Thanksgiving is expensive. Want to save money on it? Fear not, because this guide is for you.

We’ll walk you through some straightforward, simple ways you can save significant money on this notoriously expensive meal.

In today’s issue:

✅ 5 Grocery Stores to Avoid at All Costs
✅ Where to Buy a $40 Thanksgiving Meal
✅ Have You Considered Portion Control?
✅ Divide and Conquer the Meal, PLEASE!

Bon appétit! 🧑‍🍳

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Maybe not the craziest revelation, but still, you’d be surprised how many people just shop at the store that’s closest to them no matter what, convinced that the convenience is worth it. It’s probably not.

Let’s just say that if you’re shopping at Whole Foods, you should give up on savings this Thanksgiving. 

Here are our 5 most-expensive grocery stores you could buy Thanksgiving dinner at. If you don’t mind spending like, $400 on the meal, go ahead and be our guest, but otherwise, avoid these chains like the plague this week…

If you don’t know what Erewhon is, don’t worry about it (unless you’re trying to buy chicken noodle soup for $16.50?). 

So, those are the stores to NOT shop at. But where should you shop?

Well, what if we told you there’s a store that’s selling a full Thanksgiving meal (serving 10 people)... for just $40 total?

It’s Aldi, by the way. Aldi is the store you should shop at if you want to save this Thanksgiving. An ENTIRE meal for 10 people at just $40. You’re not gonna beat that anywhere else. This isn’t an ad, just common sense.

And yes, the meal includes a whole turkey.

Here’s the Aldi shopping list with all the items, and here’s the press release announcing the $40 meal.

A simple key to saving money this Thanksgiving is to just not cook more than you and your family can actually eat.

That’s it. That’s the tip.

Maybe your family has perfect portion control, but if it’s anything like mine, a good bit goes to waste each year.

You can save some serious cash by just not buying too much food. And yes, it’s always better to have too much than to have too little, but how much extra do you really need? You could just plan for an extra couple of servings, or maybe for everyone to have seconds but no more.

How do you estimate the amount of food you need? Well, you could sit down with an Excel spreadsheet and type out how much each person will need of each dish. 

Or, if you aren’t sure what everyone’s appetite is, here’s a per-dish, per-person guide to planning out your Thanksgiving meal to the ounce.

Ok, most people are already doing this, but also, we think most people could do more of this. If you really want to save on Thanksgiving, divvy up the cooking responsibilities between different people. Make it more of a potluck-style meal where everyone brings something they cooked instead of you providing 7 dishes and then Uncle Jim just bringing cranberry sauce.

If you have enough people coming to your Thanksgiving celebration, it might honestly be possible to have everyone cook just one dish (including yourself!). And if you’re hosting, that seems like all the more reason to ask for some help from your guests with other dishes. Many hands make light work (and a lighter grocery bill for each person).

Just make sure you assign the key dishes to the… ahem... better cooks in the crowd. Maybe give Aunt Sherry green bean casserole duty instead of the mashed potatoes honors this year, eh?

Thanksgiving is a great time, and it can also be a stressful time. If you can make it less financially stressful, why wouldn’t you?

Aldi isn’t everyone’s favorite grocery store, but it DOES have some of the best savings we’ve ever seen. And planning ahead for portion sizes and managing different dishes from different family members aren’t everyone’s strong suits… but there’s never a better time to learn than right now 😉

Cheers to getting 1% better each week! 🥂

We’d love to hear about it—and your reply could help someone else save.
Just hit reply and share.

Thanks for reading,
—Your friends @ Future Funders 🍽️

P.S. Forward this to a friend who’s spending wayyy too much on Thanksgiving this year. 😁