I recently received an email from a company that was advertising free range Thanksgiving turkeys for $130 – $175. Wowza! I don’t think I’ve ever paid for than $10 for a turkey {in fact most years I’ve gotten them for FREE} so when I saw how much they are selling the birds for I nearly fell over.
I totally get that most people who pay that much for a turkey do it for ethical reasons…because how much better can a $150 turkey taste than one for $10? Even more, I get the farm to table thing is totally rad. It’s so much better for the turkeys to spend their days roaming around and foraging for food. Plus, the birds are supposed to be better for us when they’ve lived a lower-stress free-range life.
Still, I wonder, even if you really wanted to be able to support your local farmer by purchasing a free-range bird, what is your cost threshold? Would you happily spend the $150? Maybe you’ve got a line on a farmer who gets you an awesomely delicious bird for less? I am super curious, what do YOU pay for your Turkey? {Meanwhile, I am totally looking into turkey farming as a side-job :)}.
~Mavis
Donna says
Yeah, I would pay $150 for a turkey. I buy from my local farmer. One of those grass-fed free-range, come-on-out-to-the-farm-and-see-for-yourself type of farmer. Love it. I only buy turkey once a year. Definitely a different taste. I believe it is much healthier for you. No gmo feed, no antibiotics, no ammonia, no bleach. Just a bird. I cannot hunt (couldn’t hit the side of a barn to save my life), so my only choice for good meat is my local farmer. So yeah it is worth it to me.
Raising turkeys is not easy. My farmer says they are the hardest for them to raise. He also has cattle, hogs, lambs, goats and chickens – so I guess that’s saying something.
Tina P says
Nope… I would not pay that much for a turkey. Of course I do live in the south and my son is an avid hunter so we get ours for the price of an arrow or ammo and it lives a completely free life up until the day he harvests it but I would so by the $15 dollar turkey otherwise.
Tina P says
This should have said “buy” but I’m a bit key board happy from time to time.
Michele says
Our friend raises turkeys & we usually buy one from him for about $50. That is pretty much my threshold, I would never spend $150 on a single turkey.
Andrea at Opulent Cottage says
Believe me, there’s a huge difference in taste! There’s just no comparison between a fresh, natural turkey and the free ones from major grocery stores that are full of all kinds of nasty additives! I don’t care how free it is, no way am I feeding my family that. We are lucky to have a Sprouts grocery that has natural turkeys for around $3 per pound. At that price they aren’t grass-fed and free range, but they are fresh and delicious! So I guess you can say that my price threshold is under $40. In the past I have seen grass-fed and free range turkeys, from local farmers, at our Dallas Farmer’s Market for around $75.
Jesse says
I just ordered a Free Range Turkey over the internet and paid about $200 including overnight shipping. America’s Test Kitchen said heritage turkey tastes WAY better than frakenturkeys at the regular store. Industrial farm animals make me really sad so I am doing my part to at least make sure the animals had a happy life. (ps – I am a vegetarian so I don’t even eat the stupid thing. I am just trying to assuage my guilt over buying meat for my guests.)
andrea d says
The fresh turkeys really do taste so much better. I have paid between $70-$80 before, but the turkey weighed about 34 pounds. I usually get a free one at the grocery store when they run their promotions to spend so much and get one free, but I either donate or save for later. Always do fresh on Thanksgiving.
Lisa says
We order our Thanksgiving turkey from a local farmer through the food co-op. It’s more expensive than a grocery store bird, but we think it’s worth it. We probably spend up to $45 for it for a bird around 15 pounds. $150 is too rich for me.
Marcia says
$5 a pound, $75-80 for a turkey.
We bought two that way, they do taste much better.
Sadly, that farm doesn’t deliver to our area anymore (you would pre-order and pick up at the Tuesday farmer’s market before Thanksgiving).
Christine says
I raise my own free range turkeys. I don’t think they are hard to raise at all. They are more friendly than chickens. $150 sounds steep. Organic turkeys in my area go for $3.25/lb so $50-75. I think thats about right for what they cost to raise.
Sarah E. Welch says
I’ve paid $80 myself and chipped in for a $125 bird once, too. These were heritage birds, different breeds and everything–of course organic and free range. I’m not sure I’ll do it again, although they did taste better. However, it’s a *lot* of pressure to get the bird just perfect when it costs so much money!
mary says
our local Whole Foods has free-range turkeys for $2.69 per pound – i personally love Whole Foods although i don’t get to shop there as often as i would like.
