The cost of putting Thanksgiving dinner on the table is easier on the wallet in 2009. Average prices of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and the rest of the traditional trimmings for a classic Thanksgiving dinner have dropped 4 percent from 2008 to $42.91, according to an American Farm Bureau Federation survey.
Turkey prices have dropped 3 cents per pound compared with 2008.
Dairy prices also have dropped significantly.
At $2.86 per gallon, milk prices dropped 92 cents and were the largest contributor to the overall decrease in the cost of the 2009 Thanksgiving dinner, according to the report.
Lower fuel costs have helped bring down the price of dairy products, said Paul McGillivray, vice president of sales and merchandising for Wellesley, Mass.-based Roche Bros. supermarkets.
“2008 saw record increases in many food commodities, driven by global demand for dairy, wheat for ethanol and the high costs of transportation based on high fuel prices,” McGillivray said in a statement. “The current recession has reversed many of those trends, and we are seeing prices fall in many areas of the store, especially dairy products (such as) milk, butter and cheese, wheat based products, and also many produce categories.”
Sara Castellanos may be reached at scastell@ledger.com.
