Thanksgiving dinner feeds 10 for about 50 bucks

The annual Thanksgiving feast this year will cost a little more, the Montana Farm Bureau notes, but it’s still a cheap meal.

The American Farm Bureau’s classic Thanksgiving Dinner Survey shows the average cost of feeding 10 people this year is $50.11, increasing less than 2 percent from 2014. That comes to only a 70-cent increase from 2014. Increases in the average price for turkey, pumpkin pie mix, brown-n-serve rolls, cubed bread stuffing and pie shells are the main drivers behind the modest increase. 

There was a $1.39 increase for turkey this year, with $23.04 for the whole bird or $1.44 per pound. An average price for a 16-pound turkey in Montana was $23.84. The average cost of the Thanksgiving dinner has been stable since 2011, coming in at about $49.

Items that declined modestly in price were mainly dairy items including one gallon of whole milk, a half pint of whipping cream, and 12 ounces of fresh cranberries. A one-pound relish tray of carrots and celery and one pound of green peas also decreased slightly in price. Montana food prices followed the trend, with most items slightly higher than the national average.

“Retail prices seem to have stabilized quite a bit for turkey, which is the centerpiece of the meal in our marketbasket,” American Farm Bureau Deputy Chief Economist John Anderson said. “There were some production disruptions earlier this year due to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in the Midwest. Turkey production is down this year but not dramatically. Our survey shows a modest increase in turkey prices compared to last year, but we’re now starting to see retailers feature turkeys aggressively for the holiday.”