The Cost of Thanksgiving
By: NBC News
Updated: November 19, 2012
It's still true that this year's record drought will drive up food prices, just not the food you'll eat this Thanksgiving. The American Farm Bureau has completed its annual survey of the costs of a turkey with all the trimmings.
"According to our survey, prices haven't changed a lot since last year on the major Thanksgiving food items. We're showing about a half-a-percent increase from last year for the entire market basket," said John Anderson, of the American Farm Bureau.
Anderson says that's a 28 cent increase on 50-dollars of food to feed 10 at the Thanksgiving table. "That's about 5-bucks a person for a special meal, that's something to be thankful about," said Anderson.
Consumers can be especially thankful to retailers, who locked in their costs before the drought drove up feed prices. The price of turkey, for example, was set last spring. "Most of the purchasing decisions had already been made before the effects of the drought became known or became very significant," Anderson said.
However, price hikes because of the drought are likely throughout 2013, to include next Thanksgiving. Another group, though, the Natural Resources Defense Council, says one way to reduce food costs is to quit wasting it.
It estimates Americans will toss about 282-million dollars' worth of perfectly good turkey right into the trash can this Thanksgiving alone.
