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When it comes to Thanksgiving, making a turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce from scratch, not to mention hosting everyone, can be a lot to take on. Why make things harder than they have to be? For just a few more dollars and a lot less time, you can have an incredible meal show up on our doorstep. Whether your gathering is large or small, you crave gourmet fare, or if you just want the comfort of the classics, this list has a Thanksgiving option for you. Four hundred years ago, who would have dreamed such a thing was possible?
Best Thanksgiving Meal Delivery Services of 2023
- Best Overall: Omaha Steaks
- Best Budget: MagicKitchen
- Best Complete Dinners: Williams Sonoma
- Best a La Carte: Harry & David
- Best Smoked Turkey: Burgers' Smokehouse
- Best Sides: Mackenzie Limited
Best Overall : Omaha Steaks
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Omaha Steaks
Merely thinking about preparing a Thanksgiving meal can generate intense feelings of overwhelm. Omaha Steaks takes the best overall title for delivering a soothing shot of calm simplicity right from the start. It's a trusted brand that's been in the mail order business since 1953. (And since that time it has broadened its business way beyond steak).
The build-your-own Thanksgiving dinner section of the Omaha Steaks website will immediately calm your anxiety. There are three options: the Family Feast, Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving for 8. Simply choose a main protein, side dishes, and dessert. With two choices for every course, you'll get a feeling of flexibility and customization, but you won't drown in a sea of options. Best of all, the prices are close to the best around.
Pick 6 costs about $272, while pick 7 is roughly $275. The smaller package will easily feed eight to 10 people and the larger one will feed 10 to 12. You'll have to cook the turkey, but it comes pre-seasoned, with a cooking bag and simple instructions. You can also order a la carte, but why ruin the most relaxed Thanksgiving planning process the world has ever known?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, shipping is free. Omaha Steaks ships anywhere within the United States. Delivery to Alaska and Hawaii costs extra.
Best Budget : MagicKitchen
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Magic Kitchen
Founded in 2005 in Northern California, MagicKitchen constantly tweaks its menu based on customer feedback. If MagicKitchen offers it, it's because its customers like it, and Magic Kitchen has the Trustpilot reviews to prove it.
Whether you're ordering a complete dinner or shopping a la carte, MagicKitchen gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Sides sell for as low as about $11. If you are shopping a la carte, MagicKitchen gives you options for portions. With finer control over meal sizes, you can order exactly the amount you want.
To find the Thanksgiving food on MagicKitchen's site, go to "menu a la carte," and then click on "Thanksgiving Meals." MagicKitchen carries only pre-roasted turkey breasts (no whole birds here). That means there's nothing that you have to cook yourself, and there's no large bird that takes forever to thaw and reheat.
Bottom line: MagicKitchen keeps it simple. Sides are basic and include the company's "magic mashed potatoes," mashed sweet potatoes, French green beans with mushrooms cream sauce, apple sage stuffing, and whole-grain rolls.
With standard ground delivery services from UPS, MagicKitchen can ship anywhere in the continental U.S. within four business days.
Best Complete Dinners : Williams Sonoma
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Williams Sonoma
There are at least three reasons to love the complete Thanksgiving dinner options from Williams Sonoma. The first is the brand's longstanding reputation for gourmet quality.
The second reason is that Williams Sonoma offers the widest variety of turkey options within the complete-dinner format. Free-range, organic, pre-brined, pre-roasted, smoked, or fried—Williams Sonoma has them all. And most of the birds are Willie Bird turkeys, raised humanely on natural foods.
And finally, the third reason is that Williams Sonoma has the best array of serving sizes, with complete dinners for as few as four people up to as many as 12. To get a feel for the kinds of dishes included, check out the Ultimate Turkey Thanksgiving package, which comes with the turkey; sausage and cranberry stuffing; butter garlic mashed potatoes; green bean almondine; maple squash au gratin; and Brussels sprouts in pancetta gratin. Plus, there's all the fixings and a pie.
Prices range from a little under roughly $200 to around $600 for the Ultimate Turkey Thanksgiving dinner for 12.
Best a La Carte : Harry & David
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Harry and David
If you love mixing and matching to create your perfect meal, but you don't want to order from many different vendors, Harry & David offers the best a la carte Thanksgiving shopping experience. Simply go to Harryanddavid.com and type "thanksgiving" into the search bar. You will land on its Thanksgiving gifts page, where you can dive into main courses, appetizers, sides, desserts, wine, and table decorations.
