Nov 17, 2023 By Katherine Mansfield 7 min read

Turkey prices are down 16% this year over last, but side dishes will run an estimated 4% more in 2023.

It’s a tight pants, not a tight wallet, situation for Thanksgiving dinner hosts this year.

Thanksgiving is a week away and while most grocery lists are finalized, many are still guesstimating just how much the holiday dinner, which reached an all-time high last year, will cost.

It’s going to cost less for the main event – turkey – this year, Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute reported earlier this month. According to the annual Thanksgiving meal cost report, turkey prices are down 16% this year from last year, thanks to greater availability (never forget the turkey shortage of 2022!) and lower transportation costs.

At Shop ‘n Save in Washington and Canonsburg, and at Giant Eagles throughout the region, frozen birds are on sale for 99 cents per pound.

“Basically, a 20-pound turkey is $20,” said Jeff Duritza, who owns the local Shop ‘n Saves, adding that turkey sales are up this year. “The ads started Thursday. They’ve (customers) pretty much been shopping since then. This weekend through Wednesday will be more busy.”

Grocery stores typically welcome the longest lines in the days leading to Thanksgiving, when shoppers load their carts with turkey, yes, and all the staple sides: canned green beans and cranberry sauce, potatoes, canned pumpkin and whipped cream.

Wells Fargo estimates that nationally, what folks save on turkey will be put toward sides, since sides are an estimated 4% more expensive this year than last.

Potatoes, both sweet and russet, are up 4% and 14% from 2022, respectively. (Russet potatoes were $1.17 per pound in September.) Canned cranberries are nearly 60% more expensive this year than last, Wells Fargo reported, and canned pumpkin is up 30% nationally.

Locally, though, the skyrocketing side dish prices are palatable.

At Giant Eagle, Del Monte canned green beans are on sale for 99 cents through Nov. 23, and a 14-ounce can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce is $1.99. Nov. 16 through 23, a 10-pound bag of russet potatoes will cost $4.99, and Libby’s canned pumpkin is two for $4.

“We’re all pretty equivalent,” Duritza said, adding this year’s prices aren’t too far off from last year’s. “Cranberry sauce is essentially the same. Reddi-wip, the toppings for the pies, that was the same. Butter, at least Land ‘O Lakes, is actually 50 cents cheaper. Potatoes are actually a little bit lower. This year, the big canned pumpkin is $3.99. Last year, I think it was $4.49.”

Stovetop stuffing was pricier this year than last, but thanks to a buy two, get one free deal, the cost of that delightful, nearly instant side dish is actually less costly.

“If you bought three, it was actually lower than last year,” Duritza said.

He said local storeowners take a hit on some of the prices, especially turkey, since the cost to stores is up from last year while the consumer price is lower. Shoppers shouldn’t feel those pinches at the checkout, though.

They can expect Thanksgiving dinner shopping lists to be the “same, or even a smidgeon lower” than last year’s, Duritza said.

“Not significantly, by no means, but it’s definitely a little lower. I think that’s more supply-driven,” he said.

While grocery chains offer the lowest turkey prices in years, local farmers have upped their prices thanks to increased feed costs, said Jeremy Swartzfager, who runs Footprints Farms in Gibbon Glade, Fayette County, with his wife, Ellen Swartzfager.

Their pasture raised, fresh-never-frozen turkeys are going for about $8 per pound.

“Turkeys are about $1 per pound more this year than last year,” Jeremy said. “We source all non-GMO grain. That price has risen significantly, along with the conventional corn, which has actually started going back down right now.”

Ellen said that her small family farm, which has offered pasture-raised and hand-processed Thanksgiving turkeys for more than a decade, is “a little bit out of touch sometimes with what the nation says.”

“We’re the local, pasteurized aspect, and very different from who has contracted with Giant Eagle. Last year, they were in a turkey shortage. We try to grow what we can sell,” she said.

The family-owned and operated farm still has turkeys (and chickens and ducks, for those adventurous enough to try turducken this holiday, Jeremy laughed) available for purchase online at https://www.footprintsfarm.com/.

Harden Family Farm and Market in Fredericktown takes Thanksgiving turkey orders in July, and raises only enough birds to meet demand. The farm, run by Fred and Sheila McConn, will send out 90 fresh, never frozen, Thanksgiving turkeys this weekend.

Sheila and Fred McConn own and operate Harden Family Farm and Market in Fredericktown, which sells farm-raised Thanksgiving turkeys and vegetables, including Brussels sprouts, used for holiday side dishes.

Like Footprints Farm, Harden Family Farm’s turkeys are more expensive this year.

“Last year, they were $3.60 a pound. On an 18-pound bird, that was $64.80. This year, the feed has skyrocketed, which makes feeding the birds so expensive, and so we’re at $3.75, which makes an 18-pound bird $67.50,” said McConn. “That same bird is now $2.77 more.”

That’s not a giant leap in prices, but the price tag might turn off those accustomed to box store pricing.

“The difference between our birds and their birds,” McConn said, “is they doctor them up. They have been pretreated. These birds are not. A fresh turkey is butchered and it comes right to your door.”

Harden Family Farm and Market in Fredericktown raises Thanksgiving turkeys every year and delivers them fresh, never frozen, to customers who place orders in July. Turkey prices at local farms increased this year from last year due to the skyrocketing price of feed.

Not only does Harden offer Thanksgiving turkey, the farm also sells fresh vegetables, which, with a little love in the kitchen, become beloved sides.

Many vegetables, including sweet potatoes, apples and onions, cost about the same this year as they did last year. But Brussels sprouts are $1 more this year than last, and pie pumpkins – for those daring enough to bake the sacred Thanksgiving dessert from scratch – are also more expensive.

“Our pie pumpkins, they’re $3.50. The pie pumpkins went up 50 cents,” McConn said, because “fertilizer doubled in price. Everything boils down to shipping and handling and fuel.”

All things considered, though, McConn said if folks picked up a turkey and one pie pumpkin, a container of apples, sweet potatoes, kale, a butternut squash, an acorn squash, Brussels sprouts, an onion and apple cider at Harden, the total would be about $109.30. That’s only $3.20 more than the cost of those items at Harden’s last year.

“We’re a small operation. If we can get our seeds at a good price, and if the weather’s decent and everything grows well, we don’t have to charge a lot for our stuff,” McConn said, adding folks can check out their full offerings online at https://hardenfamilyfarmandmarket.com/meat/.

Whether supporting local grocers or local farms, this year’s Thanksgiving feast price should be easier to stomach than last year’s. The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates the holiday dinner will cost roughly $6.20 per person.