Ohio supermarkets are slashing prices for turkeys in hopes shoppers will fill their carts with other Thanksgiving items that are more expensive this year.

Section: Holidays

In central Ohio - a very competitive market for food stores -- chains including Kroger and Giant Eagle are selling turkeys 18 pounds or larger for a mouthwatering 29 cents a pound.

Ohio Grocers Association president Tom Jackson called that an unbelievable price during unbelievable times. Before Thanksgiving of last year, turkeys were averaging 36 cents a pound.

Wholesale prices for turkeys are actually up as much as 7 cents a pound from last year, but stores are using the birds as a lure and shoppers should not expect bargains elsewhere. White potatoes, for example, cost 35 percent more than last year.

As a result, in a push to get more consumers in their doors, grocery chains are practically giving away turkeys this year. This comes even though higher export demand for U.S. turkey has driven the estimated wholesale prices up 3 cents to 7 cents per pound compared with 2007, Corrine Alexander, an agricultural economist at Purdue University told the Columbus Dispatch.

"Grocery stores are hoping that when you come to pick up that turkey you're also going to buy your potatoes, your cranberries and all of the other items that you serve at Thanksgiving," she said.