Posted on 11/22/2008 5:15:10 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Stuffing yourself with stuffing and turkey and mashed potatoes and all the fixings will cost more this Thanksgiving than last year, according to the annual market basket survey from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.
A traditional holiday meal for a family of eight will cost $42.37 this year, $2.72 more than the $39.66 spent on the 14 items in the basket in 2007.
Practically every item went up in price this year, except for some of the vegetables including sweet potatoes, carrots and peas.
Even with the higher prices, Farm Bureau spokesman Paul Ketring said a homemade Thanksgiving dinner is still pretty much a bargain.
"For around $5.30 per person, families can enjoy a bountiful holiday meal," Ketring said. "We are very fortunate to have this abundance and affordability coming from our farms."
The big ticket item in the Thanksgiving market basket is the turkey, and the average "unadvertised" price for a 16-pound bird was up 13 cents.
"We remind consumers many will be able to take advantage of special in-store promotions or coupons resulting in much lower prices for turkeys than reported in this survey," Ketring said.
Potatoes had the biggest price jump from last year, up 32 percent from $2.19 a 5-pound bag in 2007 to $2.90 this year.
The Farm Bureau said fewer acres of potatoes were planted this year and poor weather early in the year contributed to a smaller crop and the resulting higher prices.
Dairy prices and global demand shot up in 2007 but subsided in 2008, so the cost of a gallon of milk in this market basket survey was up only four cents to $3.39 a gallon from the 2007 survey. Last year, the price of milk was 66 cents higher than the year before.
Sweet potatoes were down 15 cents for a 3-pound bag, dropping to $1.11 a bag from $1.26 in 2007.
The market basket also includes a 14-ounce package of stuffing, a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, a package of two, 9-inch frozen pie shells, a 12-ounce package of brown-and-serve rolls, a 1-pound package of frozen peas, half-pounds of carrots, celery and onions, a 12-ounce package of fresh cranberries and a half-pint of whipping cream.
When the Farm Bureau started doing the Thanksgiving market basket survey 17 years ago, the 14 items in the basket cost $26.50, so the cost of the traditional dinner has gone up 60 percent in 17 years.
And I thought food prices were related to fuel prices. Truckers have some 'splaining to do.
Doesn’t cost more this year than last with the way Wegmans has cut some of their prices.
Not only that, I still see the same sale prices on holiday goods (like chocolate morsels & cranberries) that I did last year.
Each person gets a 1/4 cup of stuffing, I guess. :(
This grocery list is quite silly in its simplicity and portions. They don’t even include butter on their list. Who makes Thanksgiving dinner without butter? That’s at minimum $2.00 a pound on sale.
I call BS their market basket is screwy weird quantities etc. My local from sweet bay ad:
http://sweetbaysupermarket.adplexonline.com/WeeklySpecials.aspx?pdx=4
Turkey .69 per LB 10.69
Rolls .99
Cranberry can .89
Stuffing 2@ 6 oz pkg 1.98
12 oz cranberries 2.29
peas 1lb .99
carrots 1lb .99
onions 1lb .99
celery bunch .99
Two pumpkin pies 7.98 premade as I am too lazy to bake them
8 oz cool whip .99 as I am too fat to eat real whipped cream
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Total 30.76
They are wrong I ordered mine (okay I am just to lazy this year) and it is $50.00
oops forgot to add on why are they worried about the cost of Thanksgiving Dinner this year they keep on telling us we are all to fat................so we can now all go on a diet. LOL
No turkey sale prices in my area. Not yet anyway.
Mine will cost a lot but it’s worth it. Free range organic turkeys taste a lot better and at least I know mine wasn’t fed melamine.
“$2.72 more”
Fortunately, I’ve made exactly $2.72 more this year than last.
Food 4 Less,with $10.00 purchase,$4.00 16 lb. turkey, sweet potatoes 5# lbs $1.00, celery 48cents,dinner rolls 98 cents,imperial margarine $.64, fresh carrots 3lbs$1.00, onions,4 lbs $1.00, pies $2.50 each, been saving old bread crusts for months for stuffing,cranberry sauce$.89, potatoes $.0.98 for 5 lbs...make my own gravy with 1/2 cup flour on hand..and half cup brown sugar on hand to glaze sweet potatoes..so I think I will do a dinner for less than twenty dollars...even with coffee for 8 people...
Diesel fuel is still high.
So easy and so delish.
I have distinct memories of holiday food served by my aunts (gone now) and I wish I knew the recipes. I would love to taste those again. Fortunately I know the recipes by my mom since we kids always helped in the kitchen.
While I won't use all the food right away, most of it is long term storage stuff like canned fruits and veggies,or baking goods.
Guess it will when broken down cost about $30 to feed the 3 of us, with plenty of left overs for several additional meals.
And what I didn't buy at Kroger's I got at the Commissary even cheaper than at the civilian stores.
Sacrilege. T.G only comes once a year a pound of butter won't kill you. (Unless it is frozen and fired at a high velocity at your head.)
you are right....except,I dont really like real butter, and I was raised on a farm and churned plenty of it.. you have a tasty bird and enjoy the goodness
Teasing in my previous post.
I read somewhere where people left margarine outside an no animal or insect would eat the stuff. Scary. I used to eat margarine growing up and used to think butter and whole milk tasted weird.
Ooh-la-la. My favorite ingredients for delicioso. :)
My secret is equal amounts of white wine, butter and orange juice for basting, plus fresh rosemary and thyme I grow on my windowsill.
I want to know why our ingredients weren't listed for the shopping basket. LOL
Everybody in my house hates cranberry sauce or otherwise since we have an invite for Thanksgiving day to my nephew’s house where BIL is frying a turkey with my turkey fryer and smoking a ham in my smoker. We are doing a mini dinner tomorrow Turkey @ 69 per lb 10.59 per 15 lbs, mashies at 3$ per large box we will not use up and veggies @ .99 per lb. along with homemade giblet gravy. along with dinner rolls @ .99 per pkg. About $17 total to feed 4 persons with abundant leftovers for turkey sandwiches etc.
Here’s what I paid in AZ:
honeysuckle white turkey 69cents per pound
5 ls bag potatoes - 97 cents
Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing mix - 2.00
celery - 79 cents
yellow onions - 88 cents per pound
cranberry sauce - 1.25 per can
yams - 1.66 per can
pumpkin in 16 oz can - 1.66
frozen pie crust - 2.50
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