Turkey prices are starting to appear in stores, and early tracking shows the cheapest birds are already well under a dollar a pound in some places. The best turkey prices 2026 per pound found so far include Walmart’s Shady Brook Farms frozen turkey at $0.84 a pound and Butterball whole frozen turkey at $0.97 a pound, according to price tracking updated October 28.
Kroger lists Butterball whole frozen turkey at $1.28 a pound with a card, limit two, while Meijer lists Butterball frozen whole young turkey at $1.29 a pound, limit two, and its store-brand frozen whole turkey at $2.29 a pound. Prices vary by location, the tracker notes, and readers are asked to report local finds because the same chain can post different prices in different regions.
What the official data says
Federal market reports give a useful cross-check. The USDA’s weekly grocery store turkey feature report for September 4 showed frozen whole turkeys advertised at $3.99 a pound across 72 stores, but early-September features are sparse and not holiday-priced, so that figure reads as the high end of the range, according to an analysis of USDA and Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The USDA’s October 5 to 9 turkey market report put fresh conventional whole turkey at a weighted average of $1.8167 a pound, down 3.73 cents from the prior week, on thin trading volume of 120,000 pounds. November sale prices often run well below any national average, which is why the holiday-week shelf price, not the October average, is the number that matters for most shoppers.
How to shop the bird
Last year’s best price was $0.32 a pound for a Meijer store-brand turkey with a coupon, so this year’s early prices still have room to fall as Thanksgiving week approaches. The practical strategy is familiar: watch the store flyer in the two weeks before November 26, check whether a minimum purchase or loyalty card is required, and buy the size the oven and the guest list actually need — a 16-pound bird for ten, not a 24-pound bird for six.
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26 this year, and most chains run turkey promotions into the week of the holiday. Shoppers who can freeze a second bird at the sale price will thank themselves in December.
