Time to feast! Looking at consumer prices for some classic Thanksgiving items

Happy Thanksgiving! Here at the Bureau of Labor Statistics we give thanks for our data users, readers, and subscribers to our email updates. And, of course, we give thanks for all the survey participants who make our data possible. We are thankful to be trusted providers of information about labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, productivity, and more. Now let’s pull up a chair and dig into the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to talk about prices for a Thanksgiving feast.

Prices for the foods in our feast haven’t increased as much this year as in some recent years, and in some cases have even declined. Let’s start with the main event, the turkey. Prices consumers paid for other uncooked poultry including turkey were 3.9 percent lower in October 2024 than in October 2023. In the prior year, from October 2022 to October 2023, prices increased 7.2 percent. From 2014 to 2024, prices rose at a 2.7 percent annual rate from one October to the next.

As we wait for the turkey to cook, how about a charcuterie board made up of fresh fruit and cheese? Prices for fresh fruits increased 2.2 percent for the 12 months ending in October 2024, while prices for cheese and related products increased 0.6 percent. In the prior year, fresh fruits prices were up 1.8 percent and cheese and related products prices were down 1.9 percent.

And what's Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and gravy? Potato prices decreased 1.5 percent from October 2023 to October 2024, following a decline of 3.3 percent during the same period one year ago. Topping off those mashed potatoes, prices for sauces and gravies were unchanged over the year, after rising 7.5 percent for the 12 months ending in October 2023. 

Let’s not count calories. Add a roll (or two) to the plate. Prices for fresh biscuits, rolls, and muffins were up 2.3 percent over the year. Costs for these fluffy meal companions rose 5.7 percent from October 2022 to October 2023.  

For those that wash their meal down with some wine, prices for wine at home were 0.3 percent higher in October 2024 than in October 2023 after increasing 1.1 percent in the previous year.

And finally, it's time for pie. Prices for frozen and refrigerated bakery products, pies, tarts, and turnovers increased 0.1 percent over the year compared with an increase of 2.7 percent from October 2022 to October 2023.

These data are from the Consumer Price Index program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index — October 2024." Also see more charts related to the latest Consumer Price Index news release. To obtain more data, visit the BLS data retrieval tool.