topic Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods? in Kitchen

Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

Sooner — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 14:52:39 GMT

I'm curious. We are doing grocery pickups and sometimes do them from Whole Foods when we have to be in OKC. Have you cooked one of their turkeys?

Can you just get a breast? I see they have turkeys and the prices aren't bag (organic or not) but I have never had one of theirs.

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

ScrapHappy — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:22:19 GMT

I used to get my turkey from WF when I lived in California. I'd get a bone in turkey breast non-organic. I think they're very good. I would order mine as soon as that became available. There's a desk you can go to at the store. I moved to East Coast in 2016 and since we we are closer to family, spent 2016-2018 Thanksgiving at our families homes. But I did host Thanksgiving at my new house for the first time in 2019. I went to WF for a turkey, ordered it and then canceled it. The price more than doubled.

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

LindaSal — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 18:11:37 GMT

I buy a WF organic turkey every year. It's always been good, like anything else, it's all in

how you cook it. It probably doesn't taste much different than a regular turkey though, but we only eat organic meat.

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

Snowpuppy — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:44:04 GMT

I've had their whole, organic turkey 2 or 3 times. Very good but if I order, DS has to pick it up as no WF near me.

Their meat cutter gave me tips to prepare over the phone as well as helped me with size of bird I needed.

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

Katcat1 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 21:48:58 GMT

@Sooner I prefer a turkey that is injected because who has time to be basting a turkey. Butterball is an excellent turkey. A turkey is a turkey so it does not matter where you buy it. For me, I always made everything from scratch. Fresh sweet potatoes, fresh vegetables, fresh cranberry sauce, etc. That's is what makes a turkey a meal.

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

Sooner — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 21:58:08 GMT

@Katcat1 wrote:
@Sooner I prefer a turkey that is injected because who has time to be basting a turkey. Butterball is an excellent turkey. A turkey is a turkey so it does not matter where you buy it. For me, I always made everything from scratch. Fresh sweet potatoes, fresh vegetables, fresh cranberry sauce, etc. That's is what makes a turkey a meal.

@Katcat1 We prefer just baked sweet potatoes to any recipe I've ever had, and don't care for any of the gooey casseroles either, so it would be fresh green beans, baked sweet potatoes and canned sauce--a preference. Everyone has different tastes--and ours don't coincide with most traditional Thanksgiving meals.

But since it's just two--we don't really do the traditional meal anyway. BUT since fresh turkey breasts and turkeys are in stores, I was thinking of cooking one, this week probably. So I don't know if it is worth it or not. That's why I want opinions.

I just haven't had good luck with Butterball or Honeysuckle OR store brand turkey in years. We used to get wonderful turkeys but not any more. And no, I'm not going to brine one either! LOL!!!

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

sabatini — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 04:04:41 GMT

Hi @Sooner.

About 15 years ago, I was ruminating about....turkeys. LOL!

The holiday season was approaching, & I got to thinking about how back in the day, turkey gravy was different than what we now had.

As a kid who loved watching the cooking process, I remembered a turkey's drippings as being unctuous; very dark, gooey and sticky.

The resulting gravy had a distinctly sharp-ish,slightly gamey taste, and the gravy was a dark, burnished reddish brown....and was deeelicious!

Thus began My Very Brief Turkey Experiment!

That year I bought a free-range turkey from a local turkey farm; not injected, no antibiotics, no hormones. Just a plain, old ordinary turkey that ran around outside and was fed good food.

It cost me $85. LOL!

Guess what? The drippings were amazing, & made that real, old fashioned turkey gravy that I'd had such a fondness for back in my childhood.

I've moved since then, so don't have access to a turkey farm, plus it's too pricey for me these days.....but I'm now aware that today's turkeys are a shadow of their former selves.

Poor things.

Re: Have You Had a Turkey from Whole Foods?

gardenman — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 13:43:53 GMT

@Katcat1 wrote:
@Sooner I prefer a turkey that is injected because who has time to be basting a turkey. Butterball is an excellent turkey. A turkey is a turkey so it does not matter where you buy it. For me, I always made everything from scratch. Fresh sweet potatoes, fresh vegetables, fresh cranberry sauce, etc. That's is what makes a turkey a meal.

Add me to the "A turkey is a turkey" club. I've bought higher-end name-brand turkeys and gotten free no name turkeys and they all taste like turkey and cook like turkeys. There's always going to be some variation bird to bird among brands even, so I don't really worry about what brand a turkey is any longer. I just buy one and cook it and I'm perfectly happy. People drive themselves a bit crazy over holiday foods, and turkeys in particular, but it's truly one of the easiest meats to cook as long as you just stick to the basics.