Hoosiers to spend slightly less on Thanksgiving compared to 2023 prices

Hoosiers will spend slightly less on their Thanksgiving meals compared to last year, according to the Indiana Farm Bureau’s annual survey. But prices are still significantly higher than 2019, which experts say is inflation’s persistent effect on food prices since the pandemic.

The Indiana Farm Bureau’s Thanksgiving market basket survey found Hoosier shoppers will spend less on turkeys and pumpkin pie filling than they did last year. But costs are up for cranberries and whipping cream. The Farm Bureau sends shoppers out in early November to track prices on Thanksgiving staples including turkey, pie shells, rolls and milk.

Despite some decreases in prices from 2023 to 2024, costs for Thanksgiving staples trend nearly 25 percent higher than 2019’s bill.

Todd Davis, the Indiana Farm Bureau’s chief economist, said Indiana’s prices are about 8 percent cheaper than the national average.

“The shoppers found turkey was down about 4 percent — from last year. And that, along with some other items, contributed to the entire market basket being down just slightly,” Davis said.

Davis said this year’s marginal savings doesn’t make up for the cost of inflation. 2019’s dinner total was nearly $10 less expensive than this year’s bill.

“Compared to where we were five years ago, there’s still a lot of inflation in the system,” he said. “And our market basket is about 25 percent higher than it was five years ago.”

About half of the market basket’s cost is turkey. Janis Highley, Indiana Farm Bureau second vice president, said Indiana is the third highest turkey producing state — and that saves shoppers money.

“Buying these products, versus maybe someone on the East or West Coast, right here in our backyard, we have a lot of turkey and pumpkins available to us,” Highley said.

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Half of Indiana’s market basket is cheaper this year compared to last. And the items that are less expensive on average nationally — like sweet potatoes — could be attributed to higher transportation costs.

Indiana shoppers will spend $4.77 less than the U.S. average for Thanksgiving staples to feed 10 people.

Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.