BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you're planning to shop for Thanksgiving dinner soon, you might be pleased to hear prices are down 5 percent from last year.
According to the annual American Farm Bureau Federation Thanksgiving dinner survey, it will cost you $58.08 for a meal for ten people. Every year for this survey, shoppers check prices in all fifty states and Puerto Rico with the same shopping list. And while prices are down this year, they're still up 19 percent since 2019.
Turkey is the most expensive thing on the list the Farm Bureau looks at, and this year shoppers found the average price for a 16-pound turkey was $25.67.
Burt Flickinger is an expert on grocery prices with Strategic Resource Group. He says bird flu has impacted the turkey supply with the number raised in the United States this year the lowest it's been since 1985.
But he says don't expect a shortage.
"This year, there's plenty of turkeys to buy, but consumption's going to be down significantly, and ironically, and for consumer good, turkey prices will be down about 5 percent," Flickinger, the Strategic Resource Group's managing director, told 2 On Your Side.
Flickinger also says the cost of frozen vegetables is down 7 to 8 percent, but when it comes to dessert, it's a different story.
"The frozen ice cream, the whipped topping, the cream, the cookies, and also the bread, rolls, and any baked goods or processed food, all the way to stuffing the turkey, those price increases are outrageous," Flickinger said.
The Farm Bureau survey found prices out west are more expensive than the rest of the country, with prices in the south the most affordable. Processed foods are costing more everywhere.
"All the baked goods and all the processed foods are up according to our Strategic Resource Group prices studies, Kelly, up to 200-percent during the last ten crop years when the farmers are struggling to stay in business getting less than they ever have over the last ten crop years," Flickinger said.
Flickinger says if you want to check prices ahead of time, you can shop for deals, but then you also have to decide how much time you want to spend going to different stores and how much you want to spend on gas.