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Study finds Canadians will pay a little more for a Thanksgiving dinner in 2025
With the calendar flipping to October and Thanksgiving just one week away, the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University recently released their findings from a report calculating the average cost for a Thanksgiving dinner here in Canada. Taking a look at the average Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, potatoes, pumpkin pie, stuffing, cranberries, gravy, and more; they found that compared to last year, Canadian’s will be paying 18 cents more to fill their plates. Sylvain Charlebios, Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, says the reason Thanksgiving is slightly more expensive is not what you’d expect. “So essentially, we always look at the main staples of a Thanksgiving dinner. Obviously, we can't cover the whole gamut of products, but we focus on seven or eight key products like turkey, gravy, cranberries, pumpkin pie, bread rolls, things like that. And the turkey itself is actually cheaper in general across the country, which is good news for Canadians. What's more affordable this year (for Canadians is) carrots and we also know that bread in general and pumpkin pies are basically priced the same as last year, (but) what's more expensive are bread rolls, cranberries, and gravy, especially if they are in a can.” The Canadian government announced retaliatory 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum products out of the United States, and with the original tariffs the U.S. instilled on Canada, most canning products will see an increase of price on the store shelves. With that in mind, it might be most cost-worthy to make your own gravy and cranberries at home besides buying the canned ones at the store. The study found out that Turkey is cheaper this year, a 7 lb. frozen turkey costs $10.43 this year, compared to $11.69 in 2024. Potatoes are also more expensive as a10 lb. bag rose from $5.99 to $6.99, one of the biggest increases in pricing. Pumpkin pie prices stayed steady at roughly $5.99 for a 750-gram pie. Carrots are slightly cheaper; down from $1.79 to $0.91 per pound. However, the other sides saw an uptick with bread rolls rising a cent to $3.00, cranberries raising 50 cents to $2.50, stuffing rising $0.97 to $1.39, and finally gravy up from $0.88 to $1.27. The report found that the average Thanksgiving dinner will cost Canadians $32.48, an 18 cent or roughly 0.5% increase from $32.30 in 2024. While it’s a small increase for Canadians and one that you may not even notice at the cashier line of the grocery store, Charlebois recommends being proactive when it comes to your holiday food shopping. “The reason why we actually released a report this week is to give people a chance to shop around and look for the best price possible. And of course, if you want to buy frozen because you're on a tight budget, well, I think this weekend is the time to buy, not next week (as) we typically see prices go up as we get closer to Thanksgiving (and) same for the holiday season. So, if you're out there looking for a bird, you should be pleasantly surprised and in fact, I would probably encourage people to buy maybe another one for the coming holidays.” As we get closer to Thanksgiving or any other major holiday in Canada (Christmas, Easter, etc.) where there’s a good chance you’ll see a turkey dinner; grocery stores will generally raise prices of those more specialty food items (turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc.) to capitalize on consumer trends, so it might be wise to start your holiday food shopping earlier and gobble up the savings.