INDIANAPOLIS – This year’s Thanksgiving dinner may have cost Hoosiers nearly 14 percent more than in 2021, but for most items on the menu, they paid less than other consumers across the country.

The Indiana Farm Bureau’s (INFB) annual Thanksgiving market basket survey found Hoosiers paid an average of $61 for a dinner for 10, or $6.10 per person. Nationally, the average price was $6.41 per person, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

“I wasn’t surprised that prices were up as inflation has us prepared to spend more for everything, not just food,” noted Isabella Chism, INFB’s 2nd vice president. “The higher prices may have caused some consumers to make things a little differently this year. Maybe they decided to make their own pie filling instead of buying a can of it or to make their own rolls.”

The market basket included a 16-pound frozen turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, peas, a carrot and celery veggie tray, whole milk, cranberries, whipping cream and ingredients for pumpkin pie.

All the items in the basket were less expensive in Indiana than in the rest of the country except for pumpkin pie filling, which was 1.6 percent more in the Hoosier state. Frozen peas were nearly 18 percent less expensive in Indiana, as were pie shells (about 17 percent less) and whole milk (about 13 percent less).

Hoosier consumers paid an average of $28.02 for a turkey, up 11.1 percent from last year. Nationwide, the average turkey price was $28.96, up from $23.99 a year ago.

In Illinois, the cost for Thanksgiving dinner was $6.55 per person, higher than the national average. The statewide average price of $65.53 for a meal for 10 was up 13 percent over last year.

“Illinois farmers know the role inflation has played over the last year in driving food costs higher,” an Illinois Farm Bureau spokesperson said in a release. “Farmers have been experiencing higher input prices for over 18 months, and farmers continue to provide a steady food supply, the distribution of those products are clearly related to the increased fuel costs.”

Nationwide, the average cost of $64.05 for a classic Thanksgiving meal for 10 was up about 20 percent over last year’s average of $53.31, AFBF said. In 2021, the average price was up 14 percent over 2020, said Roger Cryan, the organization’s chief economist.

“That’s a 36 percent increase in two years,” he noted. “That kind of increase, we recognize, is a burden on some families, no question about it. I think it’s worth pointing out that even with these increases, the market basket works out to about six and a half dollars per person for what is essentially a Thanksgiving feast.”

A good part of the increase may be attributed to general price inflation, which has been running at a rate of 7 to 9 percent this fall, Cryan said.

Inflation “robs consumers and farmers of their buying power and it’s leading to quite a bit of chaos in the macro economy,” he stated.

Food prices have risen, impacted by such things as supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine, Cryan said. “It’s important to understand farmers are feeling this pain as well. They have seen a doubling of their fuel prices, a tripling of their fertilizer prices. They are being squeezed as price takers both when they sell their product and when they pay for their inputs.”

In Indiana, the price of a 14-ounce box of stuffing was $3.80, up nearly 64 percent from last year. A half pint of whipping cream was $2.06, an increase of about 29 percent. Pumpkin pie filling was up nearly 21 percent to $4.35 for a 30-ounce can. Whole milk, at $3.35 a gallon, rose about 19 percent. Pie shells were less expensive, dropping about 12 percent to $3.06. Fresh cranberries were also cheaper, as the cost of a 12-ounce package fell about 7 percent to $2.54.

Turkey prices have been impacted in part due to losses of flocks from the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak this year, Chism said. Indiana producers lost about 171,000 turkeys, while nationwide, eight million turkeys were destroyed.

In addition to the Thanksgiving market basket survey, AFBF conducts a similar one in the summer focusing on the average cost of a July 4th cookout.

The surveys are a good opportunity for farm bureau to help the public understand the price of food and what goes into food production, Chism pointed out.

The average consumer may not understand how little of the cost of the market basket goes to the farmer, she said. According to the USDA, farmers currently receive about 8 percent of every food marketing dollar. For the Thanksgiving market basket, a farmer’s share would be $4.88. The rest goes toward food processing, packaging, transportation, wholesale and retail distribution, food service preparation and other marketing costs, USDA said.

“I think a part of (consumers not understanding) is they don’t have a reason to understand it,” Chism explained. “If they’re not growing a crop or raising animals, they don’t know the entire process and I’m not going to blame them for that.”

The AFBF and INFB surveys were done in late October by volunteer shoppers who were told to look for the best possible prices without taking advantage of promotional coupons or purchase deals.

Cryan and Chism noted the surveys were conducted before grocery stores might have begun lowering prices on some market basket items closer to Thanksgiving.