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Average Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Down, But Still Unaffordable For Some

Olivia Niland |
November 27, 2013 | 1:43 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

A typical Thanksgiving meal/Wikimedia Commons
A typical Thanksgiving meal/Wikimedia Commons
For many American families, putting food on the table each day can be a challenge. But when that day is Thanksgiving, many are faced with even more pressure to provide that quintessential turkey-and-all-the-trimmings Thanksgiving meal. 

The estimated cost of this year's average Thanksgiving feast, which serves about 10 people, is projected to be $49.04, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). 

This is down from last Thanksgiving's record-high average of $49.48 per feast, due in large to the fact that turkey prices have declined this year. According to the AFBF, the average turkey, which is about 16 pounds, will run Americans $21.76, or $1.36 a pound, this year. Stable commodity and fuel prices also play a role in the slight reduction in the average Thanksgiving dinner cost, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service

The ABFB survey, which has been conducted every year since its launch in 1986, also found that other Thanksgiving staples such as rolls, peas, pie shells and cranberries have decreased in price. Sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and whole milk, however, are more expensive this year. 

Money-saving tips this Thanksgiving include purchasing ingredients ahead of time, having guests bring dishes for a potluck-style feast, taking advantage of coupons and “price-matching” between grocery stores. Some retailers, such as Walmart, guarantee to beat the lowest advertised price on Thanksgiving items, and through its Christmas Ad Match program, the retailer even said that customers could spend just $34.68 on an average Thanksgiving meal this year. 

Despite the estimated decrease in the cost of a typical Thanksgiving meal, providing a Thanksgiving meal could be more difficult for the millions of Californians recently impacted by reductions in federal food stamp benefits, or SNAP, across the state. 

“We expect agencies to see a higher demand at our sites on Thanksgiving,” said Los Angeles Regional Food Bank Communications Director Jennifer Errico. “Unfortunately, for our agencies this will probably mean that they'll have to decide whether to hand out less food to everyone, or to serve fewer people.”

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank released a statement Tuesday entitled “Charitable Food Programs Cannot Absorb the Impact of Recent SNAP Cut,” in which it estimated that the $5 billion cuts made in food stamp benefits on Nov. 1 will result in a $29 reduction in the amount of assistance a three-person family receives each month. 

“We already saw people in lines at food pantries before this cut,” said Food Bank CEO Michael Flood. “We now expect there to be more people looking for help and that they will come earlier in the month.”

Thanksgiving is expected to be an especially difficult day for local food banks and shelters, as many of Los Angeles County's millions of low-income and homeless residents will turn out for Thanksgiving meals. 

“Because of SNAP reductions, there will be more people in food lines, but we don't have more food to give out,” said Errico. “The demand for food will grow, but what we can distribute won't.”

Fortunately, charitable efforts to provide Thanksgiving meals for low-income and homeless individuals and families around Southern California have already proven to be especially successful this year. 

Around Los Angeles, shelters such as Midnight Mission receive so much interest that they actually have to turn away volunteers at Thanksgiving, during which the shelter can serve as many as 4,000 low-income and homeless people on L.A.'s Skid Row.

Community Thanksgiving feasts and food distribution efforts are planned for Downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Hollywood and many other areas. 

More information about volunteering or donating to those in need in L.A. County this Thanksgiving can be found here

Reach Staff Reporter Olivia Niland hereFollow Olivia Niland on Twitter @olivianiland.



 

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