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Turkey Cost Increase Drives Up Thanksgiving Meal

You can expect your Thanksgiving dinner to be a bit more expensive this year.

The retail price of a sixteen pound turkey went up by over four dollars since last year according to an annual survey by the Indiana Farm Bureau.

This year, the average price of a turkey is $25.12 – or, $1.57 per pound – its highest since 2012.

The Indiana Farm Bureau’s Kathleen Dutro says the increase is attributed to an avian flu outbreak in the Midwest.

“We didn’t get it in Indiana, but the supply was a little bit restricted,” said Dutro. “There were predictions that the price would go up quite a bit, but producers seemed to recover a lot more quickly than people thought.”

The bureau estimates that the average Thanksgiving meal will cost just over $50.

That’s about $3 more than last year, and Dutro doesn’t think the price hike will break the bank. But if you find that cost to be a bit too pricey, Dutro has some advice:

“Try to figure out if it’s cheaper to buy ready-made or to cook yourself,” Dutro said. “A lot of things you can actually save quite a bit of money, say if you buy your sweet potatoes rather than buying a pre-made casserole.”

Along with turkey, the cost of other holiday favorites like stuffing, pumpkin pie filling and dinner rolls have gone up slightly this year, while items like whole milk and sweet potatoes went down.

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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