The cost of Thanksgiving dinner

The cost of putting Thanksgiving dinner on the table has gone up by 5.5% since last year, according to a story in Sunday's LA Daily News. This year the whole meal costs $44.61, up from $42.26, by the story's calculations.

"Meat producers have been struggling this year with higher costs for key ingredients like corn, soybeans and oil, part of why the cost of beef and chicken has risen so much," the story says. "Turkey producers are facing all the same pressures, but don't have the same economies of scale and have to plan a year in advance for the one day a year they count on most."

But there is hope for savvy spenders like yourself. "Consumers will see good prices this year, Rosenblatt said, since retailers will again heavily advertise turkey at prices where they may not make any money on the deal in hopes that shoppers drawn in by the lower price will buy lots of other products."

The story says it costs $19.09 for a 16 lb turkey, which is $1.19 per lb! Fellow bargain hunters, we can do better than that! Stay tuned - I'm going to blog about the best turkey prices soon.