The average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 this year is $49.41, up 37 cents from last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

1. Factory farm practices make turkey cheap, but also kind of gross.

The turkey that the pilgrims ate looked little like what we eat today. Turkey operations began specially breeding turkeys in the 1950s for size and speed of growth, especially in the breast. The weight of an average turkey has more than doubled between 1929 and 2007, growing from 13 pounds to 29 pounds. Breeders now raise some adult male birds that weigh over 80 pounds – about on par with the average Labrador.

2. Your turkey is fed with taxpayer money.

Factory farm turkeys are so cheap not just because they live in close quarters, but also because of their diet. They are almost exclusively fed a diet of corn and soybeans to bulk them up quickly – far different from turkeys’ natural diet of nuts, seeds, plants, worms and other crawly things.

3. The average Broad-Breasted White can be frozen for up to two years.

4. Stores often sell turkeys at below cost to entice customers to buy other marked-up Thanksgiving necessities.

Consumers use the price of turkey as a way to comparison shop between stores. Big grocery stores know this, and they often offer the turkey as a loss leader to get customers into the store, where they are almost certain to buy other, higher-priced Thanksgiving staples.

5. Some people buy cheaper turkey on Thanksgiving than other times of the year, since they’re feeding it mostly to guests.

Not to make you suspicious about your relatives or anything, but some economists speculate that people are more willing to pay more for turkey outside of November because they are buying it for their own consumption. On Thanksgiving when they have 10-15 extended-family mouths to feed, some cooks will be cutting corners.

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