Trump Serves a Misleading Thanksgiving Meal Statistic

Walmart’s 2025 Thanksgiving repast consisting of pre-selected products costs astir one-quarter little than past year’s meal, but it besides includes less market items and antithetic nutrient brands. Yet President Donald Trump has been misleadingly touting the diminution successful the terms of this year’s repast without mentioning the reasons for the large decrease.

There’s inactive a driblet successful terms erstwhile comparing the aforesaid handbasket of items arsenic the 2024 meal, but it’s a smaller alteration — 6.5% by our calculations.

In a Nov. 5 Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “Walmart conscionable announced that Prices for a Thanksgiving Dinner is present down 25% since nether Sleepy/Crooked Joe Biden, successful 2024. AFFORDABILITY is simply a Republican Stronghold. Hopefully, Republicans volition usage this irrefutable fact!” He made akin claims astir Walmart’s yearly vacation promotion successful remarks connected Nov. 5, 6 and 7, portion claiming that market prices “are mode down.”

Average market prices are up — not down, arsenic we wrote earlier this month. The Consumer Price Index for “food-at-home” accrued by 1.4% from January to September, and was up 2.7% from September 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But this year’s curated meal handbasket from Walmart, astatine astir $40, is astir 25% little than the $55 terms of the 2024 basket, Walmart said. The retail elephantine has made the meals disposable for acquisition since 2022, and it said this year’s offering, which is expected to service 10 people, is its “most affordable vacation repast yet.”

In trumpeting the terms drop, however, Trump has ignored wherefore the outgo of the store’s vacation meal went down truthful overmuch this year.

To start, this year’s repast includes less nutrient products compared with past year’s.

There are 15 antithetic products successful the 2025 meal and 22 idiosyncratic items. The 2024 meal had 21 antithetic products and 29 idiosyncratic items.

The nutrient successful Walmart’s 2025 Thanksgiving repast basket. Photo credit: Walmart

Also, the meals this twelvemonth and past bash not dwell of the nonstop aforesaid foods oregon brands.

For example, the 2025 repast has a 13.5-pound Butterball turkey, Kinder’s fried onions, Great Value meal rolls, caller cranberries and a duplicate battalion of Stove Top turkey stuffing.

Meanwhile, the 2024 repast included a 10- to 16-pound unspecified “Whole Frozen Turkey,” French’s crispy fried onions, Great Value saccharine Hawaiian rolls, a tin of Ocean Spray cranberry condiment and respective ingredients that could beryllium utilized for homemade stuffing.

The 2024 repast besides included items, specified arsenic saccharine potatoes and a pecan pie, that were chopped from the 2025 meal.

When we utilized the Walmart website connected Nov. 12 to recreate the 2024 buying cart, the terms was $51.39 based connected income prices and earlier income tax. That’s a diminution of astir 6.5% from the 2024 terms of $55. (Walmart besides said that its 2024 dinner was cheaper than its 2023 repast based connected purchasing the aforesaid database of items some years.)

The 2024 repast served “eight radical for little than $7 per person,” Walmart said. A repast utilizing those aforesaid items this twelvemonth would outgo astir $6.42 per idiosyncratic for a radical of that size.

The Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute reported that its 10-person meal costs little arsenic well.

“Even though the outgo of nutrient astatine location measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is up 2.7% from a twelvemonth ago, the outgo of Wells Fargo’s Thanksgiving paper has fallen by astir 2 to 3%, depending connected the shopper’s strategy,” the Wells Fargo Thanksgiving Food Report says.

The institute said that a meal paper consisting of each private-label, oregon store marque items, would outgo $80, portion a paper with each nationalist sanction marque items would outgo $95. The Wells Fargo meal paper includes turkey and stuffing, frozen vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, caller cranberries, meal rolls, crockery premix and pumpkin pastry with whipped cream.

“At the bosom of the uptick successful the CPI’s food-at-home summation is protein, specifically beef and eggs, which are not connected the Thanksgiving menu,” the study says. “Without those items, consumers volition find alleviation successful a accepted Thanksgiving meal.”

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