'People really want to get together': Winnipeggers celebrate first restriction-free Thanksgiving in years

Winnipeggers are celebrating their first Thanksgiving without health restrictions since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and high inflation rates are not necessarily limiting the menu.

Canada's inflation rate has been hovering around 8 per cent for months, leading to skyrocketing grocery prices, but Munther Zeid, owner of Food Fare, says traditional Thanksgiving foods have not been affected as much.

"For the items that are normally on the Thanksgiving table, they're really not that much higher than last Thanksgiving," said Zeid. "Turkeys are up a little bit, hams are the same, stuffing's the same, cranberry sauce is the same … so there's really not much of an increase."

Zeid says the one major factor affecting Thanksgiving dinners this year is a shortage of large turkeys.

"This year, the larger turkeys are not available, 11-15 pounds seems to be what it is," he said.

He says customers are either buying two smaller turkeys to make up the difference, or serving something else, "(They're) living with the smaller one, but now offering a ham and even a roast at the table," said Zeid.

For Benita and Dale, shopping at Family Foods on Sunday, food prices have absolutely affected their Thanksgiving plans, "We're not having a turkey, we’re going with pork tenderloin because we can pound it and make it go further," said Benita.

"We had to become creative this year in what we were serving and how we were going to do it, but we're still doing it because we're still thankful for the things that we have," she said.

Tracy Leggero's son is visiting from out-of-town, so for her the extra cost is worth it.

"My son is in town from Kitchener, so for us it's more about spending time together, she said. "We haven’t really changed our food choices or anything like that."

Zeid says his store has been busy all week with people stocking up for Thanksgiving.

"You have to remember, everybody was in a lockdown for the last two events," he said. "Now there's no restrictions, you don’t have to worry about the amount of people, you don’t have to worry about masks, you don't have to worry about nothing. So people really want to get together."