The main dish choices are numerous. All turkeys are 10-pound birds, cost around $100, and arrive fully cooked—smoked or oven-roasted—so you don't have to worry about dealing with a raw bird. For smaller gatherings, the turkey-and-stuffing Wellington could be a novel, lower-cost alternative to a whole turkey. And if you aren't a turkey lover, Harry & David has many non-turkey main dishes, including ham, prime rib, pork roast, and stuffed Chateaubriand.
All the favorite side dishes are here, too: black truffle and almond green beans, apple walnut sage stuffing, gruyere and garlic red mashed potatoes, and so forth. Most sides sell for around $40. Serving sizes aren't given on the site, so you'll have to look at the portion you're buying and do the math yourself.
Pay attention to the shipping times because they vary across different items. For standard shipping delivery on Thanksgiving, order by November 19. Harry & David ships to all 50 states and a handful of international destinations.
Best Smoked Turkey : Burgers' Smokehouse
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Burgers' Smokehouse
Burgers' Smokehouse is a family business that has been around since 1952. Don't be confused. "Burger" is the name of the family, not the name of their smokehouse's main dish. In fact, at the beginning Burgers' focused on ham. Today, they sell all things smoked meat, including hamburgers and, of course, turkeys.
Burgers' Smokehouse has an outstanding reputation on Trustpilot. You'll begin to understand why when you learn that their smoked turkeys take about a week to make. When a business puts that much time into a product, you know it's going to be amazing.
Burgers' complete Smoked Turkey Meal serves six to eight people and sells for about $189, with free shipping to the lower 48 states. The turkey and sides arrive frozen with instructions for thawing and heating. Burgers' cuisine comes from a Southern angle. Accompanying the bird are broccoli and cheese casserole, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie. If you want different sides, many options are available a la carte.
Burgers' delivers Wednesday through Friday. Make sure you have room in your freezer. Burgers' says that all Thanksgiving shipments start going out roughly five to 10 days before Turkey Day.
Best Sides : Mackenzie Limited
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Mackenzie Limited
If sides are the most important part of Thanksgiving for you, then head over to Mackenzie Limited for the best selection of homestyle Thanksgiving sides available online.
Mackenzie prides itself on its shopping experience, and its website is easy to navigate. For the Thanksgiving goods, click "Thanksgiving" in the menu bar of the company's website.
Mackenzie offers a wide variety of traditional-style stuffings, vegetable dishes, casseroles, and potato sides, as well as rarer finds like squash ginger bisque, a mushroom medley, sweet corn hushpuppies, and kettle-cooked apples. Most of the sides are reviewed with star ratings so you can see which dishes people like most.
With a couple of turkey options and a big selection of desserts, you can get your whole Thanksgiving meal from Mackenzie. If you want a main course that isn't turkey, Mackenzie has many choices. Scroll up to "Entrees," and shop from there.
Most sides serve four to six people. Prices range from around $30 for cranberry sausage stuffing or around $40 for a crown of rolls to about $75 for Oysters Rockefeller. Mackenzie ships everywhere in the United States, except Alaska. Right now, due to delays, they are unable to ship to Hawaii. To see a table with shipping cost information, click the link at the bottom of the page.
Final Verdict
Omaha Steaks was named best overall because it offers a superior combination of value, simplicity, and trust. Likewise, no one offers a wider range of show-stopping, complete Thanksgiving dinners than Williams Sonoma.
What Are Thanksgiving Meal Delivery Services?
In most cases, these companies ship fully-cooked, frozen meals to your door via FedEx or UPS. Sometimes, you will have to cook the turkey yourself, but pre-cooked whole birds are also available. Simply heat and serve according to your vendor's instructions.
What Types of Food Are Included in a Thanksgiving Meal Delivery Service?
Thanksgiving foods, of course. That means American family-style dishes like mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing/dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and so on. Some services have a very straightforward, traditional definition of Thanksgiving foods, while others are a little more creative. Roast turkey or ham are the most common centerpieces, but there's no law that says they must be, and many services offer alternatives.
How Much Do Thanksgiving Meal Delivery Services Cost?
Cost generally ranges from about $20 to $60 per person. Sometimes shipping costs extra, but many services include delivery in their pricing.
Methodology
We looked at dozens of meal delivery sites and hundreds of online reviews to find the best-loved and most reliable Thanksgiving delivery services. We evaluated each site's shopping experience, menu, prices, and online reputation.
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The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck