Thanksgiving dinner will be more expensive than ever this year: report

And this year, the average cost of a turkey dinner with garnishes was $53.31, not counting drinks or garnishes. The good news is, that’s less than $6 a person. Bad news: this tab is up 14% from last year’s average of $46.90. In fact, this is the highest level since the Bureau of Farms started tracking prices in 1986.

And if you add ham, Russet potatoes, and frozen chickpeas to the mix, the total cost of the meal increases by $15.41, to a total of $68.72 — also a 14% increase over with last year.

“A number of factors have contributed to the increase in the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner this year,” said AFBF senior economist Veronica Nigh. “These include significant disruptions to the US economy and supply chains over the past 20 months; inflationary pressure in the whole economy; difficult to predict demand during the COVID-19 pandemic; and the global demand for food is high, especially for meat,” she explains.

Nigh also noted that the increasing number of people cooking and eating at home during the pandemic has resulted in increased supermarket demand and higher retail food prices in 2020 and 2021, compared to retail prices. before the pandemic in 2019.

As usual, turkeys are eating up the bulk of Thanksgiving budget: $23.99 for a 16-pound bird, or about $1.50 per pound, up 24% from last year. But the Bureau of Farms notes that there are some mitigating factors with their turkey figures. First, their volunteer shoppers checked prices between October 26 and November 8, 2021, which is about two weeks before many grocery chains start selling turkeys. whole, frozen at a lower price. So shoppers who haven’t bought their turkeys can still find them for less than the Bureau of Farms average.

However, a recent chart by the Bank of America that tracks turkey prices also warns that This year’s Thanksgiving bird will cost you more than any other time in this century. According to its chart, the price of a 15-pound turkey has increased 25% from $11 in 2018 to nearly $21 this year.

Other cooking staples, such as milk, eggs and sugar, are also seeing bigger budgets after grocery costs rose 5.4% over the past year, marking one of the biggest increases. the most in the past two decades, according to the consumer price index. That contributed to The biggest increase in US inflation in nearly 31 years.

Read more: High inflation is eating up the budget of American households

Indeed, almost every Thanksgiving menu item on the Farm Bureau’s list is more expensive than it was last year, especially the frozen pie crust (up 20% to $2.91), a dozen dinner rolls (up 15% to $3.05) and vegetable tray carrots and celery (up 12% to 82 cents.). The only ingredient that’s cheaper is the 14-ounce cube of stuffing mix, down 19% to $2.29.

But keep in mind that shoppers can still spend significantly more than $53 on Thanksgiving dinner in expensive cities like NYC or San Francisco. Packing organic produce or specialty turkey can also drive up holiday grocery bills even more.

In fact, one new LendingTree survey of more than 2,000 Americans found that people are expected to spend less than $400 on Thanksgiving this year, including paying for meals, as well as alcohol, paper products, and groceries. Decorate to fully clear the dining table. And 44% expect to pay off debt by partying – which is even more troubling when you consider another recent LendingTree survey, which found that more than 1 in 10 shoppers (13%) are still paying last year’s holiday bills.

On the other hand, bargain hunters can trim down their Thanksgiving tab by shopping around. German grocery chain Aldi recently announced that Thanksgiving “saved” This year by offering many of these ingredients for under $30, including: Butterball turkey, stuffing, sweet potato, sweet Hawaiian rolls, frozen peas, fresh cranberries, carrots , celery, canned pumpkin pie mix, pie crust, whipping cream, and gallons of whole milk.

The Bureau of Farms calculated the cost of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner by drawing on more than 200 surveys with price data from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers also check prices online using grocery store apps and websites. And these volunteer shoppers have been searching for the best possible price without using special promotional coupons or purchases, which means you can definitely take advantage of these types of discounts. while shopping for their own groceries.