Thanksgiving is still almost five months away, but that's no reason not to keep turkey in mind as you prepare your grocery list now.

Turkey breasts, drumsticks, thighs and wings are an economical and versatile protein source available all year round.

Part for part, turkeys are more substantial than chicken and often offer an economical advantage over their poultry cousins. Turkey can be used interchangeably with chicken in many recipes, but some preparations favor the use of turkey.

A recent survey of summertime turkey availability revealed that drumsticks and wings are the most common cuts in most meat departments. I found both sliced breast fillets and whole fresh turkey breasts. The sliced fillets were the most expensive form of the bird. I had a harder time finding turkey thighs on my most recent excursions, but I have seen them from time to time.

It is easy to work the breast meat off the bone and ribs of a whole fresh breast, giving you two good-sized slabs of white meat and two plump tenderloins - as well as a breast carcass to use in making stock.

The bone-in fresh breast returns the most value for the money. I also have found, on occasion, whole boneless fresh turkey breast.

Turkey drumsticks are way too large for attractive and useful cooking as they are. More reasonable in size and easier to handle, both for the cook and the eater, are the top portions of the wing, usually called drumettes. These can be separated easily from a whole wing or found already packaged as such. They can be braised easily in a number of ways.

Both drumsticks and thighs become even more versatile if you are willing to engage in a bit of home butchery - just removing the meat from the bone. Both limbs have only one central bone, making it relatively easy to slice the meat away from it. The drumsticks, however, also have several tough tendons running the length of the leg. You must be careful to trim the meat from those if you are using the dark meat of the leg in a stew or ragout.

The breast cut is adaptable to many styles of serving. Cutting a turkey breast fillet into 1-inch cubes and sauteing it in a little oil gives you the basis for a quick tetrazzini, for example.