Food Prices Rise As Thanksgiving Approaches

ORANGE COUNTY (CBSLA) — Experts urge grocery shoppers to beware of higher prices as they grab items for this year's Thanksgiving feast. 

"I know the pricing is going up, getting more expensive by the day so we've stocked up for the past couple of months just to be ready," said Lake Forest resident Dan Cooper.

Food prices have increased throughout the country with the Labor Department after the global supply chain bottleneck, among many other issues, drove inflation rates to the highest it's been in three decades. In October, the consumer price index which accounts for food prices among other indicators, surged 0.9%, the highest month-over-month increase since June. Prices increased  6.2 % compared to last October.

"We're going to continue to see that for the next 12 to 18 months," said Phil Lempert, the "Supermarket Guru." "We've got climate change, we've got transportation we've got labor issues and all of that translates to higher prices."

According to CBSLA reporter Michele Gile, a comparison of five Thanksgiving items showed a year-over-year increase except in one category: fresh cranberries.

Compared to 2020,  16-pound turkey increased from about $19 to $25 this year. A 30-ounce pumpkin pie mix is up from about $2 to at most $5.49. Milk increased this year to $3.39 compared to $3.08 in 2020. A box of cubed stuffing is almost a dollar more up from $2.81 to $3.79. 

The only observed decrease in price was for a bag of fresh cranberries, $2.49 instead of $2.69 last year.