Boulder Natural Turkey Prices, 2014 Edition

At least a minimal view. I posted Vitamin Cottage prices quite a bit ago here, and among all those options, the prime takeaway is that a fine Mary's free range turkey with all the assurances that go with Vitamin Cottage meats would be $2.69 a pound (but reservations and deposit required).

You can see all Whole Foods' turkey offerings here by checking their online shopping then clicking turkeys right up at the top on the left (they know what you want to find now). Quick takeaway is that a very fine fresh Diestal bird, the kind we've gotten for a decade or better, is $2.49 a pound

The intriguing thing to me is that Lucky's Market in both Boulder and Longmont is offering a fresh Plainville turkey with Lucky's "never ever" standards for $1.99 a pound. (In keeping with its tendency to also go lower, the Longmont store also has an "all-natural" turkey from Amish Country fro $1.39 a pound, without the "never ever" standards.)

Sprouts' all-natural fresh turkey is $1.49 a pound, probably similar to the Longmont Lucky's one, and they are also advertising an organic option for $3.99, which the other stores also offer if you have the time to look further.

So after years of Diestals from Whole Foods, this year I'm experimenting with the Plainville from Lucky's. Motivation is at least three- if not four-fold. First, it's 50 cents cheaper per pound than my usual, no big deal although with a large bird that does mount up. Second, while I have no prior experience with Plainville, it's the brand Whole Foods has chosen to do its brined turkeys this year, which unfortunately are only available as frozen (confirmed with conversation with a Pearl Street butcher). So while I'll be buying a fresh one from Lucky's, the brand has also seen a thumbs up from Whole Foods. Third, while I could reserve and pick this Plainville bird up from either Lucky's store, the one in Boulder also has its associated Bakehouse, which advertised a pumpkin pie with gingersnap crisp crumble that in effect made me crumble myself. Turkey reservation went in immediately with order for pie at the Bakehouse next door (something in the area of $17). Sure, I'm also thinking about Whole Foods' special on its pumpkin cheesecakes for $19.99, but how many desserts can we eat? Hmm, maybe two. And I don't have multiple hours to spend in the kitchen doing these dessert things from scratch.

With the nearby opening of Top Chef winner Hosea Rosenberg's Blackbelly restaurant and market, my real hope for this year was to get one of the turkeys he hoped to have pre-brined himself, but when I called about them, was told they weren't able to get the turkeys ordered in time, and they are thinking maybe for Christmas. That won't help me, as two turkeys in the space of four weeks is just a bit much, and we'll be looking towards a rib roast instead.

So good luck in your turkey choice - lots of fine options out there!