows how far food costs have climbed.

Timing matters too. Target’s price does not start until Nov. 8 and runs through the Sunday after Thanksgiving, while Aldi’s price is good only through Nov. 25, the day before the holiday.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: “Our (Almost Traditional) Thanksgiving Dinner” by Ms Jones from California, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons