Does it Make More Sense To Cook or Buy Thanksgiving Dinner?

It’s the meal we savor most the entire year – turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and of course, the pumpkin pie. It’s Thanksgiving dinner, and with it comes much preparation. It used to anyway.

Nowadays, there are many options for feeding your friends and family on Thanksgiving Day. You can shop, chop, peel and cook a meal from scratch, or you can purchase a fully cooked Thanksgiving meal from local grocery stores. Which one is actually the better deal? Let’s do some comparison shopping.

Tom Thumb is offering a holiday turkey dinner that serves six to eight people for $39.99. It includes:

• A fully cooked turkey, 10 to 12 lbs
• Stuffing, 2 lbs.
• Creamy mashed potatoes, 3 lbs.
• Homestyle turkey gravy, 24-oz.
• Holiday cranberry sauce, 15-oz.
• Dinner rolls, 1 Dozen
• 8" Pumpkin Pie Serves 6 to 8

We went through Tom Thumb’s weekly ad and found prices for these items individually. These are the basic ingredients for the meal:

• A fully cooked turkey, 10 to 12 lbs   $14
• Stuffing, 2 lbs.                               $  3
• Creamy mashed potatoes, 3 lbs.      $  2
• Homestyle turkey gravy, 24-oz.       $  2.50 
• Holiday cranberry sauce, 15-oz.       $  5
• Dinner rolls, 1 Dozen                       $  3
• 8" Pumpkin Pie Serves 6 to 8           $  5

$34.50

If you cook your own meal, you’ll save about $5. If you buy the pre-cooked meal, you’ll save a day or more of prep time.

Albertsons has three pre-cooked Thanksgiving dinner options:
Smoked Turkey - $39.99
Cajun Fried Turkey - $54.99
Roasted turkey breast - $ 39.99

Each meal serves six to eight people and includes the following:

10-12 lb. Fully cooked turkey
44 oz. Combread stuffing
48 oz. Mashed Potatoes
24 oz. Homestyle Gravy
One Dozen Kings' Hawaiian Dinner Rolls

The Cajun turkey is not a value, but the other two are. The question is, what is your time worth?

If your time is worth $5, the pre-cooked dinner is a definite deal. If cooking dinner is something you enjoy, that tradition may be priceless to you and your family. Only you can decide.

If you do decide to go with the pre-cooked option, you will need to order it in advance. Contact the grocery store today to place your order.

Happy Thanksgiving!