Holiday dinner hit by inflation, shoppers feel impact

DELMARVA – This year, almost every ingredient for your annual holiday dinner will come with a heftier price tag.

That’s thanks to one item you didn’t expect to be on the list: inflation.

“I’m one of those people that doesn’t pay too much attention to the price but I feel like. I feel like I’ve definitely noticed that meat prices and other things going up. My boss was actually talking about it the other day,” Salisbury resident Alyssa Graham said.

“With thanksgiving at hand, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs from last year at the same time are up 13.7%. 2.3% from their prices in August,” BEACON Executive Director John Hickman said.

The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates the average cost for Thanksgiving dinner to be a little over $53 per family.

Several factors contribute to this increase.

“Those transportation issues. Things impacting goods getting into the U.S. or moving once they reach the U.S. Those transportation issues are causing a lot of that,” Hickman said.

Now with inflation on the menu, I’m told filling up your cart with items for the perfect holiday meal will look a little different for many this year. “It’s weird. It’s like it’s opened up so we can all get together without being stressed out but at the same time, we kind of have to do that.  We have to scale back a bit because none of us are rolling in the dough with everything going on right now,” Salisbury resident Brittney Herz said.

“Normally I would’ve probably offered to do more than just a side dish and offered to make more things. I’m just trying to keep things on a budget,” Graham said.

As giving season is in full swing, experts say they don’t see prices going down anytime soon. “The very low inflation rates that we’ve seen over the last couple of years probably are not going to be there. We’ll probably see a higher inflation rate driven by some of the stimulus measures that have been put into the economy,” Hickman said.

“I don’t see it going down before the holidays, but it would be a nice Christmas surprise if it did,” Herz said.

Experts say they see the transportation issues resolving over time.

They also advise shoppers be mindful that your trip to the store will cost a little extra as well, as inflation impacts can be seen at the gas pump.