Artificial intelligence is helping people save money on their Thanksgiving plans this year. CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O'Grady has more.

Washington

Thanksgiving meal costs are expected to be higher this year, with turkey prices up 40% and increases in other staples such as cranberries and green beans. Despite this, some items like butter, bread, and eggs have decreased in price, and analysts suggest that a frugal Thanksgiving meal can still be prepared for under $6 per person.

The report details how artificial intelligence tools, including chatbots and shopping apps, can assist with meal planning, finding deals, and organizing grocery lists. AI can generate shopping lists within a set budget, suggest recipes for dietary needs, and help locate the best prices at local stores. Pre-packaged meal deals and alternative meats like pork are also discussed as cost-saving options.

How AI can help you save money on Thanksgiving this year

with Thanksgiving just 10 days away. You can expect to pay more for your holiday meal this year, but there is one way that can help you save time and money. CBS News Money Watch correspondent, Kelly O'Grady shows us how. Stuffing, veggies, pie, all the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast. What can consumers expect this Thanksgiving when it comes to prices? So the good news is Thanksgiving is gonna be a little less expensive than it was last year, but turkey prices are up 40%. Phil Lembert, a food industry analyst known as the supermarket guru, says frugal shoppers can feast for under $6 per person. Average frozen wholesale turkeys are $1.32 per pound. That's up from 97 cents per pound last year. Feast favorites, cranberries, are up 6%, while green beans are up 32%. However, staples like lettuce, milk, soft drinks, and potatoes are flat or up slightly from a year ago, while butter, bread, and eggs are down. Tariffs are still a concern. Whether it's an imported product like olive oil or imported cheeses or imported wines, tariffs have an effect. But also, let's not forget, there's a tariff on aluminum cans. So that, in fact, even on our canned pumpkin is gonna increase those prices. So to save you time and money, before you stock your kitchen, try using artificial intelligence. Get help planning with recipes and finding the cheapest deals. Free AI chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT work like personal assistants. I'm using Microsoft Copilot. Hey there, Kelly, welcome back. Can you prepare for me a Thanksgiving shopping list for eight people that will come in under $50? You can go for a dry brine turkey around $15, roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots, mashed potatoes, and a bit of boxed stuffing. I even asked it to find the cheapest turkey near me and generate recipes for dietary restrictions. There's a really great gluten-free stuffing recipe that you can try out. It's a bit of a classic approach. And remember these? Most grocery stores still have weekly circulars promoting their deals, but now you can compare them on your phone. The free Flip app has circulars for most national and local grocers. When it's time to shop. Can you organize my grocery list in the chat into store sections so it's easier to find? Absolutely, let's get it store section ready so when you walk into the store, you'll know exactly where to go. My camera can also comparison shop. The cheapest place to snag that stovetop stuffing mix in your area right now is actually Walmart. They've got it going for about $1.88 per box. Another time saver, pre-packaged meal offerings. Grocery chains, including Walmart, Aldi, and Lidl have deals to feed a family of 10 for $40 or less. All include turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pie, and other sides. Tips to help you gobble up savings for your Thanksgiving feast and beyond. And Kelly is here in Studio 55 to talk more about this. All right, so let's talk about people using non-traditional Thanksgiving meal items like pork or beef instead of turkey. Is that cost effective? Yes and no. Okay, so if you're gonna go with beef, if you want a nice juicy steak, that is not going to save you money. That is up 18% versus last year. So yeah, it's gonna be maybe a little bit less than your turkey in terms of price increase, but beef tends to also just be more expensive than turkey in general. That being said, your pork. If you are adventurous, like my family will sometimes do ham. Yeah, everybody does ham. Your pork chops, things like that. That actually will be significantly less than your turkey or your beef. So those are definitely good options if you're not married to that day after turkey sandwich, which is a good one. No, when we have the turkey, but you also have like there's ham, there's beef, we have, you know, there's always a roast and there's all this other stuff. I'm very curious about the AI recommended, like the recommended recipes. I'm sure it probably gave you some good ones because it just pulls stuff off the internet. But like, is there anything that you thought, oh, this is interesting and it's not gonna be too expensive? So I admittedly have not tried them yet. Are you a cook? Only around the holidays. Okay. I actually, I'll bring you in some pumpkin pie. It's actually quite good. Ooh, okay. Kaleo Grady pumpkin pie. But what I did find interesting is I asked it follow-up questions. Like, you know, can you provide me the time? Can you provide me the temperature? And it had specifics for all that, so I'm sure it would be good. The thing that I really liked though, it said for stuffing a good way to save, is just to sort of look at what you have in the fridge and the pantry because there's no perfect stuffing recipe and just throw it in there. And I know that's good because that's how my mom makes it. She's like, it's different every year. That's right, I love that. Also, we were fascinated on CBS mornings about AI telling you where to go in the aisle. How does that work? So I loved this because when I show up, I'm always like, okay, what aisle am I supposed to go to when I just end up going up and down the aisles? I asked the AI, as you saw in there, to organize my shopping list based on aisle. And it tells you this is normally for this store in the aisle where you're gonna find your baking goods. No way. And you just sort of go there. Because there's always that item where you're like, I can't find coconut oil or whatever it might be. Yeah, it's helpful. Wow, we should try it for New Yorkers. We should try it for Duane Reade because no one can ever find anything in Duane Reade. I bet AI probably can't decipher where stuff is in a Duane Reade. Am I right? We're gonna go shopping next week. Let's do it, let's do it. All right, Kelly O'Grady. So good to have you always here in Studio 55. We appreciate it.

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