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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / crussell@staradvertiser.com
Henry Smith, left, Sakura Aizawa and Candace Kumala'a shredded turkeys Tuesday in preparation for the River of Life Mission Thanksgiving meal. The organization expects to serve 500 traditional Thanksgiving meals to people in need from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in its dining room at 101 N. Pauahi St. It will send an additional 500 meals to three senior homes in the downtown area.
Residents in Hilo and Honolulu pay the highest cost for home-cooked Thanksgiving meals in the U.S., according to an analysis by personal finance site NerdWallet.
While the American Farm Bureau Federation pegged the national average cost at $49.41 for 2014, a 37-cent increase over 2013, NerdWallet did a market-by-market analysis and calculated the cost for Hilo residents at $79.11 and for Honolulu at $76.73, the No. 1 and No. 2 most-expensive among the 264 markets in their study.
The analysis is based on the Farm Bureau’s full shopping list including turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk.
The largest price increases this year are sweet potatoes, dairy products and pumpkin pie mix, according to the Farm Bureau.
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/cities/economics/true-cost-thanksgiving-meal/
