The Ibotta Thanksgiving Meal Hack Is Back — Free Turkey, Three Sides & Gravy

The cost of a Thanksgiving dinner ain’t cheap, so getting a free Ibotta Thanksgiving meal using just your smartphone is the ultimate gift. I know you’re thinking there’s no way in 2023 we’re getting a whole free Thanksgiving meal, but with this Ibotta hack, you can dig in on Nov. 23 for next to nothing.

For the fourth year in a row, the cash-back and rebate app Ibotta is offering a free Thanksgiving meal — turkey, sides, and all — after you redeem grocery receipts on the platform to unlock the free offers. According to Ibotta, more than 8.5 million Americans have gotten free meals using the promotion in the past two years. You can claim the free Thanksgiving meal offer when you shop at any participating retailer (it used to be a Walmart exclusive promo but that changed in 2022).

Here’s what we know about the 2023 Ibotta Thanksgiving meal hack. And if you’re new to Ibotta, check out our explainer on how to use the Ibotta app.

Be sure to download The Krazy Coupon Lady app for more savings tips, deals, and coupons.

 

The free Ibotta Thanksgiving meal will be available until Nov. 22.

The Ibotta Thanksgiving dinner offer for 2023 is available Nov. 1 – 22, but only while supplies last. If you’re an existing Ibotta user (and already understand all the lingo), you’ll need to complete the Turkey and Sides bonuses by Nov. 18 to unlock your offers for a free turkey and three sides (plus gravy). You can choose to unlock the Turkey offer or the Sides offer first, but cannot earn towards them at the same time. Once you unlock the offer you selected first (either the Turkey or the Sides) you’ll be able to unlock and earn towards the second one.

Once you unlock those offers, you’ll have until Nov. 22 to redeem them and get your Thanksgiving goodies for free. If you’re not an Ibotta user yet, it’s time to download the Ibotta app.

You can redeem your offers at any participating retailer, not just at Walmart like in prior years.

Related: We compared the average costs of a Thanksgiving dinner from Aldi, Target, and Publix in 2022.

 

Watch our TikTok to see how it’s done.

@thekrazycouponlady

The Ibotta free Thanksgiving dinner is back now through Nov. 22! New users who download the free Ibotta app immediately get the rebates for a whole turkey or turkey roast, Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, Jiffy corn muffin mix, Idahoan mashed potatoes, and McCormick gravy mix. Existing users must first complete bonuses by redeeming other rebates (the amount varies by account) to unlock the free Turkey Day dinner. Once unlocked, we were able to get an almost 15-pound Jennie-O turkey with the side dishes at Walmart for $19.72 and submit our receipt to Ibotta for $20.50 back to our account! See our link in bio for the full details and the easiest way to complete the bonuses (while saving money) to unlock your free Thanksgiving offers. #thanksgiving #thanksgivingdinner #thanksgiving2023 #freeturkey #ibotta #ibottadeals #ibottarebates #ibottathanksgiving #ibottatutorial #couponcommunity #couponingforbeginners #couponing101 #rebateapps #rebateoffers #walmartcouponing #freefoodhack #turkeyday #thanksgivinghack #thanksgivinghacks #thanksgivingdeals #krazycouponlady

♬ 1901 – Instrumental – Phoenix

 

 

You get five items for free from Ibotta, including turkey, sides, and gravy.

For Thanksgiving 2023, Ibotta is offering a turkey, three sides, and gravy.

Here are the five products you can get for free in 2023 after you unlock their offers:

• Turkey Roast (See more below!)
• Idahoan Potatoes (4 oz)
• McCormick Gravy Mix (0.87 oz)
• Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (8.5 oz)
• Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce (14 oz)

This year’s turkey offer gets you $14.35 cash back. You can pick the brand, and you can select a breast or whole bird, as long as it’s three pounds or larger — it’s up to you. Some of the included brands are Butterball, Honest Turkey, Honeysuckle, Jennie-O, Great Value, and more. If you’re not quite sure if your store’s turkey brand qualifies, you can use the Check Product Barcode feature on the turkey offer page. Just give it a quick scan to see if it qualifies before you purchase.
*Note: When we tried the scanner function this weekend, it was not working. But our Jennie-O turkey still earned us cash back immediately! We suggest you stick to the big-name brands, and you should be fine.

The $14.35 cash-back value is based on the average MSRP for a 3-pound turkey. Need a bigger turkey? You can still buy a larger one and get up to $14.35 cash back.

Related: Where to Get a Free Thanksgiving Turkey

 

 

Plus, this deal can actually be a moneymaker!

Our team completed this Ibotta Thanksgiving Dinner offer at Walmart and came out on top. Ibotta awarded us the full rebate of the meal, totaling $20.50 and we were able to snag our entire meal — turkey and sides! — for just $19.72. That left us with $0.78 in our Ibotta earnings.

Here’s how we did it:

14.78 lb. turkey
Our Cost: $14.48
Ibotta Rebate: $14.35
Total: -$0.13

Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Our Cost: $0.52
Ibotta Rebate: $0.75
Total: +$0.23

Idahoan Mashed Potatoes
Our Cost: $1.44
Ibotta Rebate: $1.60
Total: +$0.16

Canned Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce
Our Cost: $1.98
Ibotta Rebate: $2.65
Total: +$0.67

McCormick Gravy Mix
Our Cost: $1.30
Ibotta Rebate: $1.15
Total: -$0.15

 

Here’s how to unlock your free Thanksgiving meal:

All you need is a smartphone to get 100% cash back on turkey, three sides, and gravy. New Ibotta users and existing users will have two different paths to receive a free Thanksgiving meal.

