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Thanksgiving Dinner Calculator: Turkey, Sides & Pies

Enter your guest count to see how much turkey to buy (USDA per-person rule), when to buy or thaw it, side-dish batches, pies and a shopping list.

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Good to know: Scope: planning amounts for a home Thanksgiving dinner built around a whole turkey. Turkey size uses USDA guidance: about 1 lb per person, 1½ lb for hearty eaters or plenty of leftovers, and 1¼ lb for a frozen pre-stuffed turkey. Thawing and buying dates use the USDA FSIS rules (24 hours in the fridge for every 4 to 5 lb; buy a fresh turkey 1 to 2 days before cooking). Side dishes and pies have no official portion rule, so they use the servings and slices you enter; check your own recipes. Excludes turkey breasts, boneless roasts, ham, vegetarian mains, costs, nutrition and roasting times (use the Turkey Thawing & Roasting Time Calculator for those). Independent ToolsKo planner. Sources reviewed November 11, 2026.

How to use it (step by step)

  1. 1Type how many people are eating and choose the kind of turkey and whether you want leftovers.
  2. 2Enter how many side dishes you plan and how many servings one batch of each recipe makes, then how many slices you cut per pie.
  3. 3Read the turkey size, the day to buy or start thawing, the batches and pies, then copy the shopping list.

Words to know

Per-person rule
A quick buying guide: USDA suggests about 1 pound of whole turkey for each guest. The bones are part of that pound.
Batch
One full recipe as written. If a recipe serves 8 and you need 20 servings, you make 3 batches.
Pre-stuffed turkey
A frozen turkey sold already stuffed. USDA says cook it straight from frozen; never thaw it first.
Shallow containers
Low, wide food boxes. Leftovers cool fast in them, which keeps bacteria from growing.

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Sources & methods

References checked November 11, 2026. Read each tool’s scope and assumptions before relying on its result.

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