By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-23 20:53:54 | Updated at 2024-11-24 00:01:21
3 hours ago
We’re stuffed!
Thanksgiving dinners are slightly cheaper than last year, but the holiday feast is still gobbling up hefty funds from American families — with inflation making the spread 19% higher than it was before the pandemic.
The average cost of this year’s meal for 10 will be $58.08, or about $5.80 per person — but that’s close to $10 more than it was pre-pandemic, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual Thanksgiving dinner survey.
While the cost of Thanksgiving dinner dropped 5% from 2023 and 9% from the record of $64.06 set in 2022, the highest since the bureau began its yearly assessment in 1986, it’s still 19% more expensive than it was in 2019.
That “highlights the impact inflation has had on food prices — and farmers’ costs — since the pandemic,” the bureau said.
Turkey — the main attraction on Thanksgiving — is usually the most expensive part of the meal but it helped keep Americans’ wallets a little fatter this year as the average price of a 16-pound bird is $25.67, or $1.60 per pound, down 6% from 2023.
“The American turkey flock is the smallest it’s been since 1985 because of avian influenza, but overall demand has also fallen, resulting in lower prices at the grocery store for families planning a holiday meal,” said AFBF economist Bernt Nelson.
The traditional Thanksgiving spread is most affordable in the South, where Americans spend about $56.81, according to AFBF’s study, which revealed that those living out West shell out the most — $67.05 — for their feasts.
Northeasterners, meanwhile, spend about $57.36 and Midwesterners $58.90, according to the bureau.
“We should all be thankful that we live in a country with such an abundant food supply,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall.
“We are seeing modest improvements in the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for a second year, but America’s families, including farm families, are still being hurt by high inflation.”
If turkey isn’t tops on your plate, the wholesale price of ham is a moderate 87.74 cents per pound, according to the USDA.
Those tasked with baking Thanksgiving desserts will see the price of two frozen pie crusts drop by nearly 3% to $3.40, while pumpkin pie mix fell 6.5 7% to $4.15 and a gallon of milk is down more than 14% at $3.21.
Prices for fresh vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, celery and frozen peas, also dropped, a reflection of the “volatility in crops this year,” the AFBF said.
Sadly, those who love to carb-load on Turkey Day may need to tighten their belts as stuffing mix rose to $4.08 per 14 ounces — an 8.2% hike over last year — while dinner rolls shot up 8.4% to $4.16 a dozen, according to the bureau.
A half-pint of whipping cream also rose 4.7% to $1.81 up 4.7% while cranberries increased 11.8% to $2.35 per 12 ounces.
Overall, grocery store prices rose 1.3% year-over-year through, according to the Consumer Price Index.