New users who join on or after Nov. 1 will have the turkey bundle offers available immediately. If you’re an existing Ibotta user, you’ll have a little bit of work to do to get the offer.

New Ibotta users:

1. Download the Ibotta app on or after Nov. 1, 2023. The Thanksgiving offers should be available to you immediately.
2. In the app, choose the store where you’ll be shopping.
3. Choose your offers from that store and add them to your shopping list by tapping the plus sign (+).
4. Purchase your items in-store at the retailer and keep your receipt.
5. Scan and upload your receipt with the Ibotta app.
6. You’ll get cashback in your Ibotta account on qualifying offers within 24 hours of submitting your receipt.

Existing Ibotta users:

1. Log in to your Ibotta account and click “Get Started” on the Thanksgiving Dinner promotion.
2. Select either the Turkey bonus or the Sides bonus.
3. Redeem the required offers (the number of offers needed varies by account).
4. Scan your receipts to complete your first bonus. This will also unlock the second bonus (turkey or sides, depending on your initial choice).
5. Redeem the additional offers to complete the second bonus.
6. Scan and upload your receipts in the Ibotta app to receive cashback for your Thanksgiving dinner items.

These offers will be valid through Nov. 22 or while supplies last. With Ibotta, you can cash out once your earnings reach $20. Existing users can cash out as soon as this Thanksgiving offer hits their account.

But new users can cash out once the following requirements are met:

1. You have successfully redeemed at least one offer
2. Your earnings balance is at least $20
3. It has been at least 7 days since your first offer redemption

Here’s how we unlocked the Ibotta free turkey offer at Walmart for just $17.01.

Many Ibotta users need to redeem 16 offers to “unlock” the turkey and an additional four offers to unlock the sides, so 20 offers in total. (Note the number of offers you’ll need varies by user.) Using Walmart Ibotta offers, we were able to unlock a free turkey by spending $45.62 out of pocket. The Ibotta offers resulted in $28.61 cashback and still unlocked the free bird.

While browsing through Ibotta, select the top items to shop for to get most of your money back. After all, it’s silly to spend way more than the turkey costs just to unlock the offer. Look for offers that are free after the rebate or close to it to really maximize your savings.

Here’s exactly what to buy, with prices listed from Walmart:

1. Buy 1 Splenda PEEL & POUR Pods $6.28 each — Get back $6.28 from Ibotta
2. Buy 1 Dave’s Killer Bread Organic Snack Bar $1.99 — Get back $1.99 from Ibotta
3. Buy 1 Gatorade Fit 16.9-oz. Beverage $1.38 — Get back $0.64 from Ibotta
4. Buy 2 Bush’s Sidekicks $1.54 each — Get back $1.50/2 from Ibotta
5. Buy 1 Jimmy! 4-ct. Protein Bars $5.24 each — Get back $4 from Ibotta
6. Buy 1 Febreeze Plus Warmer Air Care $3.24 — Get back $2.30 from Ibotta
7. Buy 3 Snapple Peach Tea Powdered Drink Mix $1 each — Get back $1 from Ibotta
8. Buy 1 Air Wick Scented Oil Advanced Warmer $5.98 — Get back $4 from Ibotta
9. Buy 2 Kellogg’s Insta-Bowls $1.98 each — Get back $1 from Ibotta
10. Buy 1 Cup Noodles Stir Fry $1.12 — Get back $0.75 from Ibotta
11. Buy 1 Jimmy Dean Egg Bites $2.87 — Get back $1.50 from Ibotta
12. Buy 1 Pillsbury Refrigerated Canned Biscuits $1.54 — Get back $0.75 from Ibotta
13. Buy 1 Bumble Bee Seasoned Tuna Pouch $1.16 — Get back $0.25 from Ibotta
14. Buy 1 Kraft Mac and Cheese Original Dinner $1.12 — Get back $0.15 from Ibotta
15. Buy 2 7Days Soft Croissants $1.48 each — Get back $1.50 from Ibotta
16. Buy 1 Pure Leaf 18.5-oz. Tea Real Brewed Iced Tea $2.18 — Get back $1 from Ibotta

Pay: $45.62
Get back $28.61 from Ibotta
Final cost: $17.01 for 16 items + unlock the Turkey reward

 

New this year: 25 shoppers can win Ibotta Thanksgiving for Life (or $4,000 in prize money).

Currently, a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people averages in costs around $64. If inflation stopped (we wish) and the price of food stayed relatively the same for basically ever, you could get 62 Thanksgiving dinners for tables of 10 with that $4,000.

Now we can’t promise that $4,000 is actually going to cover your Thanksgiving dinners for life, but Ibotta does have a new giveaway happening this year with the goal of doing just that. The app is giving away “Thanksgiving for Life” in the form of $4,000 each to 25 lucky shoppers.

There are two ways to enter this giveaway.

1. Complete the Ibotta Thanksgiving social challenge.

Create a pantry restock video, filling up your cabinets with the 100% cash back Thanksgiving items, plus any of your other favorite grocery staples.
Include a screenshot of your Earnings screen, showing off how much cash back you received. Post your video on TikTok by Nov. 22, 2023.

You must tag @Ibotta and include the hashtag #IbottaThanksgiving in your post (1 social entry maximum).

2. Tell your friends to sign up for Ibotta

For every friend that registers for a new Ibotta account with your referral code before Nov. 22, 2023, you’ll get an entry (10 maximum).

Bonus: You’ll get $10 in cash back for every friend who registers and redeems an offer in the Ibotta app.

Happy Thanksgiving!