Kroger is leaning on convenience for Thanksgiving this year. Its holiday announcement on Nov. 5, 2026, highlights ready-to-heat sides, single-slice pies and a new AI Shopping Assistant that can build a grocery cart from a photo.
The release does not feature a price bundle like the ones from several rivals. Instead, it pitches shortcuts for hosts, small households and last-minute shoppers.
Heat-and-eat sides save oven space
According to the company’s press release, heat-and-eat holiday sides are stocked in the fresh cases, and ready-to-heat items sit in prepared-food sections and refrigerated cases across stores. The pitch is simple: sides that need little cooking leave the oven free for the turkey.
The release does not list which sides are offered, and it gives no prices, pie flavors or order deadlines. Shoppers need to check Kroger.com, the app or a local store for specifics.
Oven space is a familiar holiday problem. One guide to air fryer toaster ovens looks at countertop options for cooks who need a second heat source on the big day.
A “Feast for a Few” for small tables
For smaller gatherings, Kroger is promoting fully cooked sliced turkey breast or rotisserie chicken, paired with single-serve sides. The format suits solo diners and couples who do not want a 15-pound bird and a week of leftovers.
Rotisserie chicken has become a supermarket staple. Wikipedia’s article on the dish says ready-to-eat versions did not become widely available to American shoppers until the early 1990s, when Boston Market helped popularize them. About 900 million rotisserie chickens were sold in 2018 by foodservice outlets and retail stores combined, it adds.
Stores often price the birds low to draw shoppers in, in the hope they will also pick up higher-margin sides and drinks, according to the same article. That logic carries over to a holiday display of prepared sides next to the chicken.
Hosts who want to keep the table simple may find more direction in a list of costly Thanksgiving hosting mistakes, which includes cooking an unfamiliar recipe.
Single-slice pies at the bakery table
Single slices of holiday pie are sold at bakery tables, so shoppers do not have to buy a whole pie, the release says. For a household of one or two, that can mean trying pumpkin or pecan without committing to eight servings. The release does not name the pie flavors or give a price per slice.
A shorter shopping list also helps the budget, and 15 wallet-friendly life hacks collects more ways to trim everyday spending.
Pie is nearly universal on the holiday table, and long-running favorites are collected in a look at the kitchen staples grandmothers kept close at hand.
An AI Shopping Assistant for the cart
Grocery planning is where many hosts lose time, between copying recipes, adding up quantities and checking what is already in the pantry. Kroger is betting that software can take over part of that work.
The most novel piece is the AI Shopping Assistant, available on the websites and apps of the Kroger Family of Companies. The release says it can build a cart from a photo of a handwritten recipe, an uploaded grocery list or a pasted recipe URL. It can also scale ingredient portions and adapt dishes for dietary needs.
It can create a Thanksgiving menu from household size, dietary preferences and budget, too. That means a family of four and a table of twelve could get different shopping lists from the same recipe.
For shoppers watching the total, a list of foods that some shoppers avoid at Walmart offers another point of comparison when deciding where to buy.
Pickup and delivery in as little as 30 minutes
Customers can shop in stores, on Kroger.com or in the Kroger app, and choose curbside pickup or home delivery. The company says delivery can arrive in as little as 30 minutes. Kroger’s full assortment is also available on demand through DoorDash, Instacart and Uber Eats.
Those partners have grown quickly in grocery. DoorDash, founded in 2013, added grocery delivery in August 2020, according to Wikipedia’s DoorDash entry. Instacart was founded in 2012 and runs grocery delivery and pickup through a website and mobile app in the United States and Canada, with personal shoppers who pick, pack and deliver orders, according to its Wikipedia entry.
Who Kroger is
The chain is one of the oldest in the country, and its scale helps explain why its holiday announcements draw attention from shoppers and competitors alike.
Kroger was founded in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Bernard Kroger, and it is still headquartered there, according to Wikipedia. Its banners include Kroger, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Ralphs and Smith’s, among others, and it ranks among the largest supermarket operators in the country by revenue.
A planned merger with Albertsons, announced in October 2022, was blocked by a federal judge in December 2024.
In the release, Mary Ellen Adcock, Kroger’s executive vice president and chief merchant and marketing officer, framed Thanksgiving as a time for celebrating together. The company’s holiday message centers on making that easier for hosts and guests alike.
What is missing
The announcement leaves several practical questions open. It does not give prices, order cutoff dates, holiday availability windows, delivery fees or coverage areas. Because Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26 this year, shoppers who want prepared items on the day itself will want to confirm those details with their local store well ahead of time.
Even so, the direction is clear. Kroger is selling the holiday as a time-saving project: heat-and-eat sides, single slices of pie, a cart that fills itself from a photo, and delivery that can arrive in half an hour.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Dwight Burdette – CC BY 3.0/Wikimedia Commons
