Cost of turkeys in your area

[Sonora Shepherd]

Just curious what people are paying for turkey this year. In our area, (central Oregon Coast) we can get them for $.99 a pound if we spend $50 - $1.59 otherwise. We are waiting till after Thanksgiving when they get down to $.79.

[kib]

Safeway has them free up to 15 pounds if you spend $100, 25 pounds if you spend $150. Other than that it looks like $.79 is the going sale price for store brand, about $1.25 for Butterball.

[bae]

Free, the local shooting range ran its turkey shoot last weekend :-)

[Florence]

We bought ours frozen at HEB this morning for $0.27/lb. with a $20.00 purchase.

[IshbelRobertson]

obviously, as. UK person, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. ;).
We alternate turkey and goose for Christmas dinner. Last year it cost nearly 80 Gbp For a 12 lb free range/organic Norfolk Black turkey.

[Blackdog Lin]

We've been checking our whole area for the best prices.

Wal-Mart is the winner this year: $.88/lb. for generic-brand frozen turkey. Not a great year in our area for turkey prices.....

[Tradd]

I saw $.99/lb for frozen whole turkey at a local major chain (Jewel) a week ago. Not sure on brand.

[lhamo]

We alternate turkey and goose for Christmas dinner. Last year it cost nearly 80 Gbp For a 12 lb free range/organic Norfolk Black turkey.

Wow -- and I thought our prices were outrageous! The local import stores are selling imported frozen turkeys for around $8/kilo.

We typically have a program-funded Thanksgiving celebration at one of the nice hotels the Weds before Thanksgiving, and will be doing that again this year. I haven't decided if I will make something special for dinner for the kids on Thanksgiving itself. I roasted chickens last year, and they liked those. But DH will be travelling for work next week and so doesn't seem worth the effort. Maybe we'll just go out for Peking Duck on the weekend instead.

[IshbelRobertson]

We're being told turkey prices will be even higher this Christmas for fresh Norfolk.

We'll probably have goose this year, as my daughter prefers it, and for the very first time in nearly 40 years, I am not in charge of Christmas!

[rosarugosa]

Greater Boston Area - Market Basket:
.79 per lb for fresh
.59 per lb for frozen
For $59.99, you can get a complete turkey dinner, fully cooked, that is said to serve 8 - 10 people, and this includes turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls and apple pie.
None of these prices require a minimum spend or coupon.

[reader99]

Publix house brand .59 a pound, limit two. Winn Dixie same price but a purchase of $25 is required. I cooked one Public turkey this week and another is thawing in the refrigerator for next week. That's some seriously inexpensive protein.

[artist]

rosarugosa has it pegged. Market Basket has the best prices hands down. .59 frozen and .79 fresh. I'm in New Hampshire.

[The Storyteller]

We are charging $2.25 a pound for our heritage breed turkeys this year, $2.00 a pound for our pastured Broad Breasted Bronze. Both taste much, much better than the factory farm turkeys from the store, but our Bourbon Reds are absolutely superb.

We are way undercharging. We plan to grow a lot more and raise our prices considerably next year.

[The Storyteller]

We all see these things from different perspectives, based on our backgrounds. From where I sit, I find all these low prices depressing. At least we make our money directly from the consumer. These low grocery prices are after the grocery store and whatever corporate food giant gets their cut. Imagine what the poor farmers who did all the work and put in all the risk are making.

[catherine]

Butterball: .99
Stop & Shop brand with coupon: .59
Our local poultry producer: 5.85 (a 15-18 lb turkey costs $93) :(

I'm an ardent local shopper, but I'm also an ardent Dave Ramsey BabyStep 2 gazelle-intense debt-reducer with incredible debt and no savings, so I am SO conflicted. This speaks sadly to the economics of local food. I have bought from our local place on previous Thanksgivings, but I just find it hard to justify in my current situation. I was hoping they'd have little turkeys. I'd buy a big regular one for the family, and a baby local one for DD and I.

Hey, bae, can you shoot me one?

