Natural Turkey Price Comparison, the 2013 Edition

And an abbreviated one at that, as there's no time for a comprehensive look.  Here's what I see for the usual in a high grade natural bird, bearing in mind that you should check with the stores/websites for other options.

Lucky's Market:

Diestel Natural - $1.99 a pound (both Boulder and Longmont stores)

Barber's Fresh Natural - $1.27 a pound advertised for Longmont, don't know about Boulder

Vitamin Cottage:

As previously reported,

Mary's free range turkeys - $2.39 a pound

Mary's organic free range turkeys - $3.69 a pound

Mary's free range heritage turkeys - $6.99 a pound

Shelton's free range turkeys - $3.39 a pound

Quantities are limited, and you'll put down a $5 deposit with your reservation.

Whole Foods:

Diestel Natural - $2.49 a pound

Diestel organic - $3.69 a pound

Diestel heirloom - $4.99 a pound

plus a previously frozen brined option at $1.99 a pound.

Natural Turkey Price Comparison Smackdown

My Thanksgiving turkey will come from either Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage, since I want a bird with a fine pedigree, including being free of growth stimulants and hormones, and those are the two stores within my reach in Boulder.  Each store offers a variety of birds, and here are their prices, Whole Foods' being taken from their website, and Vitamin Cottage's from the flyer in the Boulder store.  All are uncooked birds (Whole Foods has some precooked offerings as well).

Vitamin Cottage (as previously reported):

They are all deep chilled, free range, antibiotic free, no hormones, and a $5 deposit is required.

Mary's fresh free-range deep chilled 10-24 lb turkeys, $2.29 a pound.

Shelton's fresh free-range deep chilled 10-24 lb turkeys, $3.29 a pound.

Mary's organic fresh free-range deep chilled 10-24 lb turkeys, $3.39 a pound.

Mary's heritage fresh free-range deep chilled 7-20 lb turkeys, $5.99 a pound.  

Whole Foods: 

Petite whole turkey 6-10 lb turkeys, $2.99 a pound  

Diestel all natural turkeys, $2.49 a pound  

Diestel organic turkeys, $3.99 a pound  

Diestel organic heirloom turkeys, $4.99 a pound  

Diestel all natural turkeys (Tom), $2.49 a pound

Boulder Natural Turkey Price Comparison

Thinking about where your fresh natural turkey will come from this Thanksgiving? Here are a few observations, bearing in mind that they're only from the stores I get to most frequently, and even these stores might have additional options I haven't seen. Also keep in mind the many variables involved in "natural." Stores listed in alphabetical order, as always.

Alfalfa's

Diestel all-natural fresh turkey, $2.49 a pound (heritage turkeys also available).

Sprouts

Fresh Sprouts free-range turkey $1.49 a pound.

Sunflower

Fresh all natural turkey $1.47 a pound.

Vitamin Cottage

Several options, all "deep chilled, free range, antibiotic free, no hormones, $5 deposit required":
Mary's, $1.99 a pound
Shelton's, $2.99 a pound
Mary's organic, $3.39 a pound
Mary's heritage, $5.99 a pound

Whole Foods

Too many options to report them all, so check their turkey price website for the full array. Here are the majors:

Diestel all natural turkey, $2.49 a pound
Diestel organic, $3.49 a pound
Diestel organic heirloom, $4.99 a pound

Interesting that for the smaller feast, they also offer a six to 10 pound petite turkey at $2.99 a pound.

Doin' The Roasted Chile Math

I have a particular weakness for the local, organic chiles sold by Full Circle Farms, roasted before your eyes at the Boulder Farmers' Market. Not only are they local and organic, but you can also tell whether you are getting an Anaheim, a Big Jim, a poblano, or a Dynamite. However, you can also buy chiles roasted at the store here in Boulder, Sunflower and Whole Foods being among the stores I know of that are roasting. The store-roasted chiles are generally identified as being Hatch (NM) green chiles, in designations of mild, medium, and hot. The store-roasted ones aren't organic, but in a conversation with a produce guy at Whole Foods last year, I learned that chiles are natural pest deterrents (sometimes being ground up to be used as a natural pesticide themselves), and therefore don't get treated with nasty stuff.

