With Thanksgiving just over a week away, many Americans across the country are completing their grocery lists to stock up on food for the holiday meal. But with so many crops and other food sources affected by extreme weather, you may need to dig a little deeper into your finances this year.
Stew Leonard’s supermarket chain in the Northeast and New England sells more than 20,000 turkeys, 55,000 pies and more than 10,000 pounds of mashed potatoes each year. And last week, Stu Leonard himself appeared on FOX Weather to explain how important weather is to food prices.
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“Weather always affects food,” he said. “So if the seas get rough, we expect lobster prices to go up and some fish prices to go up as well. Weather is very important to food prices and there are a few things that are going to happen this year. I did.”
Leonard said Hurricane Hillary’s impact on California led to higher prices for artichokes and Brussels sprouts. And the extreme weather in Georgia has increased the price of green beans.
“That means the weather is having a bit of an impact on the price of Thanksgiving meals,” he said.
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One thing that hasn’t been affected by severe weather events this year is turkeys.
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“The turkey is fine,” Leonard said. “Turkey prices are going to be about the same as last year. You know, some people are going to sell it a little bit cheaper, and some people are going to sell it a little bit more expensive.”