Walmart Thanksgiving Dinner for 6 Under $25 | Easy Budget Meals to Save Money

Walmart Thanksgiving Dinner for 6 Under $25 | Easy Budget Meals to Save Money

Happy Thanksgiving. Can you believe this feast is 
under $25? I’ll take you through this delicious meal plan with all of the favorites. And later 
on, I’ll let you in on a secret delicious wine from Trader Joe’s that everyone is going to 
love for under $5. And no, it’s not three buck chuck. So stay tuned. Instead of a big 
old turkey that’s actually quite expensive, we are making delicious turkey meatballs. Ground 
turkey is super affordable. And I know not everyone has the budget to buy a big turkey. And 
honestly, roasting a baked turkey rarely turns out well. It’s stressful. It takes forever. And these 
meatballs are going to be amazing with all of the sides we’re making. So, I’m super excited to have 
it this year. We’re using ground turkey, onion, garlic, milk, Italian breadcrumbs, two eggs. That 
is it. Now, here’s a trick to peeling garlic. You want to get all the cloves out of the bowl. Try 
to get as much paper off, but don’t get fussy. and put them into a bowl and pour boiling water 
over the cloves. Just enough to cover up. And by the time we’re done prepping our onion, these 
garlic are going to be easy to peel. Only need one onion for this recipe. And this one actually 
is pretty big, so I’m not going to use all of this. And we are going to dice this very thinly. 
Woo! The onions are done. Thank goodness. Going to put them into our big bowl. All right, let’s 
chicken in our garlic. Water’s hot, but not too bad. Check this out. Boom. Peeled. Easy peasy. If 
the skin gives you a little trouble, just cut off the little end and then it’ll peel really nice. 
If you don’t have an electric kettle, another easy way to peel garlic is to buy the minced garlic. 
Now, the meatballs only call for three cloves of garlic. I am going to mince all of these, though, 
because we’re going to use it in other recipes. I might as well just get it over and done with. 
All right, we’re going to add about three cloves for our meatballs. We are going to add our pound 
of ground turkey. You could easily double this recipe. You could triple this recipe. You could 
quadruple this recipe and make a ton of meatballs, maybe freeze some, but today just make it a pound. 
Now, I’m using regular breadrumbs. They are a little cheaper. And I’m going to use them for 
another recipe. If you had Italian breadrumbs, that’s even better. We’re going to add a cup of 
this. Or if you had some old bread laying around, that also works great. You’re going to add two 
eggs, 1/4 cup of milk. I’m using 2%. You could use probably whatever you wanted to. And for our 
seasoning, I’m adding poultry seasoning. It’s got a nice Thanksgiving flavor, mostly because of 
the sage. About a/ quart teaspoon of pepper and a/ teaspoon of salt. Time to mix it all up. Let’s 
incorporate everything together. All right, we’re going to spray our casserole dish and scoop these 
bad boys up. How easy is that? Okay, we’re going to pivot real quick because I don’t think all 
those meatballs are going to fit in this pan. So, we are going to bake them on this tray instead 
and then transfer them to that casserole dish. And all I do is go through and just kind of 
reform them a little bit because the ice cream scoop tends to put out the little edges. You 
don’t have to if you don’t want to. Okay, into the oven for 20 25 minutes. All right, let’s grab 
them out of the oven. Oh, they look so good. Ooh, and smell just like turkey Thanksgiving mixes 
stuffing. Oh, I can’t wait. M. We’re going to finish these guys off by taking them off of here 
and putting them in this casserole dish. And look, it’s got a little crust on the bottom, which is 
going to be so good. Now, I’m putting them in this casserole dish because I want to serve it 
in there, but I will also be able to pop these back into the oven when everything else is ready 
and so they’ll be warm when we are ready to eat. I had some turkey gravy in the cabinet. This breaks 
the budget a little bit. I think it’s only 50. So, I’m going to make this up and pour it over 
these meatballs and put them in the oven. Okay, let’s whip up this turkey gravy real quick. 
All you need for this gravy mix is a cup of cold water. You whisk it together while it’s 
still cold and then you bring it up to a quick boil. Just stir this a lot. Once it comes to 
a boil, you’ll notice it’s going to thicken. And then turn down the heat a little bit. You 
just want to simmer it for about a minute. Okay, my gravy is done. I’m going to pour these over 
the meatballs. I’m so excited for this. Oh, this is going to be so good. We’re making green bean 
casserole. I’ve made this so many different ways. So many different types of green beans. This is 
the canned version and honestly this is the most nostalgic and let me tell you the most delicious. 
