Cost Of Thanksgiving Dinner Rises Twice The Normal Rate (VIDEO)

This year has been full of discouraging economic news, from the larger financial crisis' assault on savings, the resulting drop in consumer spending and the many other effects. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is no different.

Ephraim Leibtag of the USDA Economic Research Service says in the Bloomberg video below that the cost of Thanksgiving dinner will have risen 6% this year over last year, adding that that is about double the normal rate.

WATCH:

Comments

[sonoffestus]

I grew up in the States, traveled and lived overseas, and now reside in Canada. For those of you that are complaining about the cost of everything, please stop. Living in the States, with the exception of healthcare is very, very cheap. Stop wasting, over eating and stop buying crappy processed foods. Buy local if you can. It costs alot to ship melons from CA to NE.

When my wife and I visit the States, we buy shoes, clothes and duty free scotch when possible. This past summer we wished we had rented a limo rather than an economy car. Gas at $4.00 per gallon was real treat.

Stop wasting,stop buyingthings you don't need, and stop complaining. Welcome to the world marketplace! You're experiencing part of the globalization process, that no one wants to talk about.

[NWBrunette]

To all those people on this board who think the worsening economic crises means lower prices... dream on boys.

[ENK727]

We have a grocery store in our area (ShopRite) in Western Connecticut that gives you a free turkey up to 20 pounds if you've spent $300 at their store within 2 months. It's great. Thanksgiving hardly costs anything for us.

[barriosbabe]

"Eat vegan turkey, you'll be surprised at how good it tastes, and you'll live longer besides." - KarateKid

Oh good a chance for me to get on my soapbox. I've gone veggie on and off for 50 years and I have to say I NEVER understood the insane logic appeal whatever of people going veggie or vegan and then eating stuff shaped or prepped to look like meat - WTF is THAT about? At a recent tutoring meeting I was subjected to this cr-ap! Soy, salt, filler, all kinds of unhealthy stuff shaped cooked etc to LOOK like turkey, chicken etc. So laughable! Why not just eat veggies and rice etc? I hate the whole fake food industry. Frankly vegan turkey is an insult to somebody serious about going veggie. An intellectual insult.

[sonoffestus]

barriosbab­e.........­.I couldn't agree wih you more. I tried some vegan 'bacon". How disgusting was that! I think it was some type of gasket material. Hell, if a pig died for me, I'm going for the double smoked bacon, yum. That gasket material bacon would have been better left as a plant.

Maybe that's an idea vegan auto parts.....­..........­.

[barriosbabe]

Gobble Gobble!!

Our Menu for Four:
11 pound roasted turkey
one bottle of two buck chuck from Chicago Trader Joe's
steamed artichokes, melted butter from local farm
gravy from drippings, no flour added
yams plain, local farm
stuffing with veggies, local farm
cranberry sauce homemade with oranges
hard boiled eggs, free range, local farm
carrots and asparagus tips cooked in beer and fresh chopped dill
friend made chocolate cheesecake
I roasted my own COFFEE

Our Price:
about $36 total which equals about $8-9 per person

Extra Splurges:
was gifted SOTTOCENERE and GRUYERE from Murray's in NYC
was gifted husband bought pecan pie from Costco Des Moines

Notes:
small portions and we were very happy due to variety
e.g. I only cooked 2 yams for 4 people - why pig out??
focus was on the bird

Prohibited items:
Mayonnaise (we use olive oil and spices)
Boxed or canned anything
High Fructose Corn Syrup
White Sugar (we use honey from a local farm)
all bread, rolls, flour, over processed crap

Re Meat:
We bought a huge boneless ham at the LOCAL HYVEE store that we plan to gift to the local Quakers homeless feeding program; and with the coupon we got a 11 pound turkey and ten dollars back in a food card so basically the turkey was FREE.

[barriosbabe]

correction­s/clarific­ations:
===
the ham deal was $17 plus free turkey minus $10 gift card back
from Iowa store
===
was gifted husband bought pecan pie from Costco Des Moines
should read
husband bought pecan pie from Costco Des Moines
and
was gifted liquor made from berries and vodka
===
stuffing can be made w/o bread from veggies and QUINOA

Namaste

[Damaven]

Thank you for the correction on that turkey. Because an 11 lb roasted turkey would have cost at least 2/3 the price you quoted for the whole meal. Des Moines "ain't" the East Coast. You can't generally compare stuff that easily.

[lovingturkey]

This is a silly exaggeration, as fuel prices drop, so will this.

I just saved enough on gas in one tank to pay for yesterday's turkey dinner.

Sarah Palin's STUPIDEST MOMENTS!

http://theliepolitic.com/

[oneblackvote]

Food is so high in California, I'm scared to go to the market. Not too many people were shopping either. The highway was empty today. No one traveling either in California.

[IntrepidReader]

In North Carolina, I got my hen turkey for .29 a pound with additional 25.00 grocery order, which was not a problem since I was buying all the other fixings anyway, nearly all of which were on weekly specials. I added up my total bill for turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato fluff, rolls, and two pies (pumpkin and sweet potato--they were on a buy one get one free deal) and it came to 32.00. The stores around here all had the ingredients for a typical southern Thanksgiving dinner on sale, so it was actually cheaper this year than it was last. I had gotten ready made refrigerated mashed potatoes the week before on a twofer (yes, I checked the sell by date to make sure they would still be good) so they wound up being 1.00 a pound and Bob Evans did all the work of cooking them and mashing them with butter so I didn't have to. For that 32 bucks we had a grand feast and there are still a couple of more meals worth of leftovers.

[OgreDaddy]

Fresh 19 lb. bird was $.99 per pound, no biggy, but all the fixins were insane.
$4.59 for a dad gum jar of Hellman's Mayo !

Yams were .$.29 cents per pound, not too bad.

I spent $120.00 total and my girls brought dessert, so there's plenty of leftovers
to munch on this weekend.

We bow our bloated bellies in thanks
for the elastic waist band

[davidwayneosedach]

We just got back from Food 4 Less which was packed and picked up a frozen 23. pound turkey for $8 with a $10 purchase. Impossible to use today but will come in handy New Year's.

[dozaa]

I have a way to cut down the costs. Don't eat turkey or any meat for that matter. Problem solved and with it a lot of other problems, too.

[Fenderbender]

I don't know where you folks shop, but you're getting ripped off. Our turkey was 59 cents a pound. There is no way stuffing costs $12 to make. We're talking bacon drippings, celery, onion, pepper and poultry seasoning on top of dried bread cubes with water or broth to bind. Our bread was 25 cents a loaf ( I diced it up on Monday and it was ready to use today). Side dish of mashed taters, butternut squash, cranberry relish, from fresh berries, gravy and homemade rolls. If I spent a total of $25 for the whole mess, including fruit for the cornicopia, I'd be very surprised. Thanksgiving is and should be the easiest and cheapest meal of the year. Not to mention, the cost is spread over at least a week of leftovers, then the turkey carcass is turned into a lovely soup.

As far as the dry turkey goes, it's because you cook the poor thing badly in a black pan and a crummy oven. A convection oven is the way to go. It cooks faster and using the convection roast, it sears the outside of the turkey and almost no juice escapes. I've baked our turkey this way for over 25 years. Go check out convection ovens, once you've used one, you would never put a regular oven in your house again, and they don't cost all that much more than a standard oven. It's very cost effective in these trying times.

[Emerald1943]

Got the shock of my life yesterday while shopping for my turkey. They had large free-range fresh ones and I thought that I would try one, rather than the usual Butterball.

The problem was that they were $3.99 per pound! The average large turkey was between $40 and $50!!! No way, Jose!

So I settled for the usual...st­ill way more than in the past several years at $1.99 per pound!

Next year, I may have to settle for chicken!

[nomoredead]

I sent a check to our local Rescue Mission. I'm a single older guy who will just eat my regular food this year. Someone else needs a nice big meal more than me.

[Emerald1943]

I also donated to my local food bank....ma­kes you feel good to know you are helping out a little!

I would encourage all the Huffposters to give...the­re are so many people who are going hungry and this, to me is a moral outrage! Something is really wrong here, folks!

I know things are tough for lots of people, but if you can spare even a few dollars, please give!

[KarateKid]

After watching the Sarah Palin interview at Turkey Auschwitz, I have lost my taste for the bird. How did turkey become a tradition, anyway? The original settlers did not eat turkey. Eat vegan turkey, you'll be surprised at how good it tastes, and you'll live longer besides.