AFPD is the trade organization for the food, beverage and petroleum industries in Michigan and Ohio. This is the 29th year that AFPD has provided needy families with turkeys for the [image-nocss] holidays. Since 1980, the AFPD program has donated more than 48,000 turkeys for a total of approximately 576,000 meals. "Many retailers and other local businesses have given generously to this program. This is one way our local independent retailers work together with the community to provide local needy families with a holiday meal," says Jane Shallal, AFPD president and CEO. Turkeys were pre-packaged with the help of Student Council and National Honor Society students from Kettering High School in Detroit.
Organizations will be picking up turkeys between today, November 20. Also today, AFPD will deliver turkeys to area churches and civic organizations, which then provide them to needy families.
Consumers can still prepare a reasonably priced traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year, but it is going to cost them a little more than last year. According to the Associated Food & Petroleum Dealers (AFPD), the average price to purchase and prepare the ingredients for a traditional turkey dinner for 10 people is $41.14 ($4.11 per person)up from $39.70 for 10 or $3.97 per person in 2008.
The cost is based on a standard turkey dinner and includes all the traditional trimmings: stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, green salad, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Beverages were excluded.
"We have surveyed retailers since 1994 and found that prices kept relatively consistent until 2005, when transportation costs began to inflate food prices," said Jane Shallal, president and CEO of AFPD; however, she added that, "even with increasing energy and transportation prices, retailers are still keeping costs to consumers as low as possible."
The survey prices reflect the average cost of items that can be purchased at supermarkets in the Metro Detroit area the week prior to Thanksgiving. Shallal said that many of the items on the traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu are on sale during this time. Actual prices vary from store to store.
"Many supermarkets offer one or more brands of turkeys and some are selling them at below cost in hopes of encouraging shoppers to come into their store for their Thanksgiving Day purchases. Shoppers can also look to some of the grocers' loyalty programs to cut the price of their dinner even further," said Shallal. "We urge customers to clip coupons and search the ads to check for when items they need are on sale. If you start early enough, you can save even further on groceries for your Thanksgiving day celebration."
Click hereto view a Thanksgiving dinner cost graph.
AFPD represents nearly 3,000 retailers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers.
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