19 People Spotted Acting Like Entitled Jerks On Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving may have been the most expensive one for the host so far. How come? Well, it turns out that agricultural economists, farmers and grocery executives predicted that nearly every component of the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, from the disposable aluminum turkey roasting pan to the coffee and pie, come at a higher price this year.

Interestingly, last year, the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 was the lowest it had been since 2010, the American Farm Bureau reported. So what on earth has happened? Turns out that last year, during the height of the pandemic, everyone was laying low with celebrations, and very few people were buying groceries for big gatherings. Grocery sellers were keeping the prices of the Thanksgiving staple—turkey—pretty low to attract the shoppers.

But after the global vaccination, the world has opened up and big gatherings resumed as if they had never stopped. So did the demand for turkey and other foods, whose prices have been soaring rapidly this past year.

The New York Times suggests that we shouldn’t look for a single culprit to explain the phenomenon. According to them, the nation’s food supply has been battered by a knotted supply chain, high transportation expenses, labor shortages, trade policies and bad weather. Inflation is at play, too.

Numbers also speak for themselves. The Consumer Price Index for food was up 4.6 percent from a year ago in September, while the prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs soared a whopping 10.5 percent. For those wondering what’s up with the sky-high turkey prices, it may have to do with the fact that the price of corn, which most commercial turkeys feed on, more than doubled in some parts of the country from July 2020 to July 2021.

The Department of Agriculture turkey report released on Friday has also stated that whole frozen birds already cost 25 cents/pound more than they did a year ago. With much bigger holiday celebrations than last year, the demand for festive foods is likely not going anywhere, so there’s a slim chance you’ll get your hands on a turkey bargain.