I buy a bunch of chiles during the late summer roasting season and freeze them to get me through the rest of the year. In choosing between the local organic chiles and the Hatch ones at the store, here's the math to be done: the Full Circle Farms organic ones run $7 a pound (also available in half or whole bushels) at the Farmers' Market, while Whole Foods currently has their store-roasted Hatch chiles on sale for $1.99 a pound, normally just $2.99, and I presume Sunflower is running somewhere around that as well. (Aternoon update - the price today at Sunflower is $1.99 a pound as well.) My solution was to buy some of those organic Dynamites, while making the majority of my stock the mediums (also sometimes available in mild or hot) from Whole Foods. All those chiles are now happily in my freezer, laid out flat in plastic bags for easy removal of the right amount (the last thing you want is a big ball of frozen chiles, requiring a chisel to break them off, if you're lucky), ready to get me through to next year's roasting season.

Copper River Sockeye Salmon Price Smackdown

As we work our way through Copper River sockeye salmon's brief fresh season, there are some interesting price differences to be found among our Boulder stores. Here's what I've found today, in alphabetical order, as usual.

Alfalfa's: $15.99/lb per call today.

King Soopers: $13.99/lb with card in today's ad.

Lucky's Market: $14.99/lb seen today.

Safeway: $8.99/lb club price "limited time" in today's ad.

Sprouts: $9.99/lb in today's ad through June 15th and seen today.

Whole Foods: $19.99/lb seen at the Superior store today.

Happy shopping.

New Deals At Alfalfa's

Alfalfa's has a new set of specials that runs through May 31st, and now that I have my hands on their sale flyer, here's what looks hot to me.

It's a good time for organic tomatoes around town, and Alf's is joining the fray with organic grape tomates at $2 (doesn't specify, but presumably a pint) and organic romas at the very good price of $1.49 a pound. (Elsewhere, you'll find the organic grape tomatoes for $1.99 at Sprouts and $2.50 at Whole Foods, while organic hothouse tomatoes are $1.99 a pound at Sunflower.) Organic yellow onions are great at just 69 cents a pound, although Alf's regular price of 89 cents is excellent too. I haven't tried their Butcher's Choice single ground chuck, but the 85% lean is $3.99 a pound, and my experience so far with their meat department has been great. Also, Beeler's bone-in pork chops are $3.99 a pound, their half or whole hams are $5.99 a pound, and in fish, they have local fresh trout for $5.99 a pound. My favorite big 32 ounce containers of Straus organic and kosher yogurts are very good at $2.99 each, and Back to Nature crackers and cookies look good at $2.49 a box.

Outside of food, they have quite a few supplements on sale, including "Now twin packs 2 for 1, save 50%." Does that mean the twin packs are BOGO, or you get two bottles for the price of one because they're packaged as a twin pack? And in wine, they have one from France that sounds good at $6 off, La Barrone 2008 Montagne D'Alaric blanc for $8.99 a bottle.

Easter Ham Price Smackdown

Well maybe not exactly a smackdown, as there are so many variables among hams, and lengthy names to describe them, too. As always, read the labels. That said, I hope this gives you some general ideas for what's available at the natural stores around Boulder.

Alfalfa's (seen today on opening day, yeay!):

Beeler's uncured boneless half or whole hams, $6.99 a pound.
Beeler's uncured bone-in spiral sliced ham, $5.99 a pound.
Fresh hams (big, in the 18 pound range), $3.99 a pound.

Sprouts (from their sales flyer through 4/27):

Heartland spiral sliced ham, $2.49 a pound.

Sunflower (from their sales flyer through 4/27):

spiral cut ham, $1.77 a pound.

Whole Foods (seen at the Pearl Street store today):

Niman Ranch applewood smoked uncured spiral ham or Wellshire all natural spiral semi-boneless cooked seasoned uncured ham, both $4.99 a pound.
Niman Ranch applewood smoked uncured petite ham (a half ham), $8.99 a pound.
Wellshire Farms Black Forest ham nugget, $10.99 a pound.