Becca says
We raise Midget Whites and are selling them for the first time this year(because they are true to the heritage qualifier of procreating well on their own!!! 🙂 ). The 2 year permit costs $125. After crunching the cost we have in organic feed for the last 7-8 months, we decided on $5 lb. I think we will break about even and we still have to butcher them. Don’t do it for the money, Mavis.
Midget Whites are smaller, hence the name, and weigh in at 8-15lbs, and, holy smokes, they can fly! That has caused some stress in keeping them safe(the road and predators), but they are super social and totally entertaining to have around.
Elizabeth says
We paid $6.49/lb last year for an organic fresh turkey. It was fantastic. Definitely worth the price to support organic practices and have a great turkey for dinner.
Sara says
Unfortunately, whether it would be worth the extra price or not, I just can’t afford to spend that much on food. I’d love to have a free range, organic turkey but that is completely out of my budget. Last year, after Thanksgiving, I bought just a turkey breast that was organic and was on clearance. It was great and I hope I can find another one this year after Thanksgiving.
Jillbert says
I think I’d top out at paying $50 for a bird. I would totally love to have a special, organic heritage turkey but I wouldn’t enjoy it above that price. I’m OK eating the franken-turkeys.
Jo says
I have paid that much for a turkey most years, either from a local farmer or Whole Foods. I second (third) everyone who has commented that they have a very superior flavor, but I also feel a lot better about that bird sitting on the table when I know that it has lived a free range, good life until processing. Look into the genetic breeding and the resulting health issues that have happened to get the large breasted white turkeys that you buy in most grocery stores. They have been breed for huge breasts, sometimes to the point where they fall over and can’t consistently stand because their breasts are so out of proportion to the rest of their body and they don’t have the muscle tone to support the breast weight.
Secondly, most turkeys that you buy have been injected with saline, sugar and other additives before they are chilled to make them more “juicy”. You are paying for all of the additives and extra weight that they add to your turkey. Plus, they aren’t good for you. A heritage breed free range turkey usually has more meat, it tastes better and assuages my conscious about the bird’s life. So much better all around!
Lastly, if you think your chickens had personalities, go somewhere and watch wild turkeys, they are a hoot and really smart!
Lisa says
You’d have to change your blog title, or put an asterisk, *Except November…
I special ordered one from a coop years ago, I can’t even remember how much it cost. But it tasted pretty bad, hmm, maybe I got a dud or I cooked it wrong. I went back to Costco turkey after that. I buy organic free-range for everything else, just don’t have a good option for turkey.
We have chickens, maybe I should consider a turkey or two as well.
indio says
This year was my first time raising 4 broad breasted white turkeys. I pay $29.85 for a 50lb bag of organic feed. They eat about 5 lbs a day. I even supplement with my table scraps, weeds and whatever table scraps neighbors will give me. I easily have about $100 worth of feed into each of them and there are 3 more weeks till they get butchered, which will cost $8 per bird.
In the past, I bought turkeys from Whole Foods. When it got too pricey I just bought just the turkey breasts. Raising my own certainly isn’t cheaper but I’m hoping they turn out to be delicious.
Elza Verona says
Mavis,
I may have received the same email you did. At first I thought it was an error, but it was for real! I’m sorry, but I could not pay that much for a turkey! I guess I would just have to break down and shoot one of the seventeen wild turkeys that have been in my pasture for the past several months. I hate to think of doing that because I enjoy watching them with my grandchildren, and let me tell you, they would not be too happy with their grandmother!.
I purchase my Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys through a local grocer (who is not part of a chain) I will place my Thanksgiving order this week for a 16 lb. locally grown turkey. They are always delicious, and the price this year is between $40 and $50. I actually thought the price was too high, but maybe it’s not that bad afterall.
Trixi Agrios says
Mavis, really! i thought you would have spoken up for ethical practices and definite benefit for raising meat and poultry in an environemnt good enough for Lucy the Dog. What is the difference after all, Lucy being a little turkey at times. Of course we are not going to serve her up for dinner, however, any good quality well raised and cared for turkey is going to taste so much better than the poor beast that never saw daylight. No lost leader frozen saline injected turkey is going to compare with that. You can enjoy a turkey for days after Thanksgiving, make sandwiches, casseroles, and soup with the bones. We often get four or five meals from a good bird, making the original expense worth every penny.
Talaena says
I’d pay it to! We raise our win chickens and butcher them ourselves. And wowza there is a HUGE taste difference. You don’t need all the spices to flavor the bird. Just a little slat and pepper or some Johnny’s and you’re good for an amazing meal. Oh and the gravy the juices made YUMMY!!
