Survey Indicates Thanksgiving Meal Will Be Cheaper This Year

(GRAPHIC COURTESY OF AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION)

Americans can be thankful that the bill for their Thanksgiving dinner will decrease this year for the first time since 2013, according to American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

AFBF’s 31st annual Thanksgiving Dinner Price Survey found that the average cost for the holiday meal to feed 10 people rang up at $49.87, 24 cents less than last year’s cost of $50.11.

“Consumers will pay less than $5 per person for a classic Thanksgiving dinner this year,” said AFBF Director of Market Intelligence John Newton. “We have seen farm prices for many foods – including turkeys – fall from the higher levels of recent years. This translates into lower retail prices for a number of items as we prepare for Thanksgiving and confirms that U.S. consumers benefit from an abundant, high-quality and affordable food supply.”

AFBF bases the survey on a traditional Thanksgiving meal consisting of turkey, bread stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie, along with all the trimmings.

Lower-cost turkey drove the decrease with the average cost of a whole bird coming in at $22.74, or $1.42 per pound. That’s 30 cents less than last year for the bird or 2 cents less per pound. AFBF reports that there are more than enough turkeys to go around this year after flocks rebounded from Avian flu outbreaks in 2015.

Rolls, on the other hand, showed the greatest increase, a 9 percent jump.