Thanksgiving dinner ingredients will cost more this year compared with last, even as food inflation cools. Fortunately, there’s one simple way to save money without skimping on staple dishes for the food-driven holiday: store brands.
Buying store-brand items versus national brand products is an age-old technique for saving money. And although there are instances of store-brand goods costing more than their name-brand counterparts, they can still save consumers money overall, new research from Wells Fargo shows.
How much can I save on store brands?
“Food inflation has slowed dramatically, but it’s still not cheaper than a year ago, so that’s a bone of contention from consumers,” Wells Fargo chief agricultural economist Dr. Michael Swanson told CBS MoneyWatch.
Still, grocery stores can undercut national brand prices by selling their own version of products from tissues to baked beans. Stores allege their products are equally good, but because they don’t market them, they can sell them at a relative discount.
“The whole premise is that store brand represents a value to you. What store brand is supposed to bring is the same quality, same product, without all the marketing,” Swanson said. “Brands explain why you should eat theirs and not someone else’s, whereas stores don’t spend money and are supposed to pass the savings along to us, the consumers.”
This year, a store-brand Thanksgiving menu for 10 people, including turkey, stuffing, salad, cranberries, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie will cost consumers $73. That same menu made with name-brand products, will cost $90 this year, or $17 more, according to the Wells Fargo report.
The $73 price tag is up 2.7% from last year.
Keep your eye on all items — not just the turkey
Grocers tend to run promotions on turkeys around Thanksgiving, given that they’re such a seasonal purchase — the two-week window before the Thanksgiving holiday is when grocers make the bulk of their whole turkey sales.
But buyers beware: Some retailers can lure you into the store with a deal on a turkey, only to sell you other items at high prices.
“Retailers will feature discounts on turkey to get you into store so that, while you’re there, you’ll pick up everything else,” Swanson said. “Make sure you don’t just go in for the turkey and not pay attention to prices of other things on the shopping list, which can add up to a lot of money.”
Store-brand stuffing mixes are still priced high, but are an opportunity for savings nevertheless. Name-brand stuffing is up 9% compared with the same period last year, and store-brand stuffing is up 3%.
Cranberries are an outlier this season. It’s a category in which the name-brand product is priced lower than the store-brand alternative. A 12-ounce bag of name-brand fresh cranberries is down 3% compared with 2023, while the same-size bag of store-brand cranberries is up 6%.
