It is the glue that holds Thanksgiving together. It’s what people spend hours preparing, cooking to perfection. It is not a complimentary dish like the stuffing or mashed potatoes; it is the star of the show, and what Thanksgiving is all about,– the turkey. This year, it will be much harder to get that prized bird Americans all covet. What would Thanksgiving be without turkey?

Due to inflation, all grocery store prices are going up and the turkey is not immune to that. The prices of all Thanksgiving goods are skyrocketing. Anything from that canned cranberry sauce grandma always puts on a fancy platter and tries to pass off as homemade, to the green vegetables that you feel obligated to eat, they will all be much more expensive this year. The article Turkey Shortage Puts a strain on Thanksgiving preps explains, “Thanksgiving items are expected to cost 13.5% more than last year.” Americans should expect their turkeys to be much more expensive than in years past.

The other devastation the turkeys have faced this year was an outbreak of the Avian Flu also known as the Bird Flu. The flu seems to take out the larger turkeys which is very sad for consumers who want their turkeys to be over 20 pounds. According to CDC data, this flu has killed more than 8 million turkeys. Americans eat about 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving. That means that 17.391% of turkeys that we would have eaten were killed by the flu.

The moral of the story is to go out and get your turkey earlier this year. No one wants to be fighting a Karen for the last prize bird in the middle of ShopRite the day before Thanksgiving. On the bright side, if you were to win that fight the turkey would be free with ShopRite’s fall promotion. Good luck to all getting their turkeys this year!