Thanksgiving meal costs a little less this year
By Katie Little, CNBC
Finally, some good news for consumers to chew on: That Thanksgiving feast will be a little less expensive.
The average cost of this year’s holiday dinner for 10 eased down 0.9 percent to $49.04 from $49.48 last year, according to a survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation released on Thursday.
The survey’s shopping list includes typical Turkey Day fare, including turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
About half of the items became more expensive while the other half fell in price. The biggest decrease this year came from a drop in turkey prices. Prices of rolls and green peas also fell. Meanwhile, sweet potatoes, pumpkin-pie mix and milk made up the biggest increases in this year’s basket.
“Most Americans will pay about the same as last year at the grocery store for a turkey and all the trimmings,” said John Anderson, AFBF’s deputy chief economist in a news release. “Slightly higher turkey production for much of the year coupled with an increase in birds in cold storage may be responsible for the moderate price decrease our shoppers reported.”