Fresh Asparagus Price Smackdown

Here's the lowdown on prices I'm aware of for asparagus around Boulder. All were seen yesterday, with the exception of King Soopers, which I still need to get to. In alphabetical order, as always:

King Soopers: organic asparagus advertised at $2.50 a pound with card (don't know their conventional price),

Sprouts: conventional asparagus $1.88 a pound,

Sunflower: conventional asparagus $1.99 a pound,

Whole Foods (seen at Pearl Street store): conventional asparagus $3.99 a pound, organic asparagus $4.99 a pound.

Although I don't get there often, you can see from these prices what a stunning deal King Soopers has on organic asparagus through Tuesday.

What's In Your Corned Beef?

With plenty of people looking to cook a corned beef sometime this weekend, Thursday, or next weekend to fete St. Patrick, it's worth giving some consideration to the ingredients we find in the corned beef being sold in our local natural foods stores, some of which might not be considered so "natural." Here's what you'll find in the three places I visit most often:

Both Sprouts and Sunflower are offering Harris Ranch corned beef at very appealing prices, but this is what you'll see on the front of the package: "cured with water, salt, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, flavorings."

The Whole Foods Market Made corned beef has "beef seasonings (sea salt, garlic, clove, paprika, soybean oil,) pickling spice (black pepper, mustard seed, red pepper, allspice, dill, bay, cloves)."

Notice a bit of difference there? But then there's also the difference in price, the perennial dilemma. The Harris Ranch corned beef is $3.99 a pound at Sprouts and just $2.99 a pound at Sunflower, while Whole Foods' house-made corned beef is $6.99 a pound. Personally, for something I'll only make once a year, I'll spring for the best.

This Week's Boulder Salmon Scene

Here's a rundown of current prices in front of me for salmon, fresh, previously frozen, or unspecified (in alphabetical order, as always):

King Soopers - wild caught sockeye salmon fillets, previously frozen, $6.99 a pound with card,

Safeway - wild caught Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets, previously frozen, $8.99 a pound, club price,

Sprouts - fresh salmon filets $8.99 a pound,

Sunflower - fresh salmon fillets $8.99 a pound,

Whole Foods - wild caught sockeye salmon fillet $12.99 a pound.

This Week's Boulder Salmon Scene

For those of us who are salmon fanatics, we revel in fresh, wild caught salmon through the summer, then work our way through the rest of the year eating the previously frozen variety, while counting the days until the fresh season begins again. Since I had some frozen salmon that tasted a bit off a few weeks ago from a store I won't mention, I'm wondering if the frozen salmon season might have its own fin de saison. That said as a bit of a caution, we have a number of advertised sales this week, at a variety of prices. Here are the ones in front of me, in order of price:

Sunflower: "wild caught sockeye salmon fillet" $7.99/lb through 3/9,

Safeway: "Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets, wild caught" $8.99/lb club price through 3/8,

Sprouts: "Alaskan sockeye salmon filets" $10.99/lb through 3/9, and

Whole Foods: "wild caught sockeye salmon fillet" $12.99/lb through 3/15.

(And while I may have my fair share of typos, Sprouts' choice of "filet" as a spelling isn't one of them. It's a legit alternative spelling that does appear in my dictionary.)

Another Whole Foods One-Day Sale

Our local Whole Foods stores will be doing a fantastic special for tomorrow only, Bell & Evans organic whole chickens for only $1.69 a pound. So we have a wonderful dilemma of great choices: the Rocky Jr. whole chicken on sale at Sprouts for 99 cents a pound through Wednesday, the Bell & Evans organic whole chicken at Whole Foods for $1.69 a pound tomorrow only, or the Boulder Natural Meats whole chicken that's $1.99 a pound at Vitamin Cottage all the way through February 27th. It's a great time for meat eaters, but probably not a good time to be a chicken.

Standing Rib Roast Price Comparison

With beef standing rib roasts a popular choice for Christmas dinner, I've been looking around at our Boulder natural grocery stores to see how they're priced this year. When checking out the prices below, bear in mind that there can be differences in these products, so ask at the individual stores' meat counters if you want to know everything about them. That said, here they are in alphabetical order, presumably all bone-in roasts.

