# Are Turkeys Ungodly Expensive EVERYWHERE?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930 "2011-12-21T06:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/1 "2011-12-21T06:20:46Z")
I decided tonight at work I was hungry for BBQ turkey and stopped at the grocery on the way home, I was gona fix it Christmas Eve… They had some nice small ones, not much biggerr than a good sized roiasting hen, and I thought, ah, $10, maybe $12… Try $24-25!!! I almost shit a brick! They weren’t even the GOOD brand, Butterball, etc, but Jennie O! Now, admittedly, I haven’t bought a turkey in several years, but that seems outrageous. Are they that expensive everywhere or is that particular grocery ‘special’? I’m gona check a couple more tomorrow, but if that’s the going rate, fuck it. I can live without turkey for that price. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/2 "2011-12-21T06:33:52Z")
Well, was that a fresh turkey? I’m assuming a minimum weight of 12 lbs. For a fresh turkey off-season (i.e. not Thanksgiving), $2 a lb. isn’t something awful. They should cost much less around Thanksgiving, and frozen ones should be much less all the time. When’s the last time you bought any meat? You may have noticed everything doesn’t cost a nickel anymore. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/3 "2011-12-21T07:31:43Z")
Jennie-O fresh turkeys are 1.99/lb here in Chicago at Jewel (large grocery chain). So $24 gets you a 12 lb. bird. Sunds about right. Turkey’s cheap but they don’t just give it away. 2 weeks from now may be a different story when the stores try to dump what they can before it becomes a write off. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/4 "2011-12-21T14:35:17Z")
Hmmm come to think of it, it WAS a fresh turkey, I didn’t see any frozen ones. I guess that could explain it. And yes, I HAVE bought meat and I know it’s not a nickle anymore. I was just surprised at the prices last night. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/5 "2011-12-21T15:11:02Z")
Check out the price on a goose. It’ll make you feel a lot better about turkey! ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/6 "2011-12-21T15:21:51Z")
If you want to find a cheap turkey, you have to shop around. I just got mine at Target, of all places. I missed the 59 cent sale someplace else, and Target had them for 79 cents a pound - 11 dollars for a 14 pound bird. If I just ran down to the store closest to me, I’d be paying 2 dollars a pound, even for frozen. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/7 "2011-12-21T15:27:37Z")
Well, problem solved! I went to a different store this morning and got a 13.5 lb Honeysuckle turkey for $14 and change. Not .59 or .79/lb but a damned sight better than what I saw last night. BBQ turkey for the win! ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/8 "2011-12-21T15:27:38Z")
I bought a frozen turkey at Thanksgiving for about 59 cents a pound. Saw them at that price again earlier this week, but we’re doing ham for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/9 "2011-12-21T15:52:31Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Try $24-25!!! I almost shit a brick! They weren’t even the GOOD brand, Butterball, etc, but Jennie O! Think about it from the other perspective. The farmer, be it a family farmer or a multi-national conglomerate, needs to raise that turkey from birth to a weight of 12 pounds. This takes approximately half a year. It takes food. Let’s estimate that at a staggeringly low 4 cents a day. That’s $7 right there. Throw in paying a workforce, overhead, and other expenses. I can’t estimate everything. Let’s just double the price and call it good. $14 in overhead. Then you sell it to a wholeseller who sells it to the market who sells it to you, each needing a profit along the chain. Frankly, I’m shocked the supermarket can sell any turkeys for $25 and see any profit for their troubles (issues of loss leaders aside). ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/10 "2011-12-21T15:55:17Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Check out the price on a goose. It’ll make you feel a lot better about turkey! **tygre** asked me why I’d never eaten goose for Christmas when I lived in England. Then we went to Wegmans a few days later and she found a goose. “Hey, here’s a…131 DOLLARS!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/11 "2011-12-21T16:32:18Z")
I did the same thing a couple weeks ago at a butcher shop. It was frozen too, not fresh and hanging from a hook or something. “Hey, goose, that might be neat to ma— $110???” It wasn’t even some large bird; much smaller than a turkey. Really not significantly larger than a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/12 "2011-12-21T16:34:13Z")
