As the holiday season nears and with families making plans for Thanksgiving at the end of the month, concerns about high food prices linger. Dr. Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist with Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, joined Cheddar News to provide tips on what to expect when shopping for those large family meals.

<div class="block">As the holiday season nears and with families making plans for Thanksgiving at the end of the month, concerns about high food prices linger. Dr. Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist with Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, joined Cheddar News to provide tips on what to expect when shopping for those large family meals.</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

Stretching Your Dollar: What Thanksgiving Food Prices Could Look Like

We are already in November, which means Thanksgiving is just around the corner and while it's supposed to be a time for thankfulness, of course, the cost of the holiday can have your wallet feeling less than full. Thanks to our producer for that one here to help explain their findings on food. Inflation is Thanksgiving as well as a Fargo Agri Food Institute's Chief agricultural economist, Dr Michael Swanson, I doctor. Thank you for joining. Always a pleasure to. All right, what can consumers expect to pay to celebrate Thanksgiving this year? Well, you know, your audience told you they don't have a budget and so it's gonna really depend on what they wanna do when they're at that supermarket. Now. There's good news and there's some bad news. Of course, being an economist, the good news, let's leave with the good news is turkey prices so far right now are down about 13% from a year ago at this time. And what happens is we get close to an all important holiday uh meal they continue to drop. And so we saw more birds get in the barn so there's gonna be more supply of turkeys. So that's the good news. The big centerpiece is gonna be less expensive this year. Now, kind of the bad news is a lot of things go along with it, canned cran cranberry out some of the other canned on vegetables. Some of desserts are gonna be more expensive. And you heard on the previous segment, um, before the, uh, the last speaker, you know, Heinz announced better than expected earnings because they raised prices. So it's kind of a mixed thing. Turkey is going to be a better bargain than last year. But some of the other things you add on the table are gonna be more expensive. Ok, good to know. Uh So places maybe to up to Anz and even places perhaps to scale back, we can dive into more of that a little bit later. But if you are a family trying to budget, create basically a sticker price goal here. How would you go about that for the holiday? Well, one of the oldest tips is don't go to the supermarket hungry. So when you go there, you're not throwing things in the basket unexpectedly. So have a have your menu. Um, think about where you wanna um, add to it or subtract from it. But here's a really important point. What's changed this year versus last couple of years is it's gonna be very competitive at the supermarket. They're not gonna be featuring things trying to get you in there. So you buy that at a good price, but then throw everything else in the basket. So this year, be aware that they're going to be very competitive and maybe shop a couple of places because they, they want your food dollar and supply chain is full. So be very careful about what you buy and where you buy it. Ok. What specifically is driving up prices? I'm sure it might be different for each very ingredient but collectively overarching What's really at play here? Great question. So it was never about the lack of ingredients. United States is very, very blessed with very strong supply. It was a disruption in changing those ingredients into food. So labor shot up. You, you hear about that. You've been talking about that this hour already. Um Transportation really rose also. Um packaging was up, energy was up. So all those things that it takes to convert those raw ingredients into the food we want to eat. That was a disruption in the last couple of years now. It's kind of behind us, but we're still not completely done with it. So we talked about some of the specific ingredients, even dishes that our viewers can expect to maybe pay more for. How would you tell them to save? What are ways to kind of get the most bang for your buck this Thanksgiving. Well, unlike last year, I think that waiting is going to be to your benefit. The last couple of years, people were concerned will they have it on the shelves. Will it be available? We know the supply is really good this year. So maybe waiting closer to the meat to the um Thanksgiving date will be very beneficial. So time is your friend this year, not your enemy, which is kind of a big change. Uh Once again, you know, when we think about that, the fresh fruits and vegetables are gonna be more expensive than canned, but they haven't gone up as much as the canned products have. So this might be a chance for you to put more fresh fruits and vegetables into your a meal, which is always good for you here, people that are visiting you and enjoying that meal. Why is that? Because the freight cost, refrigerated freight costs have really dropped from last year because there's more trucks available. Look, I like the other point that we have on their for wine over beer. All sign up for that Dr Michael Swanson. Thank you t for lowering Thanksgiving cost. That's the last one on that particular list there. I, you mentioned turkey prices actually are going to be down. Did we lose Michael Doctor? You still there? Sorry. We've got some strange things happening over here. I thought spooky season was behind us, but I guess not. So I'm glad that you're still with me. But I know you mentioned turkey prices will be down from the same time a year ago. Any sort of average sticker price. So, to get a turkey this year. Well, you know, they say you're going to buy a whole fresh turkey. They're about a dollar 40 right now per pound a year ago. They were about a dollar 65. So you're saving 25 cents a pound and a, and a £20 turkey. That is significant money. So you can use it for some of that wine that you're hoping to see that. What about him? I know, at least when I was growing up ham was, you know, kind of the more popular option. Maybe a little bit less expensive than Turkey at least decades ago. I don't know how that still shakes out. What can you tell us for families who want to enjoy a ham maybe over a turkey or in addition to a turkey this holiday season? Well, it's still a very economical cut of meat, so it's good. It's a good choice now. It hasn't gone down as much as turkey. So it's kind about where it was a year ago. So, but that's closer to $3.5 a pound at the retail price right now. So a little bit more expensive but less bone, less, um, prep and less, um, trouble. So you kind of have to weigh those two options, you know, but it's a great center of the table option. I see on this full screen too. Let's just keep it up for a moment. The Russet potato prices at an all time high canned pumpkins, 30% higher from last year. Uh Doctor Swanson, I know you've been mentioning multiple times here that those those canned goods are higher in cost this year versus last but still probably less expensive on a sticker price. And then some of the fresh, fresh fruits and veggies. Any last tips you can leave our viewers with as they prepare, not only their budget, but obviously they're cooking for Thanksgiving. Well, you know, I I'll just say this, it's a special meal. Um When you look at the, the cost of it, you know, on a per person basis, when you're doing most of the work to prepare it, it really is. You know, it's not that expensive for most people. So make sure you buy good ingredients. Um like I said, very different environment this year, supermarkets are gonna be very competitive. So make sure they earn your dollar when you go out there to um to spend it. All right. Uh Doctor Michael Swanson, thanks for joining us already in the mood here. Uh for a Thanksgiving feast. We appreciate it.