Amazon Begins Offering Free Turkey
The online mega-retailer is leveraging its acquisition of Whole Foods to try to get more people hooked on Amazon Fresh by offering a free turkey with the purchase of at least $100 in groceries.
Plenty of supermarket chains have turkey promotions of their own, albeit with minimum transaction sizes that appear to vary by individual store.
Some store locations might not be participating in the promotion or may have run out of the type of turkey promised in the offer — so you probably want to call the stores before assuming the following deals are available.
Albertson’s is offering participants in the company’s loyalty program a free Signature Farms turkey of any size with the purchase of $150 in groceriese through Nov 22. Apparently you can’t count alcohol, tobacco, gift cards and guest services toward the minimum transaction size.
A circular for ShopRite in White Oak, Maryland says that shoppers can redeem their loyalty points for a free frozen turkey weighing up to 21 pounds. The amount of spending to qualify is $300 — and you have the option of redeeming that bonus for ham, tofurkey or kosher chicken instead and the offer lasts through Nov. 23.
Complex Discounts
The ShopRite circular also touted a series of complicated discounts on the price per pound of fresh turkey — an unspecified minimum purchase lets you pay less per pound than you would without that prerequisite: 50 cents per pound for a ShopRite fresh grade A turkey that’s up to 21 pounds in size, or $1.99 per pound without the minimum purchase; $1 per pound or $2.49 per pound for a fresh Butterball grade A turkey of up to 21 pounds in size.
A Fareway supermarket in Des Moines, Iowa is offering a free 14-pound broth basted turkey withe purchase of $50 or more at meat counter — the offer lasts through Nov. 22.
Participants in Weis Markets‘ loyalty program could redeem 50 loyalty points — the equivalent of $250 in spending — for a free frozen turkey weighing up to 50 pounds.
Earlier this month, Safeway offered a free turkey with a minimum grocery purchase ranging from $100 to $150, depending on location. The offer expired on Nov. 14.
Look for Coupons and Contests
Thanksgiving-themed coupons abound, and one subset of these might include discounts on turkey — or even free gift cards you might apply toward turkey.
Look for discarded receipts in your shopping cart — printed on the same paper as them are what are called catalina coupons. Or, scan local newspapers’ shopping and food sections for coupons.
Although turkey seems to be an exception to the inflation in food prices due to lagging demand, contests offering free turkey as prizes seem to still be around.
If you want to score one, search the internet for free turkey contests in your location — and save the search results so you receive notifications year round.
Then pay attention to local radio and television commericals that might mention free turkey. Finally, look for turkey giveaways by local businesses hoping to reel in holiday shoppers.
Barter or Leftovers
Another way to get free turkey: Look on Craigslist, in the community section. There you might find some people who are opening their doors to people who need a place to go on Thanksgiving.
Then you could post your own ad in the barter section — or even in the wanted section — and put forward anything you have to trade for turkey. Depending on how you phrase your post, you might get lucky, especially if you’re open to receiving leftovers.
You don’t have to get this creative to receive free leftover turkey — assuming, that is, you have friends or family who still invite you over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
If you’re with family and there’s a lot of uneaten turkey left at he end of the evening, you might not even have to ask before you are offered leftovers to take home.
Charities Offering Free Turkey
Soup kitchens and other charities tend to serve free turkey to the indigent on Thanksgiving and Christmas; if you’re not indigent, you won’t want to wait in the long lines are typically par for the course in these meals.
Food banks also give away turkeys during the holiday season, but you might need to already be a recipient of groceries from them or meet other criteria — including applying for the privilege.
A much nicer way to approach charities offering turkey to the indigent: Volunteer to help serve. That has a way of instilling a deep sense of gratitude, which is the true spirit of Thanksgiving.
Readers, where are you planning to have turkey dinner this year?
(Photo courtesy of Shannon Clark)
Thank you for posting the information about the turkeys. We have already picked up two turkeys, each at under $6.00 per each. We will use the turkeys for Thanksgiving, and then utilize the leftovers for sandwiches.
Right, so you go to a food bank and get a “free” turkey? The food at food banks are for people who are needy, not people are cheap. With the downturn in the economy, food banks all over the country are routinely running short on donated food, and you advise cheapskates to go scam food donated by good people to help those less fortunate. What an asshole you are!
If you taken the time to read the paragraph above the food bank in italics, you would have seen I said that for those people that don’t have the means to get a turkey, that the following five options were acceptable. While I knew that most the the regular readers would be focused on the first 7, I also know that there might be some people who were down on their luck that might make their way to this article, and wanted them to know their options as well.
Last year one of our local churches gave away a bunch of turkeys to anyone who showed up–income didn’t matter. The also do free car washes and other things like that. Another church just went around their neighborhood giving out free replacement batteries for smoke detectors. The last two aren’t about free turkeys but thoughts for other things you may see or want to participate in.
Churches are a wonderful place to get a turkey for families in need! I don’t belong to a church but last week I had a church near by; call me! They asked how many people lived in my household so they could put the right amount of food (including a turkey) together for my family! I asked what made them choose my family and they said my kids school! The church called the schools asking for any family in need of a basket with food to make a whole thanksgiving dinner! I am unemployed raising four children and I am very low income, I survive on coupons and am so grateful for this church for doing this! I pick up my wonderful donated basket Monday!
Wow! I don’t know if I should be glad we still live in a country where people look out for each other or afraid because we have government keeping tabs on us. I don’t know if your kids are going to a private school or a school in a smaller community. If they are at a school in a large school district, you have to wonder how the school knows you have a need.
Well, anyway, hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving. The really great thing about a good turkey dinner is that you can, if you stretch the meat, get meals for a week from one good sized bird. Every frugal cook knows that you can make soup, stew, sandwiches… Just think of the scene in “A Christmas Story” and you’ll have ideas for more.
I was looking for this exact information. We have fallen onto hard times and I recently “shopped” at my local food pantry to help fill the gap. I was impressed. I asked our family if they think its crazy to try and make a totally free thanksgiving dinner. They are into it but don’t want to sacrifice a full meal. I have everything figured out except for the cranberries and the turkey. I’m still a little concerned about the turkey. I envision showing up at the pantry on Wednesday and getting some huge frozen turkey. That would not work. My favorite of your solutions was that car test drive for a turkey – I’m currently in the market for a car, so I could “kill two birds” so to speak. Thanks for the tips
You have some good ideas. I ran low on money every month this year. So for this Thanksgiving I am one of those people who is in need of help with a Turkey. Being disable makes it even harder, but I won’t give up til I have to. Thanks again
Go to any church they will find you a turkey I was homeless with my 16 year old son for a year and a half sick and my husband just passed away from cancer never give up we woman are stronger than you think I’m looking for my turkey right now!!!!!#
My family is going through extreme financial problems that will be worked out sometime early next year, but there are few provisions for us because we always had just enough money for everything, and due to a divorce, we can’t make ends meet at all. I went to my local food bank and because I didn’t qualify for food stamps for welfare (by $50 a month) I was not allowed services from the food bank. I do not belong to a local church. I figured we’d just cook what we have for the rest of the year and when times get better we can have a “Thanksgiving and Christmas” dinner.
1. hold a sign saying you need a turkey for thanks giving while you and your children is on a corner begging for change
2. stand at a grocery store with your kids begging for food
3. stand in line for the free turkey give way in your home town
No. Money to get. Nothing for thanksgiving. This. Year
No money this year. Too have thanksgiving. Dinner