Economy dishes good Thanksgiving news

ATLANTA (CNN) - If you've been stressing about how much it's going to cost you to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year, a new survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation may offer a sigh of relief.

The Farm Bureau says it will cost you less this year to buy some of your favorite holiday food items.

Volunteer shoppers, some 200 strong from 35 states, went out to grocery stores around the country. They shopped off the same shopping list, and they produced an average cost to feed ten folks this year at thanksgiving of a little bit under $43, down some from last year.

The shopping list included turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a vegetable tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages.

Last year customers paid a total of about $45 for all of that.

For the items offering the biggest savings, it looks like the turkey and the gallon of milk alone, represent most of the price decrease.

If a $43 price tag is still a little steep experts say there are some ways you can shave the cost even more.

Go to the store with a list and stick to it, and go for the less highly processed items. Buy the 5-pound bag of potatoes instead of buying the instant or the precooked items that are there.

Ingredients for pumpkin pie actually cost more than year, so don't expect to save there.

On the bright side, the Farm Bureau says overall, consumers should continue to save on groceries throughout next year.