Thirty-five dollars does not usually buy a holiday. This year at Walmart, it buys the whole table. The retailer announced its 2026 Holiday Meal Basket on Wednesday — a one-click bundle that serves 10 people for $35, or $3.50 a person, with more food in it than any version Walmart has sold before.
The numbers are the headline. The basket carries 26 items — 18% more than last year's — and Walmart says the same items cost 12% less than they did in 2025, making this the lowest-priced basket since the program launched in 2022. Last year's edition ran just under $40, about $4 a person, for 22 items, as USA Today reported. A Walmart spokesperson told the New York Post that 96% of the items in this year's bundle are on rollback pricing through Christmas Eve.
What is in the basket
The centerpiece is a Butterball frozen whole turkey at 97 cents a pound — held at the same price as last year, Walmart's release says. Around it, 17 unique products build the full menu: Stove Top turkey stuffing; green bean casserole from Great Value beans, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and fried onions; sweet potato casserole with Jet-Puffed mini marshmallows; mashed potatoes with brown gravy; corn casserole built on JIFFY corn muffin mix; cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries; brown-and-serve rolls; and a pumpkin pie with whipped topping to finish.
Five national brands — Butterball, Campbell's, Stove Top, JIFFY and Jet-Puffed — sit alongside nine Great Value store-brand products and three fresh produce items: sweet potatoes, russet potatoes and cranberries. It is, on paper, the complete Thanksgiving table in one tote.
The fine print: your turkey decides the price
Here is the part the headline leaves out, and Parade's rendering of Walmart's own footnotes makes it plain: the advertised $35 is an estimate, built on a turkey of about 13.5 pounds (and roughly 3.2 pounds of sweet potatoes at 88 cents a pound). Turkeys are sold by weight, at 97 cents a pound, in a range of about 10 to 16 pounds — so the bird you grab moves the total.
The arithmetic is simple. A 10-pound turkey runs about $9.70, which puts the whole basket near $31.60. The assumed 13.5-pound bird lands on the advertised $35. A 16-pounder costs about $15.52 and takes the basket to roughly $37.40. Even at the top of that range, it is a cheap table for 10 — but the $35 is a midpoint, not a promise.
Two more honest notes. The offer excludes Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin. And like every bundle on the market, it assumes your pantry already holds the staples — butter, eggs, sugar, spices, oil. Food World News, citing University of Maryland Extension guidance of about a pound of whole turkey per person, also notes that a 13.5-pound bird feeds 10 with little to spare: families planning on leftovers should size up, and pay the extra few dollars knowingly.
The field: Aldi, Target and Sam's Club
Walmart is not the only store fighting for the holiday table. Aldi announced its basket on October 14: under $39 to feed 10 — under $4 a person — built around a more generous 16-pound turkey, running through November 25 with no coupons or membership required. Target's deal, announced October 22, is $30 — but it feeds 6, which works out to $5 a person, the highest per-person price of the three grocery baskets; its Good & Gather turkey holds at 79 cents a pound for a third straight year.
Sam's Club is playing a different game entirely: about $160 for a fully prepared, ready-to-heat spread serving up to 16 people — roughly $10 a person for Member's Mark items that need about two hours in the oven, membership required. For scale, the American Farm Bureau Federation's 2025 survey priced a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 10 at $55.18 cooked from individual ingredients. Against that benchmark, every basket on this page is a deal; Walmart's is simply the cheapest way to feed the most people.
How to get it
The basket is on sale now through December 24 — it covers Christmas as well as Thanksgiving — in stores and online as a one-click purchase at Walmart.com/HolidaySavingsBasket, with curbside pickup, Express Pickup and scheduled delivery among the options, and free Express Delivery on the basket through November 30. Plan the pickup ahead: Walmart stores are closed on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26.
The Take
The $35 headline is real — with an asterisk shaped like a turkey. Walmart built the cheapest full holiday table in America this year, and it did it the honest way retailers know how: more items, rollback prices, and a bird priced at the friendly end of the scale. Read the weight on your turkey before you quote the price at the register, and the deal is exactly as good as advertised.
— Previously Staff
Sources · 7 sources
- Walmart — "Walmart Meal Basket Serves 10 for $35 – $3.50 Per Person," corporate release, October 28, 2026 (the $35 price, 26 items / 17 products, 18% more items at 12% less cost, the 97-cent Butterball turkey, the December 24 window, free Express Delivery through November 30, more than $350 million saved since 2022; photos: Walmart press handout).
- USA Today — Walmart holiday meal basket coverage, October 28, 2026 (the announcement and dish list; the 2025 basket at just under $40; the Aldi and Target rival offers).
- New York Post — "Walmart slashes Thanksgiving meal deal to $3.50 a person — its lowest price ever," October 28, 2026 (the spokesperson's 96%-on-rollback figure; the 2025 comparison; the basket photography, credited to Walmart).
- Parade — Walmart holiday meal basket coverage (the fine print: the $35 total rests on estimated prices including a turkey of about 13.5 pounds; the Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin exclusions).
- Fox Business — "Walmart cuts price of holiday meal deal to $3.50 per person" (the turkey at 97 cents a pound, matching 2025; the rival offers).
- Food World News — "Thanksgiving meal deals: Walmart, Aldi, Sam's Club," October 29, 2026 (the side-by-side comparison; the Sam's Club prepared spread at about $160 for 16; the per-person turkey guidance via University of Maryland Extension; the Farm Bureau benchmark).
- MoneyLion — Item-by-item basket listing (the 17 products and 26 units, counted out).
