The Cost of the Average American Thanksgiving

20th November 2007

The Cost of the Average American Thanksgiving

posted by Jennifer Maiser | posted in Uncategorized |

The cost of an American Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people is $42.26, according to the American Farm Bureau. This is up $4.16 from last year, when the cost was $38.10.

In 1986, the Farm Bureau invented a "survey menu" based on what the typical American eats for Thanksgiving, and then every year they send out volunteer shoppers to purchase these items to get the average.

While the cost of the Thanksgiving dinner has increased in real dollars, it has actually gone down from 1986 when factoring in inflation.

The AFB menu breakdown of costs is as follows:

16-pound turkey ........... $17.63
Cube stuffing, 14 oz. ........... $2.40
Pumpkin pie mix, 30 oz. ............ $2.13
Pie shells (2) ........... $2.08
Sweet potatoes, 3 lbs. ........... $3.08
Rolls, 12 ........... $1.89
Green peas, 1 lb. ........... $1.46
1 pound relish tray ........... $.66
Milk, 1 gallon ........... $3.88
Fresh cranberries, 12 oz. ........... $2.20
Cream, 1/2 pint ........... $1.56
Misc ingredients ........... $3.29

For more information, read the American Farm Bureau press release.

Photo from stock. Used with permission.

This entry was posted by Jennifer Maiser on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 7:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
tags: american farm bureau, cost of food, jennifer maiser, thanksgiving

1 On November 20th, 2007, Mrs. L said:

Average cost is $42.26??? On what planet? Seriously, with the cost I know of my Thanksgiving, someone somewhere is having this meal for two dollars cuz mine costs twice as much (where are the mashed taters and green bean caserole???)

2 On November 21st, 2007, graham said:

Interesting stuff. By the way, I think your economic terminology is a bit off:

"While the cost of the Thanksgiving dinner has increased in real dollars, it has actually gone down from 1986 when factoring in inflation."

Real dollars ARE inflation adjusted. The nominal dollar cost has gone up, but the real dollar cost (or inflation adjusted cost) has gone down.

3 On November 21st, 2007, Kelli said:

Whoa. Where are the potatoes? And fruit pie? You have to serve fruit pie! It's the law.

I just did a post on eating out or eating in on my own blog at foodiebytes.wordpress.com ….. A friend of mine claims they are "saving" money by eating out to the tune of 20/person. There are 4 adults in their group. I thought her math was suspect and this post proves my theory. It is cheaper to eat at home.

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