The cost of your family’s Thanksgiving dinner Thursday will be ever so slightly lower this year compared to last year.
The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 31st annual Thanksgiving dinner survey, released last week, found dinner for 10 will cost an average of $49.87, down 24 cents from last year.
“We have seen farm prices for many foods — including turkeys — fall from the higher levels of recent years,” AFBF’s Dr. John Newton said. “This translates into lower retail prices for a number of items.”
The largest expense remains the turkey.
The survey found the average cost of a 16-pound turkey came in at $22.74, more than 45 percent of the overall cost of the dinner. This year’s cost of the turkey is roughly $1.42 per pound, a decrease of 2 cents per pound.
The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10 with plenty for leftovers.
According to the survey, foods showing the largest decreases this year in addition to turkey were pumpkin pie mix, milk and a veggie tray comprised of celery and carrots. A 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix was $3.13; a gallon of milk, $3.17; a one-pound veggie tray of celery and carrots, $0.73; and a group of miscellaneous items including coffee and ingredients necessary to prepare the meal (butter, evaporated milk, onions, eggs, sugar and flour), $2.81.
“Due to a significant expansion in global milk production, prices fell to the lowest levels since 2009, leading to lower retail milk and dairy product prices. Additionally, this year’s pumpkin prices are slightly lower following the production decline and higher prices seen in 2015,” Newton said.
Items that increased modestly in price were a dozen brown-and-serve rolls, $2.46; two nine-inch pie shells, $2.59; one pound of green peas, $1.58; 12 ounces of fresh cranberries, $2.39; a half-pint of whipping cream, $2.00; a 14-ounce package of cubed bread stuffing, $2.67; and a three-pound bag of fresh sweet potatoes, $3.60.
The average price is down slightly from last year to $49.87. After adjusting for inflation, the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner fell to $20.66 — the lowest level since 2010.
A total of 148 volunteer shoppers checked prices at grocery stores in 40 states for this year’s survey. Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers are asked to look for the best possible prices, without taking advantage of special promotional coupons or purchase deals, such as spending $50 and receiving a free turkey.