ICYMI: "Your Thanksgiving Turkey Will Be Cheaper This Year"

As Americans prepare for Thanksgiving, there's one more thing to look forward to—some relief at the grocery store. For the second year in a row, the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal is falling, and many grocery chains are offering deals for the holiday.

CNN News Central: "Good news as we all turn our focus to Thanksgiving this year"

KATE BOLDUAN: Good news as we all turn our focus to Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving dinner will likely cost a little bit less this year compared to last year. And you can thank your turkey for that one. […]

VANESSA YURKEVICH: A dinner for ten, according to the American Farm Bureau, who puts out this survey every year for 38 years now, says $58.08 for a family of 10. That includes 12 ingredients that you would normally have in your Thanksgiving dinner. That's the cost of, on average, about $5.80 per person. It's good news because it's a decrease from last year, down 5% from last year. […] Turkeys this year, 16-pound turkey, a little more than $25, down 6% from last year. And that helped bring the overall cost down.

NBC's Today Show: Will your Thanksgiving turkey cost more than it did last year?

CHRISTINE ROMANS: Cheaper this year than last year. […] Turkey should be cheaper, and that's going to be driving things. When you look at the overall, the American Farm Bureau did this calculation and found about 58 bucks for a party of ten, to feed ten people for the American Farm Bureau. That's about 5.80 a person. And you dig into the numbers, turkey is 6% cheaper this year, pumpkin pie mix is down, whole milk, look at whole milk, down a lot, and sweet potatoes down. […] Two years down of lower prices for turkey, the meal. […]

ROMANS: So you look at some of these, Aldi, Amazon Fresh, Walmart, Target, they all have package offers right now that are really, really cheap. Look at Target, $20 for four people. […] Aldi has a $47 meal for ten people. […] A lot of deals out there.

TIME: Your Thanksgiving Turkey Will Be Cheaper This Year
[Solcyre Burga, 11/20/24]

The cost of the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving meal has declined for the second year in a row, with the cost of a 16-pound turkey reaching an average of $27, down about 6% from the year prior, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation's 39th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey. 

The turkey contributes to the decline in the current cost of the average Thanksgiving meal—which though lower, still remains more elevated than pre-pandemic levels. For 2024, the cost for a holiday meal for 10 people averaged about $58.08, or about $5.80 per person. That's down 5% from 2023, and about 9% from 2022 […]

Many ingredients, aside from the turkey, saw a decrease in pricing as well. Sweet potatoes, for instance, dropped by 26.2%, while the cost of 1-pound of frozen peas went down by about 8%. A 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, whole milk, frozen pie crust, and one-pound veggie tray also shrunk in cost.

Associated Press: Grocery chains vie for a place on Thanksgiving tables with turkey dinner deals and store brands
[Anne D'Innocenzio, 11/20/24]

With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, Walmart, Target, Aldi and other grocers are competing for a place on holiday tables with turkey dinner deals and other promotions […]

Walmart, the nation's largest food retailer, first bundled the makings of a traditional turkey feast into a meal deal three years ago. This year, the 29-item offer, which includes a frozen turkey and ingredients for side dishes, costs less than $55 and is intended to serve eight. That calculates to less than $7 per person.

Target's version for four people costs $20, $5 less than the company's 2023 Thanksgiving meal, and includes a frozen turkey, stuffing mix and canned green beans and canned jellied cranberry sauce. Aldi's offers a frozen Butterball turkey with gravy mix as well as pumpkin ingredients for pumpkin pie and ingredients for side dishes like sweet potato casserole. The German-owned supermarket chain priced it for $47 and said that was less than it charged for the same items in 2019.

Meijer, with more than 500 supercenters in the Midwest, jumped into the fray last week by offering a frozen turkey for 49 cents per pound or lower and a $37 Thanksgiving family meal for a group of four to six. […]

The latest government snapshot on inflation showed grocery prices rose just 0.1% from September to October and are up just 1.1% over the past year.

CNN: Cheaper turkeys help bring down Thanksgiving dinner costs this year
[Vanessa Yurkevich, 11/20/24]

The average cost of this year's dinner for 10 people is $58.08, or about $5.80 per person, the survey found. That's a 5% drop from 2023.

The center piece of the Thanksgiving meal, the turkey, helped bring down the overall cost. The average price for a 16-pound turkey is $25.67, down 6% from last year. […]

The price of whole milk dropped more than 14% from last year to $3.21 a gallon because of better weather for dairy farmers and cows. Frozen peas dropped 8.1% to $1.73 for a pound, and celery and carrots fell by 6.4%.

Reuters: Lower turkey costs set table for cheaper US Thanksgiving feast this year
[Renee Hickman and Karl Plume, 11/20/24]

The price tag of the traditional holiday meal, which also includes cranberries, sweet potatoes and stuffing, has dropped for a second consecutive year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual survey released on Wednesday.

Cooks can thank the bird. Turkey prices dropped 6% on cooling demand as some consumers opted to add beef and pork to the menu, the Farm Bureau and market analysts said.

CNBC: Thanksgiving meals are expected to be cheaper in 2024 as turkey prices drop
[Greg Iacurci, 11/20/24]

Key Points

• A "classic" Thanksgiving meal for 10 will cost about $58 in 2024, roughly 5% less than 2023, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
• Turkey prices had the largest impact on that decline.
• Food inflation overall has decreased significantly from pandemic-era highs.

Thanksgiving is a time to gather with loved ones, to show gratitude for life's abundance — and, of course, to eat.

And when it comes to Thanksgiving food, it seems Americans are getting relief on their grocery bills this year […]

"Food inflation has been pretty tame," said Robin Wenzel, head of the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute. "You're seeing some good relief there."

Scripps News: Thanksgiving meals expected to be cheaper in 2024 as turkey prices drop
[Justin Boggs, 11/20/24]

For the second straight year, the average cost of a family's Thanksgiving gathering is expected to be cheaper.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said the estimated cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people will be 5% lower than a year ago, according to an analysis released Wednesday. The price drop comes after a 4.5% decrease in 2023 compared to 2022 prices. […]

Many Thanksgiving staples are less expensive than a year ago. The largest decrease was on the price of sweet potatoes, which had a 26.2% drop. […] Other staples, such as pie crusts, frozen peas and milk, are also cheaper.

Americans should also have an easier time affording Thanksgiving meals, as average weekly earnings are up 4% in the last year, as of October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Washington Times: Thanksgiving dinner will cost less this year as inflation cools
[Sean Salai, 11/20/24]

Families will have something extra to be grateful for at Thanksgiving as the price of a turkey dinner falls for the second straight year.

The American Farm Bureau Federation reported Wednesday that the average Thanksgiving feast for 10 people will cost Americans $58.08, or about $5.80 per person. That's down 5% from $61.17 in 2023, when prices fell 4.5% […]

The agriculture industry group credited falling turkey prices for tamping down overall dinner costs. According to the federation, the average 16-pound turkey will cost $25.67 or $1.68 per pound this year, down 6% from last year. […]

"Even without the drop in turkey prices, Thanksgiving would still be more affordable than last year," said Ryan Young, a senior economist at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute.