How to Make a Walmart Thanksgiving Meal for Under $50

I’ve coasted through the holiday season, bringing pies, wine, and various side dishes to Thanksgiving feasts over the years, but I’ve never offered to host or tackled cooking a full turkey. I’ve had a positive experience with Walmart’s Recipe Hub in the past, particularly the combination of easy recipes, personalized shopping lists, and curbside pickup. So when I saw they were advertising a complete Thanksgiving spread, I figured there would never be a more convenient way to try it.

Whether you’re a novice or seasoned host, Walmart’s holiday meal deal is an efficient and affordable way to get all the sides and desserts needed to entertain, not to mention a giant turkey. With a rough headcount, use the toggle to select for 4, 8, 16, or 24 guests, and then click “add all to cart." I selected 4 for my last-minute Friendsgiving efforts, which came out to $49.41 after pricing adjustments.

While I would recommend this promotion for anyone stocking up on Thanksgiving groceries, I made a few mistakes along the way, so you don’t have to.

Read Walmart Recipes Beforehand

When I’ve used Walmart’s Recipe Hub in the past, a simple recipe accompanied each dish, and the ingredients for that can be automatically added to your cart. With the Thanksgiving meal deal, I learned this was not the case. Instead, I unpacked what was a massive grocery haul of ingredients for less than $50.

I attempted to piece it together. The crispy fried onions and condensed cream of mushroom soup were for the green bean casserole. The mini marshmallows were for topping the sweet potatoes. The chicken broth and 3-pound bag of yellow onions were more mysterious, but were likely for the turkey… and that turned out to be a much bigger ordeal than I had prepared for.

Since I selected a Thanksgiving meal for only four people, I underestimated how large a turkey I would be provided with. But after a substitution for a Jennie-O Frozen turkey, which was out of stock, I was bestowed a 13-pound Butterball Turkey that was frozen solid.

Unlike ingredients on my kitchen island, I was cooked.

Account for additional time and ingredients

After a quick Google search, I learned that it would take about three days to defrost a turkey of that size safely in the refrigerator, but my guests were arriving in six hours. Unlike thawing other meat, this would not fit in the microwave.

Although there are some methods for cooking a frozen turkey, several guests cautioned me against it. One of them recommended taking a fourth day to brine the bird as well. Instead, we pivoted to an evening of sides instead of canceling.

Some items, like the cornbread and pumpkin pie, required an additional grocery run for milk and eggs, as well as an additional can of green beans for the proper casserole ratio. To my surprise, stuffing wasn't included among the ingredients, so one of my guests brought it.

Call it a comeback

My scheduled Friendsgiving did not work out as planned due to a frozen turkey, but against all odds, Sidesgiving turned out to be the delicious practice round. Learning how to make all the peripheral dishes and desserts was fun and easy enough to be happy to do it all over again with the turkey in a few days.

Next time, I will swap out the extra can of corn for a second can of green beans, cut out the onions, broth, gravy, turkey seasoning, and frozen turkey, and add a box of stuffing. Due to a smaller group, I had frozen pecan pie leftover, along with a spare pie crust from the pack of two, as well as milk and eggs from the last trip to the store. This brought my redo bill to an estimated $26.89 at Walmart — just over half the cost of the first round and a small price to pay for salvaging a giant turkey.