With Thanksgiving just a week away, many of you have and will start planning your menu for the holiday. This year the items that make up the traditional Thanksgiving dinner will cost less than last year’s dinner according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The AFBF has done an informal survey for the past 24 years of traditional items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table. This year the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 people is $42.91, a $1.70 price decrease from last year’s average of $44.61.

The list of food items covered included turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10.

The cost of a 16-pound turkey at $18.65, or roughly $1.16 per pound, reflects a decrease of 3 cents per pound, or a total of 44 cents per turkey compared to 2008.

The cost of milk is $2.86 per gallon, which dropped by 92 cents. This is the largest contributor to the overall decrease in the cost the 2009 Thanksgiving dinner.

Other items showing a price decrease this year were a pint of whipped cream, $1.55; a 12-ounce package of brown-n-serve rolls, $2.08; a 1-pound relish tray of carrots and celery, 72 cents; and a 12-ounce package of fresh cranberries, $2.41.

A combined group of miscellaneous items, including coffee and ingredients necessary to prepare the meal (onions, eggs, sugar, flour, evaporated milk and butter) also dropped in price to $2.50.

Two items, peas and sweet potatoes, stayed the same in price at $1.58 for 1 pound and $3.12 for 3 pounds, respectively.

Items that increased slightly (less than 5 percent) in price this year were a 14-ounce package of cubed bread stuffing, $2.65; two 9-inch pie shells, $2.34; and a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, $2.45.

Despite retail price increases during the last year or so, American consumers have enjoyed relatively stable food costs over the years, and the Thanksgiving dinner remains affordable.