Thanksgiving Shoppers Hit Tulsa Aisles For Turkey, Fixings

The mad rush to get Thanksgiving dinner items is happening now. Many stores still have what you need on the shelves, but that may not be the case for long.

And despite the avian flu wiping out millions of birds, there's no shortage of turkey.

We spent the afternoon at Reasors in Brookside talking to shoppers.

The USDA says turkeys this year are a little cheaper than last year.

Everywhere you turn, shoppers roamed the aisles gathering what they need to make Thanksgiving a success.

"At this point, we're looking for the size because we know how many mouths we have to feed," Catherine Nielsen said.

For people like Catherine and Gordon Nielsen, Thanksgiving isn't complete without the turkey.

"When is the last time we had something other than turkey...not for thanksgiving?” he said. “Thanksgiving meat is turkey."

The USDA says there should be plenty of turkeys to go around this season.

But with nearly 40 million birds killed during the April avian flu outbreak, at one time experts thought there'd be a shortage -- or at least an increase in cost.

The USDA says turkeys are 1 cent cheaper on average this year compared to last.

"I don't factor in the cost,” Catherine Nielsen said. “You know what you have to get and you go and get it."

Avian flu caused problems for farmers in 15 states across the Midwest. It wiped out nearly 3 percent of the turkey population.

However, many of the turkey's being sold now were flash frozen in March, which was before the avian flu took hold.

"We've always had turkey,” John Hickey said.

Hickey says he hasn't kept up with what's going on with the turkey population, but he does know that on Thanksgiving, there will be a bird on his table.

"We’re going back to the old tried and true," he said.

The annual survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation says the overall cost of to feed 10 people for Thanksgiving will cost about $50.

That's nearly a dollar more than last year.