OK, quick and dirty numbers.
If you spend the bare minimum, you might get by with $1,400 for your first bird, gettiing started anyway. That's around $70 per lb. for a 20 lb bird. If you get two birds the price drops to $35 per lb. Not counting gas or milage.
However, if you amortize your expenses over 5 years you are looking at around $14 per lb ($7 per lb. if you get two birds), or about the price of really good prime quality fillet mignon at the meat market. Not counting gas or milage. So, not bad really.
But, with the turkey you can feed the whole family; not so with $14 dollars of tenderloin. So, it's not really not such a bad deal.