So we have our green beans, our can of cream of mushroom soup. We are not doing French’s onions 
because honestly they’re expensive and I could make my own fried onions but it’s a lot of work. 
So we are going to use the breadcrumbs which we are also using for the meatballs. We got our milk 
and our spices. Dude, I love making Thanksgiving, you guys. I know it’s a lot of work, but honestly, 
this meal plan is coming together really easily. And thank you so much for hanging with me today. 
If you’re liking these recipes, feel free to give it a like, a subscribe. Love to have you guys over 
here and it really helps out my channel. Okay, so drain these green beans. All right, into the 
bowl. Two cans. Now, you could use frozen, you could use fresh, you could use French cut beans. 
All up to you, but the cheapest is the regular old cut green beans. To this, you’re going to add your 
one can of cream of mushroom. We’re gonna add 34 of a cup of milk. Little trick is to pour it into 
the can of mushroom soup. Once you measure it, I mix it around just a little bit. Try and get 
the rest of the soup in the can. And there you go. Making sure you get everything. Now, for 
our spices, I’m going to add some extra salt. The can already comes with quite a lot, but a half 
teaspoon of pepper. Actually, I like this pretty peppery. And I’m going to add some granulated 
garlic. Really, you can do whatever you want here. And again, just mix all of this up. You’ll 
see it get a little thicker when the soup is mixed in. Make sure your casserole dish is sprayed. And 
then dump everything in. It’s going to seem soupy, but that’s okay. It’ll come together. You kind 
of want the gravy texture mixes in with all the mashed potatoes and these meatballs. M. Just going 
to spread this out evenly. And then last but not least, going to sprinkle these bread crumbs on 
top. I’m going to go a pretty thick layer. If you had cheese, ooh, great opportunity to add 
some cheese. This is where you could add your fried onions if you love them. And this goes into 
the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes. Okay, our casserole is starting to bubble. So, I’m going to 
take this out of the oven for now and let it set. It is not Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes. 
We are doing regular old delicious garlic mashed potatoes and a sweet potato casserole with our 
delicious little marshmallows on top. For the mashed potatoes, we’re using three lbs of russet, 
butter, garlic, and some milk. Sweet potatoes, we also have three lbs of sweet potatoes. Our 
bag of mini marshmallows, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. I’m cooking both of these potatoes 
in the Instant Pot. And before I add them, I saw this trick online where you cut through 
the center and then when they boil and steam, you should be able to peel the skins right 
off. It just like comes off like this. So, we’re going to see if this hack works. So, you do 
this instead of piercing it with a fork. And of course, I washed these beforehand. Just gave them 
a good scrub. Potatoes are such an easy, cheap way to add a delicious meal to your table. I’m 
always surprised how cheap potatoes have stayed. It’s great. I’m making our potatoes in the Instant 
Pot. I am adding two cups of water. I want to make sure it doesn’t go past the trivet line. And I’m 
adding so much water because I’m gonna see if this works. I’m going to add all six lbs of potatoes in 
this Instant Pot and hopefully it turns out. See, it fits. So, we’re going to check it out. Okay, 
good luck, little potatoes. You pressure cook this on high for 15 minutes. You guys ready to 
check out our potatoes? Okay, they’ve split, which is great. Did this two for one thing work? 
Okay, clearly these are so soft. How are the other potatoes? They’re all so soft. I think this 
worked. All right, I’m going to transfer them out of here. Sweet potatoes are definitely more done 
than the russetss, which is totally fine. They’re going to get mashed anyway. Woo! Look at those 
piping hot. What about these down here? Okay. Yes, they’re done. This was a win. All right, I’m 
going to let these guys cool off and then we will hopefully peel them easily. All right, our 
potatoes are cool. Let’s see if this trick worked. Clearly not. Okay. Oh. Oh. I mean, the skin’s 
coming off pretty easy. It’s not doing what all the Tik Tok videos show of where it comes off and 
slides off. Now, if I was making this for myself, I would actually keep all of these skins on 
because I love potato skins, especially when it’s in mashed potatoes. So, my husband doesn’t love 
it. That’s fine. I’ll peel them. No big deal. But I’m not too concerned if I leave a little bit on 
them. If you can’t tell by now, I love the sides of Thanksgiving. And so I would love to learn what 
side you love the most or if you have sort of an unusual side that you know not everyone makes. 
