The Farm Bureau's 36th annual survey indicates that the average cost of this year's classic Thanksgiving feast for 10 is $53.31, or less than $6 per person. This is a 14 percent increase, equivalent to $6.41 more, than last year's average of $46.90.
The turkey, the centerpiece on most Thanksgiving tables, costs more than last year at $23.99 for a 16-pound bird. That's roughly $1.50 per pound or 24 percent more than last year, but there are mitigating issues.
"Several factors contributed to the increase in average cost of this year's Thanksgiving dinner," said AFBF Senior Economist Veronica Nigh, in a 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," she explained. In addition, she says 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.
Farm Bureau "volunteer shoppers" checked prices from Oct. 26 to Nov. 8, about two weeks before most grocery store chains began featuring whole frozen turkeys at sharply lower prices. Although the survey timeline is consistent with past AFBF Thanksgiving surveys, 2021 brought some specific differences. According to USDA Agriculture Marketing service data, grocery stores began advertising lower feature prices later than usual this year. Also, the average per-pound feature price for whole frozen turkeys was $1.07 the week of Nov. 5 - 11 and 88 cents the week of Nov. 12 - 18, a decline of 18 percent in just one week. Consumers who have not yet purchased a turkey should be able to find one at a lower cost than the Farm Bureau average.
The informal survey includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10 with plenty for leftovers.
Related: Stew Leonard's Address Shoppers' Supply Related Fears; Record Number of Americans to Host Thanksgiving.