How to get free or low-cost Thanksgiving food (+ cooking tips from local chefs)

Ahead of Thanksgiving, The News & Observer is committed to teaching you how to make a delightful holiday meal using low-cost and no-cost ingredients.

• Low-cost: Some grocery stores are offering deals on Thanksgiving ingredients, bringing the staples to your family table at a lower price.

• No-cost: There are dozens of food pantries in the Triangle able to help you and your loved ones get no-cost food for your Thanksgiving dinner (and for dinners year-round).

Maggie Kane, founder and executive director of A Place at the Table, a pay-what-you-can cafe in Raleigh, is one of the area’s most effective advocates when it comes to feeding people. She’s a big supporter of food pantries.

“People have a misconception that our cafe, or even food pantries, are only for people experiencing homelessness or are unemployed. These services are for everyone,” Kane said.

How to get affordable Thanksgiving food

Most grocery stores are offering sales ahead of Thanksgiving, but these stores have special promotions this year.

• Walmart: This year’s Thanksgiving meal will be “at last year’s price,” Walmart announced earlier this month. Prices for a selection of Thanksgiving foods have not increased with inflation.

Stores will offer whole turkeys under $1 per pound, cream of mushroom soup for less than $0.70 per can, elbow pasta less than $1 per box and more.

To shop, visit walmart.com/shop/thanksgiving/from-scratch. For Walmart locations, visit walmart.com/store-finder.

• Lidl: A Thanksgiving meal that feeds up to 10 people will be available for under $30, Lidl announced earlier this month.

The basket is available through the store’s loyalty program, which is free to use. A basket includes a 13-pound frozen turkey, pumpkin pie mix, sweet potatoes, a gallon of milk, turkey stuffing mix and more.

To shop, visit shoplidl.com. For Lidl locations, visit lidl.com/stores.

• Aldi: The “Thanksgiving Price Rewind” deal gives shoppers 2019 prices on Thanksgiving food. This is a discount of up to 30%, Aldi announced earlier this month.

Look for the “Thanksgiving Price Rewind” icon in your local ad to see which items have significant discounts. For Aldi locations, visit stores.aldi.us.

How to get free Thanksgiving food

• Visit your local food pantry: The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina stocks food pantries all across the Triangle. Use their website’s “Food Finder” tool by typing in your zip code to learn which food pantries are close to you: foodbankcenc.org/food-finder.

“Nobody gets turned away,” said Jessica Slider Whichard, vice president of communications and public policy for the Food Bank.

She recommends calling your local food pantry ahead of time to figure out their hours of operation and if there are special instructions for getting food. You might be asked to remain in your car and pop your trunk so a predetermined box of food can get placed inside. You might park and come inside to “shop.”

Food pantries can get especially busy around the holidays, so call ahead and get accurate hours of operation. If you visit while the pantry is open, somebody will help you.

Tips for sprucing up your Thanksgiving dishes

You can make some delicious Thanksgiving dishes from your food pantry haul.

The News & Observer chatted with Andrew Gravens, executive chef at Raleigh’s A Place at the Table (Raleigh’s pay-what-you-can cafe) and Belén Rogers, nutrition education coordinator at The Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC, to learn how you can turn your food pantry items into tasty main dishes and fixings.

Food pantry items change week to week, but most people can expect to get the following items in a food basket from their pantry leading up to the holiday, Whichard said:

• Pasta

• Rice

• Beans

• Canned fruits and vegetables

• Potatoes

• Squash

• Apples

With home staples, you can make an easy but standout meal: “I’m not really the chefy-chef type, so I often use basic ingredients to prepare simple dishes with attention to detail,” Gravens said.

• Turkey: A whole turkey can get you three dishes: the roasted turkey, a delicious gravy and a turkey stock to store and use throughout the winter.

Whether you’re using a fresh or frozen turkey, or just a small turkey breast, the key is to brine the turkey ahead of time. A basic brine uses pantry ingredients: salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, brown sugar and dry herbs, Graven said.

Use this ratio, and adjust with bigger turkeys: 2 tbsp salt, 1 ¼ tbsp black pepper, ½ tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp thyme (or other herbs), 1 tsp brown sugar.

Rub the brine all over the bird, both inside and out. You can add onions, garlic, vegetables or herbs inside the cavity of the turkey for more flavor. Let the brine sit on the turkey for 12 to 24 hours.

While cooking, baste the bird often by taking the liquid from the bottom of the pan and splashing it all over the turkey.

• Gravy, stock: If you’re making a whole turkey, be sure to save all parts of the bird to whip up your very own gravy and stock.

You’ll need giblets (neck and innards) and turkey fat from the bottom of the roasting pan to make gravy. Pour your gravy generously over mashed potatoes or rice.

Use the carcass for stock (perfect to store and add to your winter gumbo, Graven said) and throw in any vegetable scraps you have, too.

• Vegetable sides: You can make tasty vegetable sides from any canned vegetables you happen to have.

The trick is rinsing off the vegetables and avoiding the water inside the can, which “usually has a canned kind of flavor,” Graven said.

Salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder are your basic ingredients for spicing up your canned vegetables. A bit of butter, olive oil or canola oil can give the vegetables a fatty, rich flavor too.

Add all these ingredients to a saucepan and cook gently, and not for too long. Canned vegetables are already cooked, so you don’t want them to be overdone.

• Dress up your stuffing: Apples, pears or even dried fruit can add personal touch and unique flavors to your boxed stuffing mix, Graven said.

• Desserts: Cinnamon and brown sugar can transform so many staples into delicious Thanksgiving desserts.

Canned apples, pears or candied yams can be topped with those sweet ingredients and roasted to create a crunchy, caramelized topping.

You can do the same with fresh apples or whole sweet potatoes. Just wash and cut your produce, top with brown sugar and cinnamon and roast until golden brown. Enjoy the sweet treat on its own, or add whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (or both)!