Thanksgiving food prices

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - Nothing beats a perfect Thanksgiving meal...complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, rolls and of course pumpkin pie.  But, Purdue economist Corrine Alexander says Turkey prices have increased.

"The USDA is predicting that whole turkey prices in the Eastern market, this is the sort of Turkey you would serve for Thanksgiving, that those whole sale prices will be running somewhere between 94 and 98 cents a pound. So that gives folks a benchmark of what turkey could cost at the grocery store," said Alexander.
 

Alexander says filling up your shopping cart with items for a home cooked Thanksgiving Feast will cost more than last year.

"Overall food costs this year, relative to last year are up about 6 percent overall.  What we are seeing is grocery store prices are up a little bit more than that at 7.6 percent relative to last year.  So folks should expect to see much higher prices at the grocery store when they do their thanksgiving shopping," said Alexander.
 

For people who are looking to save money Alexander says restaurant food prices haven't increased as much as grocery store prices.

"Grocery prices tend to be a lot more volitle then resturant prices.  One of the reasons why they are more stable is because when you go to a resturant and you pay for a meal about half of the money is going to the labor for that meal. And as we all know wages are fairly flat, and because wages are flat and that's half the cost of the resturant meal.  We aren't seeing resturant prices go up as much as grocery prices," said Alexander.

Alexander says the prices at the grocery store are going up more because of the increase in food ingredient prices.  But, there is good news.  For those serving Thanksgiving at home they will find many bargains on several Holiday staples, including the symbol of the season.

"Turkey is a favorite item for grocery stores to use as a loss leader, where they offer you a special price to attract you into the store, in hopes that when you buy the turkey you will pick up all the other items that you want to serve at Thanksgiving dinner," said Alexander.

But, Alexander says the ultimate price of your Thanksgiving turkey will depend on each individual retailer.  And side items like potatoes, and cranberries should be moderately prices this season.