Lucky's Market - Niman Ranch choice Angus $9.99/lb through 12/22.

Sprouts - USDA choice "Presidential cut" $5.99/lb through 12/22.

Sunflower - "all natural" roast $4.97/lb through 12/22.

Whole Foods - $10.99/lb, seen at the Pearl Street store on 12/16.

P.S. Reservations for roasts usually suggested.

Natural Turkey Price Comparison

We're lucky to have so many natural grocery options here in Boulder, so many that I don't have time to cover them all. Within my area, we're also fortunate to have so many fresh, natural, free range turkey options. That said, it's difficult to pin down exactly what's behind those natural claims, so here's my best effort to help you decide where to get your turkey and how much to spend. These prices are for the basic fresh, free range turkey level (with a couple of known organic prices thrown in as well). Heritage turkeys are certainly available as well (definitely with a prior reservation, although all these turkeys should be reserved in advance), but you're on your own in comparing prices if you're in that league. In alphabetical order:

Sprouts - "Sprouts fresh all-natural free-range turkey" $1.47/lb. "No additives, chemicals, or hormones are ever placed in the birds' feed or water." Interesting that I haven't noticed mention of antibiotics, so one has to wonder.

Sunflower - "All natural - free range fresh turkey" $1.47/lb. "Fresh, all natural, free range, tender & juicy, no hormones, no preservatives, no additives." Same comment from me as with Sprouts regarding antibiotics.

Vitamin Cottage - "Mary's fresh free-range deep chilled turkeys" $1.89/lb, "Shelton's fresh free-range deep chilled turkeys" $2.59/lb, "Mary's organic fresh free-range deep chilled turkeys" $2.99/lb, and what the heck, "Mary's Heritage fresh free-range deep chilled turkeys" $5.49/lb. All promise to be "deep chilled, free range, antibiotic free, no hormones." Reservations with deposit essential.

Whole Foods - "Diestel all natural turkey" $1.99/lb. "These naturally broad-breasted birds are given extra growing time on the range to enhance their size and supurb (sic) flavor. These birds are never fed animal by-products and are raised without antibiotics." "Diestel organic turkey" $2.99/lb. "These range-grown birds are raised at the Diestel Turkey Ranch and fed only certified organic corn and soy feed." Heritage, kosher, and other types possibly also available, depending on the store.

So there you go. Get those reservations made.

A Vinegar Price Comparison

Call it an accidental price comparison, unlike some comprehensive ones I've set out to do previously. I'd run out of sherry vinegar, a favorite in my house, and since its price runs on the high side, I checked all the stores I was in over the past week for relative prices. Napa Valley Naturals seems to be the sherry vinegar of choice for our local Boulder natural stores to carry, and here's what I found, all for the 375 ml bottle.

Sprouts: $6.49

Sunflower: $6.59

Vitamin Cottage: could not find any sherry vinegar, but in the course of looking, discovered they carry cooking wine, an unusual find in our natural grocery stores. Not to be used for wine-centric recipes, but very convenient for those that call for a splash.

Whole Foods (Pearl Street): $6.99

Burger Comparison for the Weekend

If you're considering grilling burgers for your Labor Day weekend cookout, here are some of the available prices:

Sprouts: extra lean ground beef, $1.99/lb (value pack).

Sunflower: extra lean ground beef, $1.88/lb (family pack).

Whole Foods: organic grass fed beef patties $3.99/lb today only, then on sale for $4.99/lb after that. Diestel turkey burgers $3.99/lb.

Boulder Peach Prices Compared

With peach season at its height, here's a rundown of peach prices advertised in the Boulder area this week. Depending on the store, sales end either next Tuesday or Wednesday (for those stores that do double ad Wednesdays). If not specified organic, I'd assume the peaches are conventional, and we're going in alphabetical order, as usual.

King Soopers - Palisade peaches, 99 cents/lb with card.

Safeway - Palisade peaches, 99 cents/lb with card.

