Thanksgiving Day Meal Price Steady
Missouri shoppers will find the price for most items used to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal will mirror those from 2014. Shoppers across the nation are finding a similar story, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Thanksgiving Marketbasket Survey results released this week.
“Food prices over the past few months have trended toward the low side of normal inflation,” said Diane Olson, Director of Missouri Farm Bureau Promotion and Education Programs. “The items needed to prepare the Thanksgiving Day menu are following this trend as well.”
Volunteer shoppers collected prices at local stores across Missouri to determine pricing for this year’s holiday meal. They found a meal for 10 people averaged $51.92 this year, or $5.19 per person. Compared to the 2014 prices for the same items, this amounts to an overall increase of $1.40, or 14 cents per person. Nationwide the average price totaled $50.11, or $5.01 per person.
Turkey prices across the state ranged from 79 cents to $1.69 per pound, averaging $1.37. Last year’s average price was $1.24. The meal cost is based on a 16-pound bird, so the centerpiece of the meal, the turkey, accounted for $21.92 of the total.
“There appears to be no shortage of turkeys for Thanksgiving despite earlier concerns,” said John Anderson, AFBF Chief Economist. The birds in the meat case at present were processed earlier this year prior to the Avian Flu outbreak.
Cranberries were slightly higher this year, $2.65, compared to $2.38 last year. A gallon of whole milk dropped 70 cents to $3.72 while whipping cream rose 29 cents to $2.69 per half-pint. Prices for turkey and cranberries will continue to fluctuate as we move closer to the Thanksgiving holiday.