I would love to hear about it. I love how just our traditions are so similar but in a lot of ways 
everybody has their take on it. To our potatoes we are going to add a/3 of a cup of butter. Make sure 
your butter is softened. I’m going to start with a/4 of a cup of milk. Probably add more as we go. 
And a teaspoon of salt. We’re also going to add about a clove, a little more of our fresh garlic 
and probably half a teaspoon of I’m using toasted onion. And I’m cheating here. I got my hand mixer. 
So, we’re just going to mix this up. You know, I’m realizing what I should have done. I should 
have actually boiled these potatoes and just cut them in the beginning because all the starch woo 
is in these potatoes and they’re actually kind of sticky which I don’t love. I am going to bake 
them so hopefully they’ll like come together, but don’t know if I would have done what I did. 
All right, we’re going to get our casserole dish ready for the mashed potatoes. We’re going to dump 
our mashed potatoes. I can’t help myself. I just think the cheese in this mashed potatoes would 
be so good. This is not a part of the budget. I figure a fair amount of us probably have some 
shredded cheese lying around in our fridge. So, hopefully you can still make this under 
budget, too. And if you haven’t noticed, the pantry staples I haven’t included in the 
budget. if you did need to buy those. So, if you didn’t have any eggs, milk, or butter, it 
is only an extra $5. So, you’re still under 30 bucks. I’m going to add this to our oven to make 
the cheese all gooey. Time to finish these sweet potatoes. I’m not even washing this bowl from 
the mashed potatoes. I don’t care if a little mashed potatoes goes in my sweet potatoes. No big 
deal. Now, I grew up in the Midwest and so this casserole is very much a staple of a Midwestern 
Thanksgiving. Got to get some marshmallows in there. But if you don’t like marshmallows or you 
don’t like it too sweet, you could totally skip that part. And you could make it more savory. 
You could put garlic in here. You could put some herbs and totally transform it so it’s more 
balanced instead of a sweet dish. To our potatoes, add 1/3 of a cup of butter. I’m adding 1/4 cup 
of brown sugar. You could add up to half a cup, but these sweet potatoes are already so sweet 
that I’m cool with just a third. I’m going to add about a teaspoon of vanilla. And I’m 
doing about a teaspoon of cinnamon. And don’t forget to add our salt. I’m adding about half a 
teaspoon. Okay. Once everything’s mixed together, we are going to spray our casserole dish. Pour our 
mix in. Spread it around. And the best part, we’re going to sprinkle our mini marshmallows all over 
the top and just make kind of like a single layer. You don’t have to go too crazy, but you do want 
every bite to have a little marshmallow. Okay. Beautiful. in the oven until this gets nice and 
golden brown. This side dish is so easy. It is so cheap with just a can of carrots. You can easily 
put another side dish on your table. We’re going to do with our carrots is drain the liquid. So, 
I’ve never done this, but I saw this online and thought it was just so clever. So, we are going to 
roast these. So, quick put some olive oil. The can already had salt, so I’m going to skip salt and 
just add some garlic powder. You can add whatever seasoning you’d like. I just think garlic carrots 
are so good. And I’m going to add some French thyme. And I’m just going to lightly mix this up 
because these carrots are tender here. And as best as I can without crushing them, I’m just going 
to spread them out as evenly as I can. Of course, you could do this with fresh carrots, but I wanted 
to try what an extra 50 cents would do. Into the oven for probably we’re going to try 15 minutes. 
It may be longer. We’ll see what they look like. Okay, let’s check out our carrots. They look 
pretty good. Let’s try one. Okay. I mean, they’re very tender, just like canned carrots, right? But 
they got all the flavors infused into it. That’s a great easy side dish. Put these in our serving 
dish. So, going to quick make some brown gravy for the mashed potatoes. All you do is pour in the 
packet. Add one cup of cold water and then whisk it up while it’s still cold. And you’re going to 
bring this to a boil. Make sure you give it a good whisk once it comes to a boil. This thickens the 
gravy. Then you just want to simmer it for about a minute. All right, we’re going to serve up 
our gravy. So, we’re going to throw together our turkey stuffing. I love stove top. Amazing. 
So cheap, so easy. Add 1 and 1/2 cups water with four tablespoons of butter. All you need to do 
is bring this to a boil. Once you’re boiling, pour in your stuffing. Mix it up and take it off 
the heat. Put your lid on and wait 5 minutes. It’s been 5 minutes. It’s got to fluff the stuffing. 
M. Smells so good. And it’s done. Boom. Instant stuffing. Can’t forget the cranberry sauce on 
