We chose Loblaws, Walmart and Sobeys since these chains have stores across Canada.
Then, we looked at the regular prices of more than a dozen products since sale prices can vary between stores.
That includes turkey, potatoes, herbs, butter, pies, and more Thanksgiving staples.
Let's get into the price breakdowns for each item and the total costs at each grocery store!
Turkey
Turkey is a classic Thanksgiving dinner item, so here are the prices at each grocery store.
Loblaws: $21.85 for a five-kilogram Butterball frozen turkey — $4.37 per kilogram
Walmart: $29 for a five-kilogram Butterball frozen turkey — $5.80 per kilogram
Sobeys: $46.20 for a five-kilogram Butterball frozen turkey — $9.24 per kilogram
Potatoes
If you're making potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner, here's how prices compare.
Loblaws: $7 for a 10-pound bag of yellow potatoes — $0.70 per pound
Walmart: $3.94 for a 10-pound bag of potatoes — $0.39 per pound
Sobeys: $5.99 for a 15-pound bag of russet potatoes — $0.39 per pound
Sweet potatoes
Here are the prices for sweet potatoes at each of these grocery stores.
Loblaws: $9 for a 2.27-kilogram bag of sweet potatoes — $0.39 per 100 grams
Walmart: $6.87 for a 1.36-kilogram bag of sweet potatoes — $0.50 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $7 for a 3.5-kilogram bag of sweet potatoes — $0.20 per 100 grams
Brussels sprouts
Not everyone likes Brussels sprouts, but if you're making them for Thanksgiving, here's what prices are like.
Loblaws: $8 for a 680-gram bag of Brussels sprouts — $1.17 per 100 grams
Walmart: $4.97 for a 340-gram bag of Brussels sprouts — $1.46 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $15.41 for a kilogram of Brussels sprouts — $1.54 per 100 grams
Onions
If you're using onions in any of your Thanksgiving dishes, here's how prices compare.
Loblaws: $4 for a 1.36-kilogram bag of yellow onions — $0.29 per 100 grams
Walmart: $1.58 for a 1.36-kilogram bag of yellow onions — $0.11 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $4.99 for a 1.36-kilogram bag of yellow onions — $0.36 per 100 grams
Fresh herbs
Fresh herbs can be used for a few Thanksgiving dishes.
Here are the prices for those herbs at each store.
Loblaws: $3 for a 25-gram pack of President's Choice poultry herb blend with parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme — $12 per 100 grams
Walmart: $1.97 for a 28-gram pack of Your Fresh Market poultry herb blend with rosemary, sage and thyme — $7.03 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $6.99 for three 20-gram packs of Compliments herbs (rosemary, sage and thyme sold separately) — $11.65 per 100 grams
Cranberry sauce
If you don't want to spend time making cranberry sauce from scratch, you can get it pre-made and here's how prices compare.
Loblaws: $3.29 for a 348-millilitre can of Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce — $0.94 per 100 millilitres
Walmart: $1.57 for a 348-millilitre can of Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce — $0.45 per 100 millilitres
Sobeys: $3.29 for a 348-millilitre can of Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce — $0.94 per 100 millilitres
Butter
Quite a few Thanksgiving dishes call for butter.
Whether you're using it while cooking the turkey, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, or slathering it on a dinner roll, here's how prices compare.
Loblaws: $5.99 for a 454-gram pack of No Name butter — $1.31 per 100 grams
Walmart: $4.97 for a 454-gram pack of Gay Lea butter — $1.09 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $8.29 for a 454-gram pack of Compliments butter — $1.82 per 100 grams
Gravy mix
If you don't want to find a recipe for gravy and get individual ingredients, you can buy a gravy mix.
Here are the prices for that product at each store.
Loblaws: $2.49 for a 25-gram packet of Club House turkey gravy mix — $9.96 per 100 grams
Walmart: $1.27 for a 25-gram packet of Club House turkey gravy mix — $5.08 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $2.49 for a 25-gram packet of Club House turkey gravy mix — $9.96 per 100 grams
Rolls
Here are the prices of dinner rolls at each store.
Loblaws: $4 for a bag of 12 dinner rolls — $0.33 per roll
Walmart: $3.98 for a bag of 12 dinner rolls — $0.33 per roll
Sobeys: $4.29 for a bag of 12 dinner rolls — $0.35 per roll
Bread
Here's how prices compare for sliced bread that you need if you're making your own stuffing.
Loblaws: $3.29 for a 450-gram loaf of store-brand white bread — $0.73 per 100 grams
Walmart: $3.98 for a 400-gram load of store-brand white bread — $0.99 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $2.69 for a 450-gram loaf of store-brand white bread — $0.59 per 100 grams
Pumpkin pie
If you're not a baker or just don't want to spend time making dessert, you can get classic Thanksgiving pies that are baked in-store.
Here are the prices for pumpkin pies.
Loblaws: $7.99 for a 725-gram store-brand pumpkin pie — $1.10 per 100 grams
Walmart: $5.94 for a 900-gram store-brand pumpkin pie — $0.66 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $6.99 for a 650-gram store-brand pumpkin pie — $1.07 per 100 grams
Apple pie
You can also get baked-in-store apple pie, so here are the prices at each of these grocery stores in Canada.
Loblaws: $7.99 for a 725-gram store-brand apple pie — $1.10 per 100 grams
Walmart: $7.46 for a 1.1-kilogram store-brand apple pie — $0.67 per 100 grams
Sobeys: $6.99 for a 650-gram store-brand apple pie — $1.07 per 100 grams
TOTAL
Now, here are the total costs for the 13 items before tax at these grocery stores in Canada:
- Loblaws: $87.89
- Walmart: $77.50
- Sobeys: $121.61
Walmart is the cheapest of the three stores, which you probably expected.
But might not have realized just how much of a difference there is between Walmart and the other two stores.
The total at Walmart is $44.11 cheaper than the total at Sobeys and $10.39 cheaper than the total at Loblaws.
There's even a pretty big difference between Loblaws and Sobeys.
It costs $33.72 less at Loblaws for all of these products than it does at Sobeys.
Since these stores have different sizes for a lot of the staple Thanksgiving items, we also broke it down by how much it costs relative to how much of each product you get.
Here are the "price per" totals for each store:
- Loblaws: $34.39
- Walmart: $24.56
- Sobeys: $39.18
Sobeys is still the most expensive store, but the gap is much smaller.
The "price per" total of these Thanksgiving dinner products is just $4.79 cheaper at Loblaws and $14.62 cheaper at Walmart.
So, Walmart is the grocery store that has the cheapest total for a cart with more than a dozen items for Thanksgiving dinner!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
