Thanksgiving dinner cost up slightly

You will have to pay slightly more for your traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year, primarily because of a modest increase in the price of the turkey centerpiece.

The American Farm Bureau Federation's 30th annual informal price survey of traditional items served on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table found the average cost of this year's feast for 10 people is $50.11, a 70-cent increase from last year's average of $49.41.

A 16-pound turkey - the big ticket item - came in at $23.04 this year, up $1.39 from $21.65 in 2014. That's roughly $1.44 per pound, an increase of less than 9 cents per pound.

More than 8 million turkeys died as a result of the bird flu outbreak in Iowa and other Midwest states.

'Retail prices seem to have stabilized quite a bit for turkey,” said John Anderson, American Farm Bureau Federation chief economist in a news release. 'Turkey production is down this year but not dramatically.

'We're starting to see retailers feature turkeys aggressively for the holiday. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture retail price reports, featured prices fell sharply just last week and were actually lower than last year.”

The survey shopping list included turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk.

Items showing the largest increases this year in addition to turkey were pumpkin pie mix, a dozen brown-n-serve rolls, cubed bread stuffing and pie shells. A 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix was $3.20; a 14-ounce package of cubed bread stuffing, $2.61; and two nine-inch pie shells, $2.47.

A wet summer in Illinois that cut pumpkin yields in half pushed up the price of pumpkin pie mix by 8 cents per can. Illinois produces nearly 90 percent of all U.S. pumpkins.

A total of 138 volunteer shoppers checked prices at grocery stores in 32 states. They were asked to look for the best possible prices, without taking advantage of special promotional coupons or purchase deals, such as spending $50 and getting a free turkey.