Organic Turkey Costs How Much?!?

My main goal for Thanksgiving is to incorporate some organic foods into the mix.  I finally made it to the farmers market today and looked at the turkeys.  This is what I discovered:

Regular turkey costs about $1.18 per pound and in some stores they’ll give you the turkey if you buy a ham.  “Regular” turkeys don’t mention anything about how the turkeys were raised, so it is reasonable to think that they contain preservatives, hormones and antibiotics, and were fed corn feed.

Organic turkey costs $3.99 per pound  (!?!) and the only birds left were 15 lbs, so that’s $59.85.  That’s a lot of money to spend when I’m not really a good cook.  I’d hate to think I burned a $60 bird.  The butcher explained that “organic” means that it is USDA certified that from birth to death the turkey is raised naturally and without modification from the food industry.

The third choice was called Natural* turkey.  (Anytime there is an * after the word “natural” it kind of makes me nervous.)  But the butcher explained that it was hormone  and antibiotic free, but was fed corn and had some sodium solution, making it minimally processed.  This one was $1.49 per pound.  While not perfect, it was healthier to eat than a regular frozen bird, so it seemed the good poultry compromise solution for my family.

I felt kind of guilty for not going organic, so I made myself feel better by buying organic produce and some bison meat.  The rest of my order (pies, potatoes, etc.) was purchased at HEB and was about as processed as you can get (Thanksgiving is but once a year), but it was a lot cheaper.

There is a line in the U2 song God Part II that says, “the rich stay healthy, the sick stay poor.”  I guess I’m lucky to be middle class and to be able to splurge on organic food from time to time, but why is there so much disparity between the prices?  It kind of makes me want to keep free range chickens in my backyard, but I think my neighbors might object to all that clucking.

Thus, it will be a semi-organic Thanksgiving for my family, which is a step in the right direction.  How about you?  Do you ever buy organic?

Lisa 😉

Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two. Her book, “She’s Losing It!” is available at Amazon.com (and has a 5-star review rating!)

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