The cost of this year’s feast is up 14% over last year’s, according a new American Farm Bureau Federation survey. The price of the classic meal for 10 people is $53.31; 2020’s total was $46.90.
The biggest-ticket food on the Thanksgiving table will be the turkey, at $23.99 for a 16-pounder, which is 24% more than the bird cost last year. Also more expensive this year is 30-ounce pumpkin pie mix, up a quarter to $3.64, and a 12-pack of rolls, up 39 cents to $3.05.
The one item that is cheaper this year is a 14-ounce package of cubed stuffing, down 52 cents to $2.29, the survey finds.
“Several factors contributed to the increase in average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner,” AFBF senior economist Veronica Nigh said in a written statement. “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.”
The survey, first compiled in 1986, is conducted with price data collected by volunteer shoppers.