Help me pick a winner.
Locally we have a choice of these frozen birds:
Butterball.
Riverside Frozen Whole Young Turkey.
Signature Farms Hen Turkey
Honeysuckle White Whole Turkey
So which is the the best?
I know about the fancy mail order places, but dropping $100 to $200 on bird ain’t gonna happen.
All the Best, Jeff
Given the option, I’d choose goose, more expensive per weight/size but much better meat!
Had a number of pheasant one year, also good. Decided to take a break from traditional game birds one year and had a slow-roasted goat which was absolutely delicious!
Used to enjoy wild game back in the day.
I’m so crappy a shotgun shot, I could have bought a steak dinner for the cost of shells. And this back when ammo was cheap.
One guy I used to hunt was so good he could drop them where he wanted.
Cabrito is good stuff. Used to cook them overnight underground one weekend a year. But the goat has to be young or it’s nasty.
Now it’s store bought.
All the Best, Jeff
Butterball is pretty good. Never heard of the other brands. Generally speaking organic is better. Farm raised, grass fed, etc, all better.
well, we are so cheap that we wait until
the Friday after Thanksgiving to buy our turkey.
whatever is on sale…1/2 off, usually.
I don’t choose the turkey for Thanksgiving–my mom does.
She prefers the taste (and price) of Butterball turkeys.
I’m not a turkey expert, but Butterball is nice. 
The best turkey I ever had was from Popeyes. If you have one in your area, get one. Make sure you order it early because they go fast.
My sister-in-law bought one four years ago and we have been buying them ever since. I don’t know the price–another family member always buys them, but I believe they are between $50 and $60.
Only brand there I’ve heard of is butterball, and we always liked them I think. But then, its turkey… I doubt I’ve ever purposefully looked at the brand, never even thought of it, its just turkey.
Now whole hams on the other hand, back when we could afford such things for holidays, we had preffered brands… Been so long I’ve forgotten though.
lol yeah, round here its the week before thanksgiving, or week before Christmas, when the overstock catches them and they’re suddenly buy 1 get 1 free.
Then it can sit in the freezer for a 6 months cause we don’t like turkey that much.
Thanksgiving this year I have a rack of ribs from a moose to smoke/roast. 
If I do it right I get the “free” one when I spend enough at the store. It’s prolly not good for me but it seems fine. Around here hormone free, free range turkeys,++ are in demand. Better order early!.. though, wild ones are abundant in my area and even a pest in some neighborhoods.
We splurged and bought a free-range local farm turkey last year and it was no better than Butterball or other frozen turkeys.
Plus it costs extra to order the button that pops out when it’s done.
Just kidding about that 
.
Oh, so the button didn’t cost extra then?
Jeff aaked which is best, not which is cheapest or which is free.
I started smoking the Turkey years ago. The Honeysuckle White have done well. The last two years we decided to just buy the breast, nobody eats the other stuff. They used to be cheaper ( that’s why I originally tried them along with the cheap hams as a smoking experiment ) Not so these days
Sorry, I was being a jerk.
I’ll move on.
Just about all of the big name farm raised poultry are raised eating the same exact mass produced feed in the same conditions. IMHO just expect the bird and buy based on price.
The only thing I really see different is hen turkey. Thats most likely an older bird from a egg farm that has quit laying. Old bird can be tough if not cooked right. They normally butcher turkeys around 14-19 weeks so they will be young and tender.
Free range is just marketing hype. All you have to do is open the door and give them the option to go outside to be free range. Turkeys like chickens will stick close to their feeders and waterers and won’t leave. I wouldn’t pay a cent extra just because it lists free range on the package.
This year I’m smoking 3 pork butts for thanksgiving. We normally do ham but my 2 aunts put in a request after they tried one I cooked earlier this year when the younger one was here to visit.
I can only imagine what you posted and then deleted.
I was thinking about posting something kinda snarky, but I decided to let it go. 
That’s basically how I have always looked at it.
Today we had our first turkey breast out of a slow cooker. Excellent and highly recommended. It was the most tender turkey ever and the slow cooker means it is always going to be moist.
Last Thanksgiving we ‘undressed’ the turkey (split the thing down the middle, separated breasts, legs and thighs from the backbone, and folded the whole thing flat) after being brined in buttermilk for a few days. It cooks a lot faster, comes out more juicy, and cooks more evenly.
We don’t buy the fancy $7 lb free range or organic birds for $120 or $150. Just the grocery store young turkeys for like $2 a lb. I’ve had fancy and not fancy smoked (in an upright smoker) slow cooked, oven baked, barbecued on a Trager and i think the last one I did was the best overall (smoker close 2nd). You don’t need s fancy Turkey-its all in the prep.
When you say slow cooker, Do you mean like an old school Crockpot or like and Instapot pressure deal?
Either way it sounds like a lot less mess then puling the wings, legs, gristle etc from whole bird.
Also what was approx.weight of breast?
After reading your post last night I asked the wife if we could just do one this way. Not serving family or big gathering so no need for tons of meat.
Thanks!
Yep - old school crock pot. Can’t imagine anything easier. No mess and little prep. It was about 6 pound breast with no wings, legs and such. It was about the max size that would fit in the pot. Just unpacked it then put it in the pot with a layer of onions underneath. Flip it once during cooking to allow the juices to reach everywhere. There are many recipes on the web.
The local store had them for $1 pound. Got three but wish I had gotten more.