Cooks can truly be frugal gourmets this Thanksgiving, as consumers enjoy lower food prices, at least for now.

The Thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings will cost an average of $42.91, a decrease of $1.70, or 3.8 percent, from last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

That's the one bright spot of the recession -- cheaper prices for necessities, including select groceries and energy resources. Food prices are expected to rebound as the economy improves, economists say.

The cost of a 16-pound turkey, at roughly $1.16 a pound, reflects a decrease of 3 cents a pound from last year, or a total of 44 cents per turkey, the Farm Bureau said in its annual price list.

Other items that have declined in price from a year ago are milk, whipping cream, rolls, fresh cranberries, and items needed to prepare the meal such as eggs, sugar, flour, butter and onions, according to the Farm Bureau.

Items that have gone up in price are pumpkin pie mix, pie shells and cube stuffing.

Chicagoans saw little change in food prices in the latest consumer price index, released Wednesday. It shows that the food-at-home index dropped 2.2 percent in the past year.

Local grocery stores, which announced major price rollbacks this year as the recession deepened, are advertising savings for the Thanksgiving holiday.

For those looking for help with the meal, Allrecipes will be Webcasting a full day of streaming live cooking and baking-demo videos at allrecipes.tv.

Item	2008 price ($)	2009 price ($)	Difference ($)	Dominick's	Jewel-Osco
Milk, 1 gal. whole	3.78	2.86	-0.92	2.28	2.28
Turkey, 16-pound	19.09	18.65	-0.44	6.88	5.92**
Misc. ingredients	2.69	2.50	-0.19	N/A*	N/A*
Cream, half pint	1.70	1.55	-0.15	3.19	2.58
Rolls, 12	2.20	2.08	-0.12	2.49	2.50
Relish tray, 1 lb.	0.82	0.72	-0.1	4.49	6.99
Fresh cranberries, 12 oz.	2.46	2.41	-0.05	2.50	1.99
Pumpkin pie mix, 30-oz.	2.34	2.45	+0.11	2.59	2.79
Pie shells (2)	2.26	2.34	+0.08	2.89	2.99
Cube stuffing, 14 oz.	2.57	2.65	+0.08	2.79	2.58
Sweet potatoes, 3 lbs.	3.12	3.12	unchanged	2.31	0.84
Green peas, 1 lb.	1.58	1.58	unchanged	1.50	0.97
TOTAL:	44.61	42.91	-1.70	36.41	34.93

* When comparable price for category is unavailable, total price was calculated using current national average.
**Jewel price is based on $10 off a turkey with $20 purchase of other items.