My husband and I spent our first Thanksgiving as newlyweds eating turkey plates at a Denny’s in Niagara Falls — a hard lesson in what happens when you honeymoon somewhere that largely shuts down for the holiday.
Since then, I’ve mostly been a guest at other people’s tables, contributing a side or two but never taking on the full spread. This year, with no Thanksgiving travel plans and only a small family gathering on the calendar, that finally changed.
With the rising cost of groceries and a small guest list, I struggled to decide on a perfect menu until I came across Walmart’s Thanksgiving dinner, which is supposed to feed 10 people for just $40.
I set out to test the deal, and although the value and convenience were undeniable, I also came up with a few ways to upgrade my meal.
I used Walmart’s app to order my haul with just a few taps.
Walmart’s 2025 Thanksgiving meal comes with 15 items, including store-brand, Great Value products like three boxes of mac and cheese, three cans of corn, brown gravy mix, and pie crusts.
Ingredients from other brands are included, too, like Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup and Stove Top stuffing mix.
Using the store’s app, I was able to automatically load everything included in the $4-a-person deal into my cart. From there, I could adjust quantities as needed.
The only thing I changed was the amount of corn — I’m not a huge fan, and I couldn’t imagine what I’d do with three full cans of it.
Every item in the meal was in stock at my local store and ready for pickup within a few hours. The entire haul cost me just under $43, including tax.
Some recipes were straightforward, but I bought a few extra ingredients to make the turkey and cranberries.
I picked up all 15 ingredients that evening.
Notably, Walmart’s list doesn’t include certain essential cooking basics and pantry staples I ended up using — namely, sugar, milk, butter, eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Thankfully, I already had these in my kitchen. If you don’t have them on hand, though, I’d suggest adding them to your cart so you can make the full meal, including the pumpkin pie.
Later on, I also bought a few extra items to flavor the turkey with, including cooking wine, sage, and parsley — plus oranges to use when cooking my cranberries.
Altogether, I spent an extra $10 on these additions, but I had a feeling the splurge would pay off in terms of flavor.
Several dishes on the list were pretty self-explanatory.
The stuffing, gravy, dinner rolls, and mac and cheese were the easiest parts of the meal, and didn’t necessitate any ingredients beyond butter.
I appreciated how effortless it was to prepare the Great Value gravy and Stove Top stuffing. Both of these came together in minutes and shaved a huge chunk of prep time off my usual family recipes.
Mac and cheese isn’t something we normally serve at Thanksgiving, but this Great Value version was fast and easy to cook.
My haul came with everything I needed to make green-bean casserole.
I was excited to realize I had everything I needed to make green-bean casserole, one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving sides.
Using green beans, the cream of mushroom soup can, and Kinder’s fried onions, I was easily able to follow my go-to recipe.
I made the cranberry relish first so that it could sit overnight.
Since I wasn’t sure what to do with the cranberries, I made a family-favorite relish recipe from my husband’s great-grandma.
Ever since I started bringing it to the holidays, my parents and siblings have adopted it into their own Thanksgiving and Christmas spreads, too.
Though the recipe’s simple, it does need time to sit. I started by combining the cranberries with two whole oranges in a blender until all the fruit was chopped.
Then, I poured the mixture into a container with an airtight lid, stirred in sugar, and allowed it to build flavor overnight.
The pumpkin pie came together easily, but it did require a few spices I already had at home.
Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal included three ingredients I needed to make a pie: crust, condensed milk, and a Great Value can of pure pumpkin.
There was a simple pumpkin-pie recipe on the can, which I followed closely. It was easy to follow, but I did have to use a few items I already had on hand, including sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
I wasn’t sure what to do with the carrots, so I made a simple glaze with easy ingredients.
The Great Value baby carrots took more thought, since the meal didn’t come with any particular instructions on how to cook them.
I decided to toss them in a simple glaze made with butter and honey, two pantry staples I already had on hand.
I’m glad I used a few additional herbs and ingredients to make a more flavorful turkey.
Then, I made more dishes, including the turkey.
I’m loyal to Martha Stewart’s cheesecloth method, which consistently produces the moistest, most flavorful turkey. After trying it once, I never went back.
All I did was melt several sticks of butter with white wine, soak a layer of cheesecloth in the mixture, and drape it over the turkey before putting it in the oven. I basted every 30 minutes.
When the bird was done, the cheesecloth peeled off effortlessly, leaving perfectly browned, tender meat underneath.
If you’re making Walmart’s $40 Thanksgiving, I’d recommend buying a few more dessert options.
One thing that stuck out to me was that no beverages were included in Walmart’s meal. If you’re hosting, it might be worth buying some sparkling water, apple cider, or wine.
Also, the only dessert I was able to make using Walmart’s preset list of ingredients was pumpkin pie. If I were to make this meal again, I’d plan a few more Thanksgiving desserts — or have friends and family bring some to share.
The meal was delicious, and I was especially impressed by the mac and cheese.
Overall, I was impressed by the meal’s quality. I didn’t love the texture of the turkey stuffing, but stuffing usually isn’t one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes anyway.
The mac and cheese really surpassed my expectations; it tasted far more elevated than boxed versions I’ve tried in the past. I firmly believe no one would guess it came from a box unless I told them.
All in all, Walmart’s Thanksgiving dinner had undeniable value.
In the end, I used every ingredient, except the one can of corn I’d added to my cart.
After making this meal myself, I definitely think it could feed 10 people. My husband and I ate leftovers for nearly five days, and we still had plenty of turkey left after that.
In total, I spent around $50 on the meal and a few extra ingredients — and I would have had to spend a bit more on eggs and milk, if I hadn’t already had those essentials in our kitchen.
And, by buying a few extras and adding herbs and fresh citrus to my turkey and cranberries, I was able to make my menu feel truly homemade.
All in all, I found that Walmart’s Thanksgiving dinner delivered exactly what it promised: an easy, affordable holiday meal that still tasted like the real deal.
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