Thanksgiving inflation gobbles up budgets

High inflation is hitting the Thanksgiving spread.

Food prices rose almost 11 percent over the 12 months ending in October, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), while groceries, which exclude restaurants, specifically were 12.4 percent more expensive from the same time a year ago. 

And some Thanksgiving staples are even more expensive thanks to a combination of costly setbacks for farmers and food processors. 

Prices for poultry were up almost 15 percent annually in October, according to the Labor Department, thanks in part to a recent outbreak of avian flu. Premade baked goods, baking mixes and frozen desserts were also at least 15 percent more expensive last month than a year ago.

“As we’ve seen across the economy, American consumers are experiencing higher prices driven by a perfect storm of factors,” Laura Strange, senior vice president for the National Grocers Association, a trade group for independent grocery stores, said in a Monday email.