Thanksgiving. I love this jellied cranberry sauce. It’s my favorite. It’s nostalgic. I’ve made, 
you know, homemade cranberry sauce, which is also really great and honestly pretty easy, but 
this is cheap and just tasty and delicious. So, we’re going for it. What I love about this is the 
fact that it has the ridges. So, I’m going to try to keep it. Just gently go around. Yes. Yes. Look 
it. It’s so beautiful. Oh, I’m going to flip it on its side gently. Ooh. So then you can cut with the 
ribs of the can. I love it. You got to have rolls, too. So, I picked up this full pack of King’s 
Hawaiian rolls. All we’re going to do is break them up, put them into our little bowl, and I will 
quick heat these up, and they’ll be ready to go. You can’t have Thanksgiving without a pumpkin pie. 
Our pie today is super easy. It starts with this Jiffy pie crust mix, our can of pumpkin puree, 
sweet and condensed milk, pumpkin pie spice, and two eggs. This pie crust mix makes two crusts. I 
can’t believe it. It’s one of the cheapest things you can buy to save some money on Thanksgiving. 
All you need to add is 4 to 5 tablespoons of water. And the trick is that it needs to be 
cold water. So, you can see I’ve made this ice water. And I’m going to start by adding just 
two tablespoons and work it together with a fork. And another tablespoon. It won’t seem like much. 
And then it will just start to come together. Now, if you don’t like pumpkin pie, that’s crazy. But 
if you didn’t, you could use these pie crusts to make cherry pie. You could make apple pie, but 
pumpkin, I find, is one of the cheapest to make, and it’s festive. We’re starting to come together 
here. Pie crust is going to be a little crumbly, but I’m going to add a little bit more water here. 
We’re getting close. I’m trying to get the super dry bits at the bottom to kind of incorporate into 
the hole. Okay, I’m going to take this dough and not use it immediately. I’m going to wrap it up in 
the Saran Wrap and let it sit in the fridge for at least half an hour. And what it does is everything 
combines, the gluten chills out, and you will get a crispier and flakier crust. Into the fridge. 
Now, I know this makes two crusts. The thing is, this pie pan is a little bit bigger. It’s 9 
and 1/2. And I do want a pretty substantial like edge because I think it’s delicious. So, I’m 
going to roll this out and treat it as one crust. It’s probably a little wasteful, but I’m a little 
nervous today, too. I haven’t made a pie crust in a while, so I just want to give myself enough 
dough. Now, if I remember right, this is going to be pretty crumbly. I’m just going to kind of 
take it easy here. Now, you could totally skip this entire step and buy a pre-made pie crust. 
I in fact have some in the freezer ready to go, but they’re more expensive. So, I wanted to 
try out making my own crust, save some money. I want to spread this out by hand a little bit at 
first. Please let me know if you have some tricks to making pie crust. I would love to hear it in 
the comments. And I’ve really enjoyed all of your comments. It’s been great talking with you and 
sharing our lives and how we prep for the week and, you know, what struggles we encounter. So, 
so nice to connect with you all. We’re getting pretty thin, which is good. Well, I bought this at 
an estate sale. Didn’t really know what to do with it. And now I’m like, this was a great purchase 
for like a dollar. You can find the best things at estate sales. Okay, now let’s lift it off. Do 
this gently here. Okay, not bad. It’s almost into place here. Kind of letting it fall and do its 
thing. I don’t want to push it. Kind of let it go to the corners. Then I’m going to just make sure I 
seal any cracks. Kind of push it just a little bit on the edges. I don’t think I’m going to be able 
to crimp this the way I really wanted to, but I’m going to do my best. Take what’s left on the edges 
and fold it up and over. We are blind baking this. So, I’m going to poke some holes into the bottom 
of the crust so it doesn’t bubble up and put some parchment paper. And then you want to weight down 
the crust. I use this box of beans. You just need enough weight to keep the crust down. And just 
remember, don’t eat these beans after you use them. In the oven, we should have at 425. And 
this first bake will go in for about 12 minutes. Okay, our crust has completed its first bake. 
And why you do this is because you don’t want a soggy bottom with this liquid. So, this 
prevents soggy bottom and creates a very nice crispy crust. And we’re going to let this 
cool before we add the wet ingredients. Okay, the crust has cooled enough. Let’s make our 
filling for this pie. It’s so simple. And again, I have made so many different types of pumpkin 
pie. I’ve gotten really fancy with it. Again, I always come back to this simple recipe that’s 