I have never had goose, but don’t care for duck much, and from what I hear, goose is even greasier. Bleh. And especially for THAT kind of price! EEK! And **Enderw24** , I understand all of that and would never want to put any farmer out of business. But as a single woman with limited income, I have to be conscious of prices, and can’t splurge too often. Prices keep going up and my income is not matching it. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/13 "2011-12-21T16:47:42Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > I have never had goose, but don’t care for duck much, and from what I hear, goose is even greasier. Bleh. And especially for THAT kind of price! EEK! > > And **Enderw24** , I understand all of that and would never want to put any farmer out of business. But as a single woman with limited income, I have to be conscious of prices, and can’t splurge too often. Prices keep going up and my income is not matching it. Oh no, your complaint is legitimate. $25 is a lot to shell out for any particular food item. It’s just that I’ve never understood how meat (any meat) actually comes to us so cheaply given the cost of what it takes to bring that meat to the store. If meat were $20 a pound, while I’m sure there would be holy hell raised (myself included), I’d at least think that the price of the meat was in line with the costs. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/14 "2011-12-21T16:53:40Z")
To get a goose at a reasonable price, you have to go to the farm and order it well ahead of time. They aren’t being raised in the same quantities as other birds, but there’s no great extra cost to the farmer. The high prices are just because of the short supply, and high demand at the holidays. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/15 "2011-12-21T16:58:51Z")
My gf wanted to make a standing rib roast as a special treat for an xmas meal. Priced one of those lately?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/16 "2011-12-21T17:37:03Z")
Aldi’s always has frozen Butterball turkeys, average 12 lbs. but I don’t know how much they are outside of Thanksgiving (when they were roughly a dollar a pound). They also have frozen smoked turkeys. I went shopping yesterday to look at meat for the Christmas beast and went to three stores looking for a pork roast or spiral ham. Ham averaged $20 - $30 (and it is half bone). Pork roast - none! Little tiny hunks of loin. Sorry for getting off track, but I find this alarming. But people are buying it, I was in a butcher shop last year at Christmas and ordinary working-class folks were coming in picking up their prime rib roasts, WELL over $100. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/17 "2011-12-21T17:55:59Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > I have never had goose, but don’t care for duck much, and from what I hear, goose is even greasier. Yeah, I heard about that, too. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/18 "2011-12-22T00:58:24Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > I have never had goose, but don’t care for duck much, and from what I hear, goose is even greasier. Bleh. And especially for THAT kind of price! EEK! > > And **Enderw24** , I understand all of that and would never want to put any farmer out of business. But as a single woman with limited income, I have to be conscious of prices, and can’t splurge too often. Prices keep going up and my income is not matching it. And that is why I absolutely loved the [Real,-](http://www.real-hypermarket.com/country-profile/germany0.html)store in Germany - I could buy anything from a single burgers worth of ground beef or lamb, a single duck leg to a whole duck or 20 kilos of beef in a slab. [attributable to the habit of shopping every day or every couple of days due to small refrigeration units and kitchens in home] I absolutely love that sort of versitility in a store. I joke about it, but the difference between shopping in Germany and the US is that in the US, we have 125 companies making 12 flavors of soup, and in Germany they have 12 manufacturers making 125 flavors of soup. _sigh_ A bit exagerated but not by much. Carrot soup, garlic soup, white asparagus soup … ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/19 "2011-12-22T01:08:18Z")
Frozen goose tonight in Akron OH. $4.99/lb. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930/20 "2011-12-22T01:21:23Z")
Hey, in Korea we have to pay 60 bucks for a decent sized turkey. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-turkeys-ungodly-expensive-everywhere/606930.md?page=2)