Walmart’s 2025 Thanksgiving meal consisting of pre-selected products costs about one-quarter less than last year’s meal, but it also includes fewer grocery items and different food brands. Yet President Donald Trump has been misleadingly touting the decline in the price of this year’s meal without mentioning the reasons for the big decrease.There’s still a drop in price when comparing the same basket of items as the 2024 meal, but it’s a smaller decrease — 6.5% by our calculations.
In a Nov. 5 Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “Walmart just announced that Prices for a Thanksgiving Dinner is now down 25% since under Sleepy/Crooked Joe Biden, in 2024. AFFORDABILITY is a Republican Stronghold. Hopefully, Republicans will use this irrefutable fact!” He made similar claims about Walmart’s annual holiday promotion in remarks on Nov. 5, 6 and 7, while claiming that grocery prices “are way down.”Average grocery prices are up — not down, as we wrote earlier this month. The Consumer Price Index for “food-at-home” increased 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 dinner basket from Walmart, at nearly $40, is about 25% less than the $55 price of the 2024 basket, Walmart said. The retail giant has made the meals available for purchase since 2022, and it said this year’s offering, which is supposed to serve 10 people, is its “most affordable holiday meal yet.”
