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Thanksgiving dinner cost grows slightly from last year

Thanksgiving dinner will cost slightly more this year. American Farm Bureau Chief Economist Bob Young says the organization’s 25th annual market basket survey indicates the cost of the traditional holiday feast is up 1.3 percent overall.

“It’s a little surprising, given what everybody thinks or is talking about in terms of what food prices are doing, and actually the price of the turkey itself went down this year relative to last year,” Young told Brownfield. “One of the biggest increase areas really came in the dairy part.”

Dairy prices last year were unusually low and Young says they’re getting closer to normal in this year’s survey. Whole milk is $3.24 a gallon, rebounding from last year’s $2.86 a gallon, milk’s lowest level since 2001. The price of this year’s Thanksgiving meal for 10 is up 56 cents, from $42.91 last year to $43.47 this year. The price of the Thanksgiving centerpiece, a 16 pound turkey is down this year, at $17.66.

Even though it’s higher than last year, the cost of this year’s Thanksgiving meal is $1.14 lower than what shoppers paid two years ago.