Thanksgiving Dinner At Lowest Price Since 2010

Thanksgiving dinner will cost less for many Wisconsinites this year.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s annual survey of grocery store prices found dinner for 10 people costs $47.26. That’s 54 cents less than in 2016 and the lowest price since 2010.

Sarah Marketon, communications director for the Farm Bureau, said a big factor has been the availability of turkey.

“We have a lot of frozen turkeys in cold storage right now,” Marketson said. “We’ve completely recovered from the avian influenza and having that strong supply of turkey in cold storage means that consumers can take advantage of lower prices in the grocery store.”

The price for a 16-pound turkey fell 96 cents from last year.

Fresh cranberries also saw a price decline, coming in 7 cents less than in 2016.

Wisconsin cranberry growers have experienced record harvests in the last few years, surpassing demand for the fruit. This oversupply has taken a toll on cranberry prices and producers have even asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to limit production.

But Marketon said most price changes for the 12 food items on the survey have been incremental.

“We might see small fluctuations up or down but for the most part things are staying pretty stable which is telling us that things are looking good for the farmers,” Marketon said.

Milk and cream saw a slight increase in price from 2016.

While an oversupply of milk in the U.S. has kept dairy prices low, industry analysts expect this year’s milk prices will average $1.30 per hundredweight, or 100 pounds of milk, higher than in 2016.

The American Farm Bureau’s national survey of food prices found the average Thanksgiving dinner cost $49.12 in the U.S, $1.86 more than in Wisconsin.