Cheaper to eat prime rib!

$100 for a large turkey????? But, if you have ever tried to raise your own, you know they are absolute eating machines and organic feed is very expensive.

We raised free-range chickens for awhile and gave them organic feed. (in NW IL. you need to buy feed for the winter months (actually, year round because they won't grow on grass and bugs alone.) We couldn't sell the birds or their eggs for what it cost to raise them.

We will raise meat chickens this summer for our own use but won't buy organic feed. Fortunately, meat chickens are only raised for 8 weeks so we don't have to worry about winterizing them. (after 8 weeks they can't even walk out of the coop to feed on grass/bugs ---- too fat and legs too weak to walk. Sad but true.)

At that price the bird better cook, serve and clean up after itself!

We always spring for a good fresh-kill organic. It just gets smaller every year. I've added so many favorite sides over the years the bird is not the star of the meal, just tradition.
If we have a larger crowd, we add a goose or leg of lamb and cook it on the rotisserie outside.
We tend to go overboard but enjoy it. Our favorite holiday with the best of friends and family.

On the other end of the spectrum, moving the decimal point a little to the left, Shaw's Market has whole frozen Shady Brook turkeys on sale this week for $.59/lb.

Seagrass, my local ACME market is giving away turkeys! If you spend $$100 in a single trip, they give you a choice of a whole Shady Brook, whole Empire (kosher) or some other brand turkey breast. I shop there regularly for some stuff, so spending $100 is a given. I now have 2 Empire turkeys in the freezer and we had one this past weekend because I have run out of freezer room!

Alexa

This year we'll have a homegrown Blue Slate turkey, pasture raised. We couldn't free range them because the neighbors' dogs spent their days circling the turkey enclosure. So, they got moved around and pastured, but couldn't roam about unconfined. They also got infectious sinusitis which required antibiotics, so they aren't even technically organic. (sigh) They were the most difficult "livestock" I've ever grown, they forget how to eat and starve to death, they are prone to various diseases and many farmers tell me they are "suicide, waiting to happen". They were also the dumbest creatures I've ever encountered, giving new meaning to "bird brain". One stuck his head through the fencing and couldn't figure out how to pull it back out. He wasn't caught, it wasn't tight, he just couldn't figure out how to pull his head back out. He was "stuck" until I rescued him.

Anyway, I figure my 16 pound Blue Slate cost somewhere just shy of $40, and that doesn't include any time, labor, light bill for brooding or equipment, only the cost of the poults and their feed. They also take 20 to 24 weeks to raise to that size, where one of the Broad Breasted White "frankenbirds" can grow to 25 pounds in 18 weeks. That's why the heritage birds are more expensive.

Here there are no free turkeys or even 59 cents per pound turkeys, at least not yet this year. The cheapest I've seen even the supermarket frozen birds was $2.19 a pound, so a 16 pounder (equivalent in size to my homeraised bird) would be a bit over $35.00 and about a pound of that would be salt and water. Um.....I mean "flavor enhancer". Yeah.

Annie

My Thanksgiving turkey will cost $0.00 per lb, because we are not having one! We're going non-trad this year. Not sure what is on the menu but anything from leg of lamb to dim sum to Chinese hot pot is under consideration.

I googled it for Houston where I live and found this website (link below) where you can get a "Natural FreeRange Turkey", 18-20 lbs, for $92.

I don't host Thanksgiving, my sister does, but I will sometimes buy a turkey anyway since they usually put the frozen ones on sale for something like .29/lb with a minimum purchase which I can always meet. I put it in the freezer and we'll eat it in December or January. It's just because it's so cheap I can't resist it.

I'm not a purist when it comes to things like organically raised and non-GMO, etc. so buying a frozen one works for me. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Georgia's Texas Grassfed Beef

Thanks lowspark! That's a good comparison.

Yep, organic and free-range costs more than Butterball. Still, I was surprised by the cost. We don't eat turkey so I had no direct experience with cost.

/tricia

I showed Elery this thread, and then went to this website. We both agreed that if I could get even $5 a pound for turkeys I'd raise them, even if I have to go out to the pen 3 times a day and "remind" them how to eat by dipping beaks in water and in the food dishes.

I couldn't even break even here, but some people do, or at least appear to do so, from the prices on the link.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: Local (to you) turkey

Turkeys aren't a big deal to me and I've had lots of different ones, some considered remarkable, and they all taste about the same to me. I buy a turkey once a year and have a Butterball in the freezer I bought at Aldis last week.
I'd rather have great beef or shellfish anyday.

OMG, turkey breast is one of my favorite meats. I don't do beef! Anyway, we usually have it grilled once a month. The second day in sandwiches made with fresh rolls is a must!

I like turkey, and I like beef. I also like fish, shellfish, seafood of all types, a nice pork loin, some local venison, an occasional rabbit. Yeah, everything pretty much except lamb. Heck, I'll even eat goat and enjoy it!

My heritage Blue Slate turkeys are longer in the leg than the Butterball type, and the breast and the thighs cook at about the same time. This is in an 8 quart Calphalon chili pot.

Annie