[ApatheticNoMore]

Yea I've often spent $40-$60 and picked up an organic turkey for family if we were doing the thanksgiving thing, so yea. And it's a bit much for just a bird and I feel like Scrooge after "conversion" buying a goose for everyone - my generosity is endless, yes it is :). And that's just organic. I'd love those $2.25 heritage birds. The turkey, yea well it's not like I do much in the way of gifts later in the year so :~)

[rosarugosa]

Storyteller: I'm just quoting prices from the ads; we haven't actually bought any turkey. I would gladly pay the far higher price for local turkeys produced in a more ethical manner.

[The Storyteller]

Sorry for being a downer. I'm not trying to guilt anyone, just adding a perspective that might be a little different. Before I started doing this, I would get excited about low food prices, too. But now that I have seen how much work is put into growing this stuff, and how easy it is to lose your shirt when things go awry...

Well, it tempers things for me just a bit. :)

[leslieann]

For Canadian thanksgiving in October, I paid sixty bucks for a sadly underfed 12 pounder...not a good looking bird at all, though from my favorite "free run happy chicken" vendor at the market. I don't know the actual history of that bird but it was expensive and not up to their usual standard. When I read the cheap prices I really wonder how on earth anyone can produce protein at that price and still make a living. At the same time, as with Catherine, I am envious of cheaper US prices. Even our factory-farmed and frozen birds cost a lot more than in the US.

I am going to Maine next week for the holiday, though, and hope to snag a post-Thanksgiving turkey to bring home for the freezer. I don't love turkey but it is good protein and interesting to eat in the "off season," that is, all summer long. And I hope that the fact that I mostly buy locally raised meat will assuage my guilt.

[rosarugosa]

Storyteller: I think you raise valid points and your perspective is welcome at my Thanksgiving table :)
We're not purists in our household, but we're trying a lot harder to buy from brands like Applegate & Springer Mountain, which are presumable more responsible producers. There are some folks selling locally raised meat at the farmer's market in Boston, but the logistics of keeping it cold and lugging it home on the subway have prevented me from becoming a customer to date. I'm always reminding myself that whatever I buy, I must carry home. The farmer's market in my hometown is only on Tuesdays in the summer from 9:00 - 1:00, which pretty much means I can't get there, and I think they just sell produce and baked goods.

[Tradd]

I was at the grocery store tonight and took a peek at the turkeys. FRESH ones are $1.99/lb.

[Tiam]

I'm always amazed at the low prices some areas have compared to here in the NorthWest. However, Winco had the cheap brand turkeys at 43 cents a pound with 50 dollar purchase. The butterballs were around 88 or 99 cents a pound. I decided however, I am very much done with dealing with the fuss and muss of a whole turkey and just bought a whole breast. Even though I prefer dark meat. But the breast is easier to carve. I'm just not into the big Thanksgiving prep. It's too much. Even just cooking a whole turkey at another time is more than I want to take on.

[redfox]

We all see these things from different perspectives, based on our backgrounds. From where I sit, I find all these low prices depressing. At least we make our money directly from the consumer. These low grocery prices are after the grocery store and whatever corporate food giant gets their cut. Imagine what the poor farmers who did all the work and put in all the risk are making.

Speaking as as a former commercial sheep farmer, I'm with you. If we were hosting this year, we would buy organic & local, for $2.79-4.99 a pound. I don't trust the huge industrial "food" system, the safety, the quality, or the nutritional value. Cheap food is not worth it.

http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/holiday/meat/

[cindycindy]

At our supermarket, if you spend $300 at the supermarket the 5 weeks before Thanksgiving, their brand turkey is free up to a certain weight. Since it's just the two of us now, we don't usually spend that much. I just bought a free range, hormone free frozen turkey at a local market for 1.89 per pound.

[iris lilies]

I sprung for a duck this year, DH bought a cheap turkey last week, but I want something different. We shall see how that works out.

[AnneM]

I paid $6.59/lb for a Bourbon Red from bluevalleymeats.com. Up until last year I was buying from someone in the next town over, who was raising heritage turkeys as a side business. She stopped as it was too much work along side her full time job. She was charging $5.50/lb. My dinner guests always raved about how good it was. I hope this year's turkey is up to par.