Organic sticker shock


 
C

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
So, went to pick up the "organic" turkey we'd pre-ordered a couple weeks back. The store had a promotion where you got $5 off if you pre-ordered by a certain date. At that time, though, they didn't show (or I didn't seek out) the actual per-pound price of said turkeys. I figured "organic" would be a little pricier, and it was fresh (never frozen), so that adds a bit more. I was not expecting $3.99/pound, however. :eek:

All said and done, with the $5 discount, it was just under $50 for our ~13.5 pound Thanksgiving turkey. I don't like paying that much for brisket, let alone turkey! But, I keep telling myself it's just once a year, and probably worth it to get an unbrined, blank canvas with which to work. I'll be applying Alton Brown's honey brine to it Tuesday night, then air drying it Wednesday night before some high-altitude rotisserie action in the WSM on Thursday.

Oh, and to make myself feel a little better, I took advantage of their sale on mass-market frozen turkeys: $0.29/pound, limit 2, with a $25 purchase (not including the turkey itself). So, I've now got two more ~14 pound birds (the smallest I could find) tucked into the freezer for later use. Cost me a whopping $8.23 total for both of them. One is slated for Christmas and the other sometime later.
 
Did that once and chose not to do it again. There are plenty of non-organic, fresh, no antibiotic, etc. birds out there for 1/3 the cost.
 
Ouch! Hope it comes out great. I have to say most of the organic foods I've tried I really can't tell that much difference so I quit buying them.
 
Indeed it makes you ponder. However, I will say this. Your food is only as good as it's ingredients.

I will often buy meat at Whole Foods to smoke/grill, they have the best quality in my area. There are a couple other upscale butchers, but Whole Foods is the most consistent for natural and organic type meats. I feel it's worth it to spend the extra $$$s to get good ingredients in many (but not all) cases.

Unfortunately I'm out of work at the moment, and I didn't want to spend $4/lb myself.

At Whole Foods I saw Diestel organics for $3.49/lb yesterday, and natural no hormone added for $2.49/lb.

Trader Joe's had organics for $4.00/lb and $2.00/lb for natural no hormone added but brined...

I shamefully opted for the $2/lb. but had I been working I would have sprung for the organic.

Problem for me is that if you pay $4/lb. for a bird it's starting to get close to decent cuts of beef and I would almost always opt for the beef. I hardly ever order chicken or turkey when I go out to a restaurant. Most don't even serve decent ingredients anyway.

The bottom line is that getting an organic bird is probably about the best quality meat that you can get to put in your smoker, and nothing bad about paying the going price...heh?

I spent about $28 on mine and it's brined, but I don't know what "natural" means in that regard. That goes for organic also. As a friend that raises his own livestock always says, "the only way you know if the meat is organic is if you raised it yourself...you can never believe what it says in the store...", and I agree with that. Even at Whole Foods you can get different grades of meat, you can get grass fed natural lamb for $25/lb. or you can get NZ lamb "processed" locally for $14/lb. They offer a choice...same with the turkeys I mentioned above...

Lastly, I once bought an organic pork shoulder at Whole Foods and invited a friend over for dinner. He marveled at the quality of the meat when we cut it open. He was still talking about it years after...I'd say that was worth spending the extra money that time, about twice what it would have cost to get a Farmer John or similar. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top