Here's the average price of a typical Thanksgiving meal in Louisiana. How's yours compare?
Louisiana residents will pay less than last year for their typical home-cooked Thanksgiving meal, an annual survey finds.
Residents can also expect to spend $13.62 less than the national average for a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people.
That's based on a statewide sample of prices for the 37th annual American Farm Bureau Federation Thanksgiving Dinner Price Survey, released Wednesday.
The average meal in Louisiana costs $50.43, $6.98 less than last year’s state average of $57.41, the American Farm Bureau said. The national average, $64.05, is $10.74 higher than last year.
The dinner consists of 11 main items, including a turkey, vegetable tray, pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes, along with the cost for miscellaneous ingredients like eggs, flour and evaporated milk.
If you expand the meal to include a ham, Russet potatoes and frozen green beans, the cost in Louisiana increases $13.31 to $63.74, the survey found. That’s still $17.56 lower than the national average of $81.30.
Compared with the U.S. average, Louisiana shoppers are spending $9.12 less for a 16-pound turkey and $1.33 less for three pounds of sweet potatoes. But Louisiana prices are 27 cents higher for a gallon of milk and $1.65 greater for cube stuffing.
Nationally, however, the average Thanksgiving meal price rose by 20% this year.
“General inflation slashing the purchasing power of consumers is a significant factor contributing to the increase in average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner,” said American Farm Bureau Chief Economist Roger Cryan.
Inflation has been running 7% to 9% in recent months, while the most recent Consumer Price Index report for food consumed at home shows a 12% increase over the past year, Cryan said.
“Other contributing factors to the increased cost for the meal include supply-chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine,” he said. “The higher retail turkey cost at the grocery store can also be attributed to a slightly smaller flock this year, increased feed costs and lighter processing weights.”
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Across the U.S., a 16-pound turkey cost an average $28.96. That’s $1.81 per pound, up 21% from last year.
Farm Bureau “volunteer shoppers” checked prices Oct. 18-31, before most grocery chains began featuring whole, frozen turkeys at sharply lower prices.
The average per-pound feature price for whole frozen turkeys was $1.11 the week of Nov. 3-9 and 95 cents the week of Nov. 10-16, a decline of 14% in just one week, according to USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data. And the share of stores offering feature prices rose from 29% to 60%.
That means shoppers who have not yet purchased a turkey should be able to find one at a lower cost than the Farm Bureau average.
Here is the average price the Farm Bureau recorded for each survey item in Louisiana:
Frozen, self-basting turkey: $19.84.
Cube stuffing, 14-ounce package: $5.53.
Brown-and-serve rolls, 12 ounces, 12 per package: $2.82.
Fresh sweet potatoes, 3 pounds: $2.63.
Veggie tray (carrots and celery), 1 pound: $0.76.
Whole milk, 1 gallon: $4.11.
Pumpkin pie filling, 30-ounce can: $3.28.
Fresh cranberries, 12-ounce package: $1.91.
Whipping cream, 1/2-pint carton: $1.79.
Frozen green peas, 16 ounces: $1.23.
9-inch frozen pie shells, 2 per package: $2.40.
Miscellaneous ingredients (eggs, flour, evaporated milk): $4.13.
Ham, 4 pounds: $8.43.
Russet potatoes, 5-pound bag: $3.53.
Frozen green beans, 1 pound: $1.44.
This article originally appeared on Daily Comet: Here's the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner in Louisiana this year
