Inflation is taking a bite out of Thanksgiving dinner, with prices anticipated to be up about 14% over last year, according to data from the Farm Bureau’s 36th annual survey on Thursday (Nov. 18).
A traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 10 is $53.31 — $5.33 per person — up 14% or $6.41 from 2020’s average of $46.90, according to a press release from the Farm Bureau. A turkey costs an average of $23.99 for a 16-pounder, up about 24% from 2020.
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The Farm Bureau sent volunteer shoppers out to stores from Oct. 26 to Nov. 8 — about two weeks before most supermarkets had whole frozen birds at deep discounts. Although this year’s survey aligns with previous surveys, in 2021 stores began advertising lower feature prices later than usual, according to data from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.
People who haven’t yet bought a turkey yet will likely be able to find one lower than the Farm Bureau average. For the week of Nov. 5-11, the average price per pound for whole frozen turkeys was $1.07. During the week of Nov. 12-18, it was 88 cents, a drop of 18% in a single week, according to the press release.
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“Several factors contributed to the increase in the average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner,” said AFBF Senior Economist Veronica Nigh. “These include dramatic disruptions to the U.S. economy and supply chains over the last 20 months, inflationary pressure throughout the economy, difficulty in predicting demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and high global demand for food, particularly meat. The trend of consumers cooking and eating at home more often due to the pandemic led to increased supermarket demand and higher retail food prices in 2020 and 2021, compared to pre-pandemic prices in 2019.”
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The informal survey by the Farm Bureau considered a Thanksgiving spread for 10 people that included turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk.
“The average was calculated using 218 surveys with pricing data from all 50 states and Puerto Rico,” per the release.
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