This Year’s Thanksgiving Feast Could Actually Be Cheaper

Turkey, stuffing and cranberry prices are all lower, but skip the yams

By Kirk Maltais and Christopher Kuo of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that Thanksgiving dinner will cost an average of $55.18 for a group of 10, down 5% from last year. 

Holiday staples such as turkey, stuffing and cranberries cost less than in 2024, partly because of widespread discounting but also because overall demand for turkey and wheat—which is used to make stuffing—has been down. Other staples, including sweet potatoes and fresh fruit, cost more as the agriculture sector contends with tariffs and high costs."

Click here to read the press release from the Farm Bureau. 

Individual Prices

• 16-pound turkey: $21.50 or $1.34 per pound (down 16.3%)
• 14-ounces of cubed stuffing mix: $3.71 (down 9%)
• 2 frozen pie crusts: $3.37 (down .8%)
• Half pint of whipping cream: $1.87 (up 3.2%)
• 1 pound of frozen peas: $2.03 (up 17.2%)
• 1 dozen dinner rolls: $3.56 (down 14.6%)
• Misc. ingredients to prepare the meal: $3.61 (down 4.7%)
• 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix: $4.16 (up .1%)
• 1 gallon of whole milk: $3.73 (up 16.3%)
• 3 pounds of sweet potatoes: $4.00 (up 37%)
• 1-pound veggie tray (carrots & celery): $1.36 (up 61.3%)
• 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries: $2.28 (down 2.8%)

Here are the prices for each of the last four years

 

2022) $64.05 (from last year's report)

2023) $61.17

2024) $58.08

2025) $55.18

 

Those four figures don't appear to be adjusted for inflation. 

 

I don't see a timeline chart of the cost so I will repost something from last year:

Here is a graph of the change in cost over time from economists Samantha Ayoub, Bernt Nelson & Betty Resnick of The American Farm Bureau Federation.

It looks like the cost has not changed that much adjusted for inflation over the last 20 years.

 

Here is one that goes from 1986-2019. It looks like the price fell from about $25 in 1986 to about $20 in 2019 (in 2019 $s).