Going into the holiday season, many American families will host dinners filled with festive staples like turkey, mashed potatoes and pie. But this year, inflation has hit many popular foods, more than doubling some prices since 2021.
Dishes that require eggs will certainly cost more this year. While the average price for a dozen large, grade-A eggs was $1.71 in November 2021, that number jumped 109% to $3.58 this year, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Salads, too, will cost more to serve this year. Heads of romaine lettuce were advertised as costing $2.40 on average during mid-December, up 48% from $1.67 the same time last year, according to the USDA's national retail report data.
Many factors are contributing to food prices going up. Shortages have contributed to the price hikes for eggs and lettuce. In the poultry industry, avian flu has impacted over 50 million birds since early February, decreasing national egg production by around 10%. Lettuce producers are battling an outbreak of Necrotic Spot Virus, a plant disease that kills many types of lettuce, including romaine and iceberg.
On top of that, supply chain disruptions from COVID persist, which have hiked the cost of energy, transportation and labor, making farm operations more expensive.
Here’s how much the price of some key holiday foods and ingredients have increased since last year:
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Average Price Data (U.S. city average) comparing November 2021 and 2022. Price increase data for turkey, romaine lettuce, cranberries and apples from the USDA's national retail report issued Dec. 16, 2022.
Amy O’Kruk/NBC
