How Much Money Will Thanksgiving Gobble up This Year?
November 21, 2019 
This turkey has reason to look nervous. Retail prices for the birds are the lowest since 2010.
Did you know 90% of Americans polled celebrate Thanksgiving with some kind of special meal? Makes sense. This stat is just one of many findings in American Farm Bureau Federation’s 34th annual survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table. But how much will the turkey with all the fixins (stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk) cost this year?
Farm Bureau economists report the average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving Day dinner for 10 is $48.91, or less than $5.00 per person. This is only a 1-cent increase from last year’s average.
According to survey results, retail turkey prices are the lowest since 2010. At $20.80 for a 16-pound bird, that’s roughly $1.30 per pound, down 4% from last year.
And although the overall average cost of the meal for 10 was about the same this year compared to last, there were some slight price changes for individual items. Besides the turkey, foods that showed slight price declines include cubed bread stuffing and canned pumpkin pie mix. Foods showing modest increases this year included dinner rolls, sweet potatoes, and milk.
More than 250 volunteer shoppers checked prices at grocery stores in 38 states for this year’s survey.
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