April says
I pay $5-$5.50 per pound for mine, raised by farmers I know and trust, organically & free range. They are far better than a $10 turkey. And the life that poor $10 turkey had. Turkey chicks are susceptible to so much and eat a lot making them expensive to raise, then the time and effort to butcher. I raise chickens for meat and not including electricity or cost of infrastructure, daily care or butchering come out to about $16 for a 4lb bird. I’m happy to pay another $10 for a chicken to have someone else do the work, just like i’m happy to pay the $5-$5.50/lb for someone to raise the turkey for me.
Shell says
If these people feel so guilty about the way turkeys are treated, why eat them at all? Isn’t killing them kind of a bad thing? It’s like the old wicked witch fattening them up and saving the worst for last. No, it’s not good to give your family junk. Animal protein of any kind isn’t the best thing to put in your body.
karen says
Yes, I pay close to that amount. My son works at an meat farm that provides these turkeys. These animals are fed non-gmo grain, moved everyday onto fresh grass, treated very well. It is very labor intensive to move these animals, bring fresh water to them daily, and provide this type of grain. It is worth it to me to support farmers who are willing to farm this way. They are butchered on the farm also done in the most humane way an animal can be butchered. Yep, worth it to me.
Pam says
I paid $1.50 for my turkey pullet in the late spring. Since I’m already feeding 50+ birds, whatever the turkey has eaten is nominal in the grand scheme of things. So I have an organic, free range turkey for $1.50 investment and whatever feed it managed to sneak from the chickens and guineas………….:)
Monica says
I think that is crazy! I would not pay that much as it is not in my budget (and even if it was I still don’t think I would) and I just do not have a need. I don’t care that much for turkey and niether does anyone in my family and it would go to waste. I prefer to just get a chicken breast from honey baked ham…..perfect size, price and I do not have to cook it.
Jen says
I recently learned to butcher chickens and turkeys and I feel $150 would be a fair price for me to charge if I were to do it for someone else. I helped to build the turkey shelter and fed them dandelion greens every week but I wasn’t the homestead owner so I did not buy the feed and only cleaned their pens and water reservoir a couple of times – so who knows, maybe it’s worth more if you were to sell it to someone else.
When I have turkey for thanksgiving it will be from my own homestead (I live in an apartment so I have a long ways to go).
I’m sticking to bison this Thanksgiving. I haven’t learned the ins and outs of raising, killing and skinning those yet.
Leslie says
Mavis, I’m curious if you have seen the video of the woman telling “the secrets of food marketing.” Super compelling.
There is another video that shows two guys that take McDonald’s food and re”plate” it, then serve it as “organic” at a culinary convention. They asked tasters how it compared to something oh, say, McDonald’s. Everyone raved about how it was fresh, and obviously organic, and non-gmo. They had no idea.
So interesting. Really makes you stop and think, right? If you’ve seen them, I’m curious about your (and your readers’) thoughts. Anyone?
AlysonRR says
We’ve frequently paid $75-80 for free range organic heritage breed turkey from a local farmer. The last few years have been tighter, money-wise, so we’ve had “natural” turkey from the supermarket, for about half the cost, instead. We did like the heritage breed turkeys better, though…
I figure I get about 6-8 meals for 5-6 people out of a 18lb turkey, so I can rationalize the better quality, more ethical protein if I spread out the cost that way.
Traci says
I pay between $60 and $80 a bird. That’s how much it cost to feed one non gmo feed until it weights about 24 lbs. Often even bigger. We have had very good luck raising turkeys. They eat a tremendous amount of feed and can seem quite expensive to raise. We have had as many as 10 but this year only 4. We kept the small one whole to smoke. I processed the others into various cuts, ground, canned meat, canned soup and sausage mix with pork. For my family of 4 adults, I will be able to make about 28 meals from what I froze and canned. Plus 21 quarts of turkey stock. And the smoked bird for the holidays. Not including all those sandwiches and leftovers for casseroles.
Tammy says
I read another article about what they feed (some) turkeys to bulk them up, the only way to avoid it is to buy organic. Because it isn’t something they have to put on the labels there is no way to know if they are fed this chemical or not.
I guess it’s a problem for rich people to worry about. 🙁 I don’t have the money to buy an organic turkey, no matter how much better it is for you, etc. etc.
PattyB says
Got my 16 lb bird at Whole Foods. No antibiotics, no hormones, vegetarian fed for $28.97.
Mar says
Paid $80 for my last Turkey, organic and free range. Have bought them for a couple of years now and there is absolutely no comparison to grocery store turkeys. So delicious and no chemicals added to their feed and no antibiotics. Only buy grass fed beef or bison and organic chicken too.