Prices Fall for Thanksgiving Dinner in Louisiana This Year

SHREVEPORT, LA - You might not believe this, but the price of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is down just a bit this year. That's quite surprising since we have been dealing with inflation for more than a year. The American Farm Bureau has released their annual Thanksgiving dinner survey.

The typical turkey and dressing dinner with all the trimmings will set you back just over $61 dollars for a family of 10 this year. The average is $6.12 for each guest. This price tag is actually down by 4.5% from last year when the cost of the feast hit record high prices. But we are still paying 25% higher compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This survey includes prices from all over the United States between November 1-6. The Farm Bureau sends out volunteer shoppers to survey all the items we typically serve on our Thanksgiving table.

What Items Did These Shoppers Check?

Volunteers collect price information on turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, frozen peas, fresh cranberries, celery, carrots, pumpkin pie mix, pie shells, whipping cream and whole milk. Those items are included in the $61 price tag. But these shoppers also checked out the price of ham, potatoes and frozen green beans. When you add those dishes to the table, the price of the Thanksgiving meal jumps to $84.75 or $8.48 per person.

How Much Will the Turkey Cost You This Year?

The bird typically accounts for about 43% of the price of the holiday meal. This year, a 16-pound frozen turkey will be about 45% of the tab for the meal. The turkey will set you back $27.35. That's down more than 5% from a year ago. Turkey prices are down a bit because the avian flu has not been as big of an issue this year.

What Items Saw the Biggest Price Changes?

Those yummy dinner rolls will cost you about 3% more this year and pumpkin pie mix is up nearly 4%. The rolls will cost about $4 a dozen.
You will find lower prices for whipping cream which is down by nearly 23% at $1.73 per half pint. Fresh cranberries are also cheaper this year, down more than 18%.

This report also shows this meal will be a little bit cheaper in Louisiana and the rest of the south. We can expect to pay $59.10 for all the items needed to make that delicious turkey spread. Folks in the northeast will pay the most, at $64.38.