Amazon, Walmart Slash Thanksgiving Meal Deals as Holiday Grocery Fight Heats Up

Amazon and Walmart are competing for holiday grocery shoppers with low-priced Thanksgiving ingredient bundles, as households look for ways to keep the cost of a traditional meal down.

Walmart's Holiday Meal Basket is priced at $35 for 10 people, or $3.50 per person. The retailer says the 26-item assortment contains 18% more items than last year's basket and costs 12% less than those same products did a year ago. That comparison applies to the featured ingredients, not to every Thanksgiving grocery bill.

The Walmart basket centers on a Butterball turkey priced at 97 cents per pound, alongside ingredients for stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole and pumpkin pie. Its advertised total assumes a 13.5-pound turkey and an estimated weight of sweet potatoes, so choosing a larger bird can change the checkout price.

Amazon is promoting a $25 ingredient bundle with an 8-pound Butterball frozen turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy mix, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, vegetables, crescent rolls and ingredients for pumpkin pie. Its announcement does not specify a serving count, so the headline totals are not a direct per-person comparison with Walmart's offer.

Amazon says the offer runs through November 26 while supplies last, in the more than 2,300 U.S. cities and towns where its fresh grocery service offers same-day delivery. The company advertises free same-day delivery on orders of $25 or more in those service areas.

Walmart's featured basket prices run through December 24, subject to availability, and exclude Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin. Additional pickup, shipping or delivery fees may apply. Shoppers should check their local assortment and final total rather than assume the advertised basket price covers every order.

The competing offers give families another way to compare the cost of the main holiday ingredients. The useful comparison is what each basket includes, how much food it provides and the final price after any fees, rather than the lowest advertised total alone.