Drought Taking Its Toll On Thanksgiving Meal Prices, Eyewitness News Investigates

Have you noticed the cost for your thanksgiving dinner items was up this year?

The American Farm Bureau estimated this year's classic dinner for ten at around $51.

That's about $1.60 more than last year.

The survey found several items on the menu to have gone up in price including turkey. It's up 20-cents a pound this year.

Christina Thomas, a mother of 5, has a big task on her hands this thanksgiving.

"We're going to have about 50 people there." She continues, "We always worry about grocery prices going up whenever you're trying to feed five kids. It adds up really quick."

According to the Farm Bureau report, the price you'll pay for most of the ingredients on your table this year will be down from last year but this year's drought did have a major impact on wheat supplies. That affects the price you'll pay for rolls (which is up slightly this year) but the big price pain customers are telling us about is the cost of the turkey.

They say, this year, they're at a price they aren't thankful for.

School teacher Donna Bomar says *this* year, she's doing more bargain shopping and the cost of the turkey is hard for her to believe.

"I saw a Butterball for $49. I mean, who ever heard of buying a turkey for $49 dollars?"

As for Thomas, she may be shopping smarter, but her Thanksgiving meal for 50 will go on as planned. "We've been seeing the overall price increase for a while now on everything so why would we cut out Thanksgiving on account of it?"