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Hoosier Thanksgiving Meal Costs Decrease In 2016

FILE

While prices of the average Thanksgiving dinner went up last year, that won’t be a problem for consumers in 2016.

The Indiana Farm Bureau’s annual survey projects the average Thanksgiving meal will cost just under $47, which is $3.52 less than last year’s total.

Much of that is due to a significant drop in turkey prices. In 2015, a standard 16 pound turkey cost just over $25, the highest it had been since 2012. This year, that turkey will cost $22.56 -- a ten percent decrease from last year.

Turkey prices were higher last year due to an avian flu outbreak, which resulted in the euthanization of hundreds of thousands turkeys around the Midwest.

Indiana Farm Bureau spokesperson Kathleen Dutro also says another factor for this year’s price drop is Indiana’s geographic advantage.

“Indiana raises a fair amount of turkeys, but a lot of them are raised in Ohio and Illinois and the southeast,” says Dutro. “So that could be a reason we saw a larger decrease than the nationwide survey.”

Many Thanksgiving standards this year: pumpkin pie filling, whole milk and various ingredients -- such as butter, eggs and flour -- all saw price drops of 35 cents or more. Sweet potatoes and stuffing also saw minor decreases.

Dutro notes that if the $47 is still too steep, consumers can look for last-minute sales of products in the days before Thanksgiving. She also notes that making dishes from scratch can also help cut costs.

“If you have the time or inclination, you might be able to make your stuffing cheaper if you have leftover bread to make the stuffing, for example,” she says.

Dutro says the survey is conducted with 16 volunteer “shoppers” who go to grocery stores and take note of the prices of each item. She says the volunteer base is larger than other states, which allows for more data for the survey.

Zach joined 89.1 WBOI as a reporter and local host for All Things Considered, and hosted Morning Edition for the past few years. In 2022, he was promoted to Content Director.
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