Turkey, ham or both?

Rappahannock residents will be able to feed their families a Thanksgiving meal today for just over $6 per person, according to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey of common grocery items, which places the average cost of a traditional meal for 10 adults at $60.33 — or $6.03 per person.

The menu includes turkey, ham, stu ng, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, rolls, carrots, celery, cranberries, green beans, peas, milk and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. A Thanksgiving meal without ham, russet potatoes and green beans — all of which were added to the survey in 2018 — will cost Virginians an average of $47.69.

This year’s statewide average represents a decrease of $3.91 from the 2019 average price of $64.24 for a 10-person meal, the rst decrease since 2016. The price decrease comes despite farmers encountering food supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on prices at Virginia grocery stores, the average cost of a 16-pound turkey was $22.42, or about $1.40 per pound. The 2019 average was $1.65 per pound. A 4-pound bone-in ham was $8.29; a gallon of whole milk was $3.02; frozen peas, $1.30; frozen green beans, $1.31; 3 pounds of sweet potatoes, $2.99; a 5-pound bag of russet potatoes, $3.04; fresh celery, $1.45; fresh carrots, $.98; two pie shells, $2.24; whipping cream, $1.59; canned pumpkin pie lling, $3.26; fresh cranberries, $2.63; stu ng mix, $2.91; and a dozen dinner rolls, $2.89.

Highest average cost for a meal this year in Virginia was Washington County (on the Tennessee border) at $91.30. The locality with the lowest average cost was nearby Fredericksburg at $41.10.