Organic Turkeys Do Offer Some Significant Benefits Over Frozen Birds

Buying a Thanksgiving turkey today might not seem like an easy task.  After all, you can find fresh, frozen, organic, free-range, and different combinations of each category.  However, there are some significant advantages to buying an organic turkey for this year’s Thanksgiving meal. 

First, organic turkeys are raised in a healthy environment.  They’re allowed to walk around, eat different types of food, and generally avoid the crowded, sickness-inducing environment found with other types of Thanksgiving turkeys such as battery or containment farmed.

Second, you will find that organic birds are not fed a steady diet of hormones to promote growth or antibiotics to stave off diseases brought about by being in a stressful confined condition. 

Third, because they are able to move and walk around naturally, organic turkeys are leaner, and contain far less fat than other varieties of birds.  Of course, they also taste better than their mass-produced counterparts do.

Should you buy an organic turkey for Thanksgiving this year?  If you want to avoid the problems listed above, then yes.  However, there are some things that you will need to know.  First, you generally won’t find organic Thanksgiving turkeys available above about sixteen pounds.  This is because there are no hormones given to them, so they do not grow to massive sizes like most factory-farmed birds do.

Second, be prepared for less breast meat – massive breasts on turkeys are due to genetic modification, not nature.  Finally, expect to pay a bit more for your Thanksgiving Day bird if you go organic.  It costs more to raise them, so those costs are passed along to you, but you can eat your turkey knowing it probably had a happier life.  Organic turkeys can be great options for your Thanksgiving, no matter what recipe you might use to cook them.