Dive Brief:

• Aldi has lowered prices on several traditional Thanksgiving items, making it possible for shoppers to purchase enough food for a holiday meal for up to 10 people for under $30, the grocery chain announced Tuesday.
• The discounts apply to essentials including a Butterball turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes and sides and are available in stores or online.
• Aldi is highlighting its efforts to hold the line on Thanksgiving food costs against a backdrop of robust inflation that is putting strong upward pressure on food prices.

Dive Insight:

Aldi's Thanksgiving promotion is a reprise of a similar set of deals the food retailer made available in 2020, when the company also offered the components of a Thanksgiving meal for $30.

As it did last year, Aldi U.S. is also distributing a pair of $30 gift cards to every one of its workers and encouraging them to give one or both away.

The Germany-based retailer is highlighting its focus on price as retailers balance fast-rising product costs with their efforts to maintain margins. The federal government's food-at-home price index rose 1.2% in September, the latest month for which figures are available, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The statistic was above the 0.4% figure recorded in August and continues a string of monthly increases in the index that began in February.

Food-at-home prices grew 4.5% on a seasonally unadjusted basis during the 12-month period that ended in September, the agency said. The overall Consumer Price Index rose 5.4% during the same period, also on an unadjusted basis, according to the BLS.

While inflation is rapidly pushing food prices up across the board, proteins are being hit especially hard. The BLS' index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs rose 2.2% in September, while beef prices surged 4.8% during the month. 

Food-at-home prices are on course to rise at a slower rate in 2022 than they have this year, according to a forecast issued on Oct. 25 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. The agency predicts inflation for that category will fall in the 1.5% to 2.5% range for all of next year, down from the between 2.5% and 3.5% rate it expects for 2021.