Here's How Much More Your Thanksgiving Meal Will Cost This Year

Grocery prices jumped 12.4% in October compared to a year ago, which means this year's Thanksgiving Day spread is going to cost a lot more than it did in 2021. We've crunched some numbers from October's consumer price index to determine which components of the typical Turkey Day meal rose the most over the last year. The costs for these common holiday ingredients have increased an average of 18.8% since a year ago, compared with a slower 7.7% advance in prices in the overall economy.

Related: Inflation Slows but Continues To Bust Household Budgets

Spoiler alert: Turkey prices are up even more than ham, so this might be a great year to try out alternative Thanksgiving main dishes like pork loin or roasted chicken.

Related: Alternatives to a Traditional Thanksgiving Turkey

No meal is complete without seasonings. If you usually brine your turkey with thyme and load up the stuffing with sage, those little jars of herbs are going to add up fast this year.

Related: Spices and Spice Blends That Make Any Meal Better

If you put out a cheese platter for your guests to graze on while you're cooking dinner, that cheddar, pepperjack, and baked brie costs about 12% more this year compared to 2021.

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We all know someone who only ever seems to eat the dinner rolls at Thanksgiving and very little else. Sopping your gravy up with bakery rolls and biscuits is going to cost more this year.

Gravy and other sauces in a jar are up more than 14% this year. If you've never made your own gravy before, it's pretty easy, so this might be a good year to give it a whirl. 

Holiday baking is a quintessential part of Thanksgiving, but the sugar used for pumpkin pies, apple crisps, and banana pudding is up almost 15% this year. If you put a bowl of candy out for guests, keeping it stocked is going to cost more too.

Whether you prefer Yukon Golds or russets for your mashed potatoes, chances are you're going to pay more to mash them up this Thanksgiving. 

A bird flu outbreak is the main culprit for the steep rise in prices for both raw turkey and chicken. As of September, nearly 44 million turkeys had to be culled this year because of it. 

Love it or hate it, green bean casserole is a must-have for many Thanksgiving tables. The vintage recipe traditionally calls for canned green beans, which have gone up 18%.

If there are no bakers in your family or you just can't resist Marie Callender's, watch that price tag in the supermarket, because frozen and refrigerated bakery products like pies, tarts, and turnovers are up across the board.

All those appetizer dips and cheese boards need some crackers to go with them. But crackers and cracker products are up almost 19% over the last year, making enjoying Aunt Edna's cheese ball pricier. 

The price increase in staples like crackers, bakery, and bread can all be attributed in part to the big rise in the price of flour during the last year. 

Butter or margarine is used in all kinds of Thanksgiving items, from the stick used to lather the turkey to the chunk thrown into sweet potatoes. If you're a butter-only household, the pain is slightly less: The price of butter has risen 26.7% during the last year compared to margarine's whopping 47.1% increase.

You've probably noticed the astronomical price increase of eggs, to the tune of 43% more than the last year. That's going to make your holiday baking — not to mention breakfast — a lot more expensive this season.