where can i buy reasonably priced higher welfare meat?

cooking-mama

I already only buy free range eggs and chicken...im now thinking about trying to convert to free range/higher wealfare meat..beef,pork...nobody here likes lamb.
I want to cut down on our consumption of meat anyway,so would be happy with small portions...would love to go organic but cant afford it,but i would like to know that any meat im eating has been well cared for before it became my dinner,can anyone recommend anywhere(im in Scotland)
anywhere online that delivers to scotland...that way i can check out the prices to see if i can afford this...have to balance my conscience with feeding my family healthily.
PS,I remember years ago our Tesco used to sell "RSPCA approved freedom food"..it wasnt much more expensive than standard stuff,does anywhere else sell this now?

dogstarheaven

Asda's have their version of this (tho' not sure whether it's RSPCA's approved). I buy their free-range and corn-fed chicken. Sometimes, Happy Eggs are £1 at all the s/markets, just have to catch the right offer at the right store! Morrison's Free range own brand eggs are quite cheap.

cooking-mama

dogstarheaven wrote: »

Asda's have their version of this (tho' not sure whether it's RSPCA's approved). I buy their free-range and corn-fed chicken. Sometimes, Happy Eggs are £1 at all the s/markets, just have to catch the right offer at the right store! Morrison's Free range own brand eggs are quite cheap.

Thanks dogstarheaven,i already buy free range eggs and chicken(I even managed to afford a free range turkey for christmas dinner there),Im now looking for ideas on where to buy free range meat...do Asda have free range pork etc.
in fact in theory since cows go out to graze,is all beef technicaly free range?

Mojisola

cooking-mama wrote: »

Thanks dogstarheaven,i already buy free range eggs and chicken(I even managed to afford a free range turkey for christmas dinner there),Im now looking for ideas on where to buy free range meat...do Asda have free range pork etc.
in fact in theory since cows go out to graze,is all beef technicaly free range?

Most beef cattle are in sheds, not out in the fields.

cooking-mama

Thanks Mojisola,is there any way to find out if the beef cattle have been outdoors?,we have lots of fields around here,a couple with sheep but the majority are cows,should i assume these are dairy only?

eslick

in the winter cattle are brought in doors, they need to be looked after. try a good local butcher, most will know where their things come from and how to handle it rather than a supermarket which...............

for eggs chickens need something like 12 hours day light to lay.

Mojisola

Good advice about making friends with a local butcher, if you have one. A good butcher will be choosy about where he buys from and will know about how the animals are raised. Local breeds will usually give you better flavoured meat and will usually be more extensively raised.

If you're near a Farmer's Market it would be worth talking to the stall-holders about their meat. If they - or the local butcher - know you are willing to buy the cheaper cuts which take more cooking, you could become a valued customer. Most people only want the more expensive cuts of meat.

It's a shame you don't like lamb as that's the meat that raised in the most natural way!

You have to become a good label-reader in the supermarkets and look for the logos of the different schemes that are around. The RSPCA Freedom Foods is one such.

JulieGeorgiana

I saw a programme which said that RSPCA Freedom Foods are 'slightly' better, but are in no way free range!

I think intensive chicken rearing is 19 chickens a square meter, Freedom Foods is 16 chickens, which free-range is 6!!

I might have the number slightly wrong!

I buy all my meat from a farm shop, I know that the food isn't all free range... but it's a step up from bruised water filled chicken breasts.

moonpixiewitch

support local producers at scottish farmers markets
http://www.scottishfarmersmarkets.co.uk/

For organic meat by mail order try here:

http://www.laverstokepark.co.uk/

wild meat from scotland here

http://www.blackface.co.uk/

supermarket with higher welfare options
http://www.waitrose.com/index.aspx

if they don't deliver try Ocado
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/startWebshop.do

HTH

Mojisola

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I saw a programme which said that RSPCA Freedom Foods are 'slightly' better, but are in no way free range!

I think intensive chicken rearing is 19 chickens a square meter, Freedom Foods is 16 chickens, which free-range is 6!!

Freedom Foods don't claim to be free-range. It's aimed more at providing for the innate needs of the animal.

Free-range animals have to be kept at a much lower stocking density because the land would get damaged by the higher densities.

vandanfc

Would second the farmers markets route, although it may seem expensive, when you actually check the prices they are not bad. Meat is a luxury for us, as i buy it this way. Use the same chap all the time. The meat tastes real and is appreciated much more. Also some very good farm shops that don't actually go to any farmers markets, just sell off the farm.