on the back of this pumpkin pie can. It is just what you want when you think pumpkin pie. We’re 
also adding one can of sweetened condensed milk. Delicious. Adding two eggs. And we want to add 
our spices. is we got our pumpkin pie spice. Now, this is totally up to you. I like a pretty spiced 
pumpkin pie, so I’m probably going like 3/4 of a tablespoon. Most recipes just have a teaspoon. And 
many recipes do not tell you to add salt, but add a pinch of salt. Just trust me. Should always add 
a little salt to baked goods. And next, all you do, break up your eggs, whisk it all together. 
All right, we’re going to pour our baking beans back into this Tupperware. Okay. All you do is 
pour your mixture in. This goes into the oven for 35 minutes. Just check on the crust as you go 
because if it starts to get really dark, you might want to cover it to just make sure it doesn’t burn 
before the middle is set. Good luck pie. Oo, our middle is set. Oh, it’s no longer super wiggly in 
the middle. I cannot wait to dig into this. Okay, here’s the secret wine I’m talking about. It’s a 
Lamb Brusco. I’m getting at Trader Joe’s. Super cheap. literally $4.99. And why it’s so great 
for Thanksgiving is it’s light. It’s actually a little carbonated. It’s a red wine and so it pairs 
well with everything. Even non-wine drinkers will like it. You can even pair it with ice, which is 
delicious. You could add orange slices. It’s just a delightful wine to serve. It’s kind of like what 
you imagine wine to taste like when you were a kid and you wanted it to be Welter’s grape juice, 
but it wasn’t. That’s lambus. Oh, this looks so good. These meatballs turned out so well. Got 
to get at least two of those. Maybe even three. Oh, got to get some stuffing going 
into the green bean casserole. Ooh, look at that crust and all the gravy. Oo. Put 
some on my stuffing. Going to go into the carrots. Such an easy side dish. And of course, 
our mashed potatoes. This looks so good. And our marshmallow sweet potatoes. Oo, can 
you hear that? Made an amazing crust on it. Oh, and my favorite, the cranberry jelly. Love it. 
Last but not least is our gravy going over my mashed potatoes and our roll. What a plate. 
That’s a perfect Thanksgiving plate. Okay, let’s dig into each of our dishes. 
We’re going to start with the carrots. M. Love the thyme texture is so nice and 
tender. Let’s do our green bean casserole. Oo, that crust turned out to be nice. Yep. Classic. That is exactly what you want from 
green bean casserole. No notes. And go to our stuffing mixed with our green bean casserole. I 
love it. I love stove top stuffing. I don’t care. It’s amazing. Let’s try our turkey meatballs. 
I’m so excited for this with that gravy. That is moist. Honestly, that bite of meatball is 
probably better than any bite of turkey I have had at Thanksgiving. That sage and all the herbs 
comes out. It’s still very turkey. You can dip it into the gravy. It’s just moist and delicious. 
I’m going to make this again for sure. Okay, moving into our cheesy mashed potatoes with our 
gravy. Can’t wait for this. M. The little bit of cheese brings a nice thing to the party. Oh, it’s 
garlicky. It’s fluffy. You can’t go wrong with mashed potatoes and gravy. So good. Let’s check 
out our sweet potato casserole with our little marshmallows on top. You get the crunch from the 
marshmallow layer. That’s so good. It’s kind of like a little s’mores taste to it. It’s sweet 
but not too sweet. You know, it’s kind of like makes you excited for the pumpkin pie coming. 
And the cranberry sauce goes so well with it. And our little roll. What an incredible plate. 
I cannot wait to eat all of this off camera. I can’t believe this whole meal was under $25. This 
is going to be one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever cooked. I’m wishing you and your family the 
happiest Thanksgiving. If you like this video, we make a new one every week. We’d love to have 
you. Thank you so much. We’ll see you next time.

Feeding 6 people for under $25?

In this video, I head to Walmart to show you how to make a complete Thanksgiving-style dinner on a budget, all for less than $25! From savory turkey meatballs and cheesy garlic mashed potatoes to sweet potato casserole, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, and even pumpkin pie, this meal has it all.

🍽️ Full Menu:
Turkey Meatballs
Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Stuffing & Gravy
Roasted Carrots
Cranberry Sauce
Dinner rolls
Pumpkin Pie

Whether you’re meal prepping, cooking for family, or just looking to stretch your grocery budget, this video proves you can eat well without spending much.

🛒 All ingredients are from Walmart
💵 Total cost: Under $25
👨‍🍳 Serves: 6 people

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the 🔔 to see more budget-friendly meal ideas!

#BudgetMeals #ThanksgivingOnABudget #WalmartHaul #CheapDinnerIdeas #HolidayMeals