- Both Walmart and Aldi have advertised some big discounts on Thanksgiving staples this year.
- It was tricky to find all the items I needed at both stores, though Walmart felt easier to navigate.
- Aldi had cheaper prices than Walmart across the board, but I didn't find everything I needed there.
Both Aldi and Walmart have announced major deals for Thanksgiving this year.
Walmart advertised a list of its groceries to help feed eight people for $7 per person while Aldi's says it can feed 10 for under $5 a person. Each retailer's menu includes about a dozen dishes and, presumably, the ingredients you'd need to serve them all.
Both retailers seemed to offer a lot of value, but I wanted to see which provided the better shopping experiences and prices as I prepare for Thanksgiving.
I used the above shopping lists as inspiration and tweaked them to resemble what I'd actually cook. When possible, I bought ingredients the stores included in their promotions.
Here's how the prices and overall shopping experiences compared.
Although Walmart was the bigger store, it felt easier to navigate.
Walmart had some helpful seasonal endcaps.
Elliott Harrell
Since both stores have pushed their Thanksgiving meal deals, I expected to have an easier time finding all the items included in them.
But at Aldi, I had to hunt for various items. It took me three laps around the store and asking an employee before I found the fried onions for green-bean casserole.
Walmart was much bigger, but it had a few endcaps and displays featuring common Thanksgiving groceries — many of which are included in its holiday promotion. This made shopping a little easier.
Walmart also won points because I could use its app to easily look up which aisle items were in. I couldn't do this at Aldi.
I had to keep checking to see if I was getting the best prices possible, especially at Walmart.
Both stores seemed to have multiple options for each item on my list, which could get confusing.
Elliott Harrell
At Walmart, the many size and brand varieties felt a little overwhelming. I had to keep double-checking the list from the promotion to make sure I was grabbing the right item at the best price.
Many of the chain's endcaps helpfully highlighted Thanksgiving essentials from the list, but others felt like a bit of a convenience trap.
For example, one eye-catching display was filled with name-brand French's crispy onions, which were $0.78 more expensive than the generic ones featured in the promotion that were tucked away in an aisle.
I also ran into this issue at Aldi, just on a smaller scale. The budget grocer is smaller and primarily carries private-label products, so it was usually easier to check that I was getting the cheapest item available.
For both chains, I think ordering groceries online could've made it easier for me to quickly select the correct item.
I found lower prices on milk, butter, and eggs at Aldi.
A dozen eggs cost me less at Aldi (left) than at Walmart (right).
Elliott Harrell
My shopping list had basics like flour, butter, and eggs as I find they're staples for making Thanksgiving dinner from scratch.
When comparing the prices of a dozen eggs, gallon of whole milk, and pound of butter, I found Aldi would save me about $1 total on all three items.
I continued to find better prices at Aldi.
I found butter to be cheaper at Aldi (left) than Walmart (right).
Elliott Harrell
I also looked at seasonings and herbs, like garlic for mashed potatoes and cloves for pumpkin pie.
A sleeve of garlic was $0.49 cheaper at Aldi and the spices I could find there were all around $1 cheaper each, too. The discount chain also saved me a few dollars on the 14-pound turkey
Still, Walmart had a few notable wins: Its 5-pound bag of russet potatoes were $1.11 cheaper and light corn syrup was $1.45 cheaper.
Aldi didn't have everything on my list like Walmart did.
Walmart (right) had all the spices I needed but Aldi (left) had cheaper prices.
Elliott Harrell
At Aldi, I wasn't able to find five of the 43 items on my list. Although that number seems small, this means I would've had to spend more time going to another store to finish my shopping.
My local store didn't seem to sell some of the spices I needed (ground mustard, ground ginger, pumpkin-pie spice, and thyme) or the self-rising flour for my biscuits.
I also found Aldi's produce selection to be much smaller than Walmart's. I'd be a little concerned the store would run out of some staples as more people make their Thanksgiving grocery runs.
Walmart would be my choice for Thanksgiving groceries despite its slightly higher prices across the board.
Walmart had everything on my list and Aldi's prices weren't that much better.
Elliott Harrell
The majority of items I found at both Aldi and Walmart were cheaper at the former, often by a few cents — sometimes by a dollar or two.
But, again, Aldi didn't have everything on my list. Shopping there would save me money, but not time. The prospect of potentially needing to go to two stores while trying to prep dinner would not be enough to justify the slim savings.
Still, this is based on my particular list and the prices I came across on a recent visit. The grocery prices and the sales at each store can change often.
Aldi might be a better fit for you if you require simpler ingredients the store is likely to have or even just have one much closer to you than Walmart. But personally, I'm sticking with Walmart for my holiday meals.
I'd rather pay a little more to feel confident I can cross off my entire list — and to be able to use an app to more quickly find everything on it.