Chicken - moneysaving or ethical?

tinselfairy

Free range here also.

In the book Feed your Family for £5 a day Bernadine Lawrence uses 2 chicken quarters in most of her chicken recipes and they are two feed a family of 4 adults. Maybe buying less but of better taste and using other ingredients to bulk out meals is an option.

urchin

I very rarely buy meat from a Supermarket now and if I do it has to be organic. I just can't face putting those value chicken portions in my trolley. I used to eat chicken at least 3 or 4 times a week, but now I don't eat it so often and a roast chicken is something of a treat. If I can't afford to buy it, then I just don't. I may use Quorn instead as they do some great chicken substitutes.

Most of my meat comes from local farms, where it may not be certified organic but is certainly free range and I know that the animals have been kept well. I also find you get more choice over the cuts of meat available and you get a lot for your money.

competitionscafe

DonnaP wrote:

I wondered though, what do people do about ham? I have never seen that free range? I buy other meat for the family (I don't eat it) from the butchers as I hope that is better quality than the supermarkets, but have no idea whether you can get free range ham?? Donna

You can by mail-order - both http://www.swaddles.co.uk/ and http://www.realmeat.co.uk/ do good ham. Real Meat also sell their products in a number of shops - you could check their list of shops to see if there is one near you: http://www.realmeat.co.uk/acatalog/How_To_Find_Us.html

recovering_spendaholic

I won't buy battery chicken but find the organic and free range to be rather pricey, but I have found a compromise and now buy Tesco Willow Farm chicken. It tells you how it is reared on the label - it is not given growth promoters and reared free range, but it isn't as dear as the organic chickens - on average it is about £5.50 for a largeish chicken and the taste is AMAZING. It is so much nicer than even the Tesco organic ones (IMHO that is). My kids love it too - I would never buy anything else now, although I don't really like shopping in Tesco otherwise as it is a bit pricey and the staff are quite unhelpful. What I tend to do is wait until it is on special offer and then buy three or four chickens and freeze them.

nearlyrich

I agree about the willow farm in Tesco, it's the only meat I buy from any supermarket as I am lucky enough to have a butcher who rears his own meat. I bought 2 family sized chickens for a fiver the other day from another local butcher (mine was shut and I really needed a roast chicken for my tea) the taste was amazing, I still have one in the freezer, that's tea sorted for tomorrow. I would never buy economy meat, I would go veggie first.

prettypennies

Organic here too. I get whole chickens along with my veg box. Also lurk around the reduced section in Sainsbury (not as good as the farmers chicken but better than the battery farmed stuff)

I prefer to by organic and pad meals out with lots of veggies, rice, pasta etc.

annie123

Free range only for me, I'm a veggie DH eats meat. If moneys tight then we dont get it.

If everyone demands better standards, then farming standards will improve.

OS used to be free range only according to the senior members of my family, bring it back.

Angelina-M

I was putting my own three hens to bed tonight (well they put themselves to bed, I just lock the door) and I was thinking how different each one was. Two are real rogues and climb over the fence into the neighbours yard. I always know they have gone because the other one is a real tell tale and screams at the door to tell me!

One of them climbs onto the back of the garden chair and watches me cook dinner through the kitchen window!

Anyway my point is, my birds are happy, they have a charmed life in a big safe garden. I wont eat them but if I had to I could say they lived well and were treated with respect.

I look at the difference in lifestyles of the battery chickens and I want to cry that we as a nation are so cruel. Whats the difference between a dog and a chicken? There would be uproar if we cooped dogs up like that.... wheres the difference...they both feel pain!

coffeeandfags

Angelina-M wrote:

I always know they have gone because the other one is a real tell tale and screams at the door to tell me!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
HEHE, i found that really funny!
I guess they all have their own personalities just like us......another reason why i dont eat them any more!!

Angelina-M

coffeeandfags wrote:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
HEHE, i found that really funny!
I guess they all have their own personalities just like us......another reason why i dont eat them any more!!

I'm absolutely not making it up! One of these days she's going to stand there pointing her wing in the direction they went! :rotfl: