Planning to cook a Thanksgiving dinner at home this year? It will cost you a whopping 14% higher than last year, the Farm Bureau estimates.
That amounts to an estimated cost of $53.31 for a classic Thanksgiving meal for 10.
Fortunately, the reality of grocery store prices, if you're buying the necessary supplies this week, may not be quite as intimidating.
Much of the increase is based on higher prices for turkeys, which rose an estimated 24%.
That figure is based on prices the Farm Bureau's “volunteer shoppers” found during the period from October 26 to November 8, when the cost of a turkey was approximately $1.50 per pound.
With Thanksgiving approaching, grocery stores have significantly lowered turkey prices. At local Kroger stores, for example, frozen turkeys are $0.49 per pound this week and fresh turkeys are $1.29 per pound. At local Meier stores, frozen turkeys are $0.33 per pound and fresh turkeys are $0.99 per pound.
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“Taking turkey out of the basket of foods reveals a 6.6% price increase compared to last year, which tracks closely with the Consumer Price Index for food and general inflation across the economy,” American Farm Bureau Federation Senior Economist Veronica Nigh said in a statement.
COVID-19, supply chain issues contribute to cost of Thanksgiving feast
Why the overall increase?
There are several reasons, according to Dr. Zoe Plakias, assistant professor in the Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
“First of all, there's just increasing demand, compared to last year, and that's associated with price increases,” she said.
“At the same time, we do continue to have supply chain challenges. And COVID is still an issue. We think of COVID as affecting food processing in early 2020, but that's still happening,” she said.
And then there's the effect of panic buying.
“The norms that we're operating under are changing all the time, so it's challenging for folks in the supply chain and retailers to plan when and where to have food. When we don't see something that we want, or that we plan to serve at Thanksgiving dinner, we exacerbate the issue by panic buying, which also can raise prices.”
The 36th annual Farm Bureau survey breaks down the rate of increase for ingredients for a Thanksgiving feast as follows:
16-pound turkey: $23.99 or approximately $1.50 per pound (up 24%)
2 frozen pie crusts: $2.91 (up 20%)
30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix: $3.64 (up 7%)
Half pint of whipping cream : $1.78 (up 2%)
1 dozen dinner rolls: $3.05 (up 15%)
12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries: $2.98 (up 11%)
1 gallon of whole milk: $3.30 (up 7%)
1 pound of frozen peas: $1.54 (up 6%)
3 pounds of sweet potatoes: $3.56 (up 4%)
1-pound veggie tray (carrots and celery): $0.82 (up 12%)
Miscellaneous ingredients to prepare the meal: $3.45 (up 12%)
14-ounce bag of cubed stuffing mix: $2.29 (down 19%)
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