Glad Tidings: Turkey Is a Holiday Bargain
BY STEVE DINNEN
On average—and we know you’re way above that—American consumers will spend $1,048 each on Christmas this year. That is the highest amount ever, says the National Retail Federation, and in total will amount to Yuletide spending on gifts of slightly more than $1 trillion. It represents a 4% boost over what we spent last year.
Christmas is the most expensive shopping foray that we make in a year’s time. It is followed by back-to-school spending. Mother’s Day comes in third, followed by Easter and then the Fourth of July.
In contrast, our upcoming national holiday, Thanksgiving, is dirt cheap. Nobody buys a gift for someone to celebrate Thanksgiving, and they splash out a minimal amount of money on decorations that mainly focus on cutouts of gobblers and Pilgrim’s hats.
Our only expense for Thanksgiving is food—and turkey, it turns out, is a bargain. The American Farm Bureau pegs the cost of a 10-person serving of turkey—with trimmings—at an astonishingly low $48.90. And that cost has fallen two years in a row. Stagnant turkey prices ($21.61 for a 16-pound bird) have twinned with stagnant potato prices.
If you’re feeling guilty about this involuntary spendthriftiness, remember that you always can crank it up a notch with wine. Reach a little higher, for the top shelf. (I prefer Riesling against the dry white meat of a turkey, though my daughter thinks pinot noir makes for a splendid pairing.)
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