This year’s Thanksgiving Day dinner for 10 will reach an average cost of $50.11, a 70-cent increase over last year.
This is the first time the dinner will go over $50, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s price survey on the Thanksgiving dinner. The largest ticket item is a 16-pound turkey with a cost of $23.04. This is $1.39 higher than 2014.
AFBF said, “Retail prices seem to have stabilized quite a bit for turkey, which is the centerpiece of the meal in our market basket. There were some production disruptions earlier this year due to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in the Midwest. Turkey production is down this year but not dramatically. Our survey shows a modest increase in turkey prices compared to last year.”
Other items showing large increases include pumpkin pie mix, a dozen brown-n-serve rolls, cubed bread stuffing and pie shells. Items that declined in price were one gallon of whole milk, fresh cranberries and ingredients needed to prepare the meal (butter, onions, eggs, sugar and flour). The AFBF survey meal items includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk. AFBF has been conducting this survey since 1986.
