Baton Rouge area shoppers will find the costs of this year’s traditional Thanksgiving meal items, especially turkey, are something consumers can more easily gobble up.
The average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people in the Baton Rouge area is $39.10, a decrease of $1.49 from last year’s average cost of $40.59, said Jeanette Tucker, LSU AgCenter family economist.
The 3.6 percent decrease in price from the cost of last year’s average Thanksgiving meal is based on a survey Tucker has conducted for the past six years.
Tucker’s survey compares prices from three local grocery stores to find the average price and uses the American Farm Bureau Federation’s national shopping list, which includes turkey, cranberries, stuffing, peas, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and milk, among other food items.
Tucker said turkey prices are responsible for a large portion of dinner savings this year.
“Turkey is selling for 87 cents per pound, which is down 15 cents from last year, when turkey was selling for over a dollar per pound,” Tucker said.
Tucker attributed the price fluctuation to an increased supply of turkey this year.
“The [U.S. Department of Agriculture] data I’ve looked at indicated turkey production has been up since August,” Tucker said. “They have more abundant turkey inventories this