Sprouts - California yellow or white peaches 88 cents/lb.

Sunflower - California yellow peaches 88 cents/lb. Organic white flesh peaches (no origin) 99 cents/lb.

I'll add in unadvertised prices as I observe them. Yesterday, I'm pretty sure Munson's farmstand was charging $3/lb for their Palisade peaches, while Cure Organic Farm had organic Palisades for $4/lb.

A Peach Price Rundown

With peaches at their peak right now, here's a rundown of advertised prices for them locally at the moment (generally through next Tuesday or Wednesday). If they don't specify organic, I'd assume they're conventional.

King Soopers
Palisade peaches 99 cents/lb with card

Lucky's Market
Organic Colorado peaches $1.50/lb

Sprouts
White or yellow USA grown peaches 3 lbs for $1

Sunflower
Palisade peaches $1.88/lb

Peaches don't appear in the ads for Safeway, Vitamin Cottage, or Whole Foods. I'll check them out if I stop by.

Price Comparison Smackdown

Here's a look at the lowest prices I could find this week at our Boulder natural foods stores for items that I consider to be pretty much staples: organic tomatoes, conventional avocados, fair trade decaf bulk coffee, chicken breast meat, and a half gallon of organic 1% milk. Sunflower and Sprouts were visited on 4/9, Whole Foods (Pearl Street store) and Vitamin Cottage on 4/11.

Organic tomatoes
Sprouts: cluster tomatoes, $4.99/lb
Sunflower: hothouse tomatoes, $1.99/lb
Vitamin Cottage: greenhouse tomatoes, $3.19/lb
Whole Foods: hothouse tomatoes, $3.99/lb

Conventional avocados
Sprouts: 50 cents for an unusual type, 88 cents for Hass
Sunflower: 99 cents (conventional or organic)
Vitamin Cottage: 79 cents for organic, conventional not carried
Whole Foods: $1.99 (organic $2)

Bulk fair trade decaf coffee
Sprouts: $8.99/lb
Sunflower: none (non-fair trade $6.99/lb)
Vitamin Cottage: could only find Daz Bog at $9.99/lb, probably not fair trade since doesn't say
Whole Foods: $12.99/lb

Organic half gallon 1% milk
Sprouts: Horizon Organic, $3.49 (but there was a better price on a non-standard size brand)
Sunflower: Horizon Organic, $2.89
Vitamin Cottage: Organic Valley, $3.15
Whole Foods: 365 brand, $2.79

Chicken breast without bones/skin
Sprouts: boneless, skinless chicken breast value pack, $2.99/lb
Sunflower: chicken breast tenders family pack, $4.49/lb
Vitamin Cottage: boneless, skinless chicken breast 6 pack, $6.89/lb
Whole Foods: boneless, skinless chicken breast value pack, $6.49/lb

Price Comparison Smackdown

Here's a little comparison of a few common items (staples in my mind) across my favorite stores. Stores were visited on 1/28 or 1/29, in the current sales cycle, and Whole Foods is the Pearl Street store.


Organic tomatoes
At Sprouts, $2.99 for 1 pint of Divine grape tomatoes.
At Sunflower, 99 cents/lb for romas.
At Whole Foods, $1.99/lb for romas.


Half gallon organic 1% milk
At Sprouts, $3.49, Horizon Organic
At Sunflower, $2.89, Horizon Organic
At Whole Foods, $2.79, 365 brand


Bulk organic fair trade coffee
At Sprouts, $8.99/lb
At Sunflower, $6.99/lb (no decaf)
At Whole Foods, $10.99/lb


Bulk organic non-fair trade coffee
At Sprouts, $8.99/lb
At Sunflower, $6.99/lb
At Whole Foods, $9.99/lb


Conventional avocados
At Sprouts, 77 cents
At Sunflower, 77 cents
At Whole Foods, $1.50


Best white meat chicken deal
At Sprouts, boneless, skinless breasts, $1.97/lb (value pack)
At Sunflower, boneless, skinless breasts, $2.99/lb (family pack)
At Whole Foods, bone-in breasts, $2.49/lb (value pack)