Free Range or Value eggs?

catznine

I pay £1.40 for a dozen free range eggs (won't buy battery eggs under any conditions - if I am broke we don't eat eggs!) but not sure if they are organic! After reading through this thread I will order some organic free range eggs with my organic fruit and veg boxes next time. They are more expensive but I will just have to cut back elsewhere. I have CFS and an organic diet (as far as poss) is recommended. I would rather eat less eggs in order to do this. I am trying to buy more cruelty free products as well although it is not always apparent what is cruelty free and what isn't.

Tracey_Smith

I am delighted to see this thread grow and grow with brilliant, first-hand information - this is such a good way to get to grips with the facts.

But I must comment on the earlier post that spoke about the hypocracy of buying organic/free-range eggs, then buying regular meat, most of which may well have been factory farmed.

I write a great deal on this subject and would say the journey towards better eating, care and concern for your food production and welfare, is an evolutionary process and should only be taken at the pace you can 'digest' it, for want of a better description....

If you try to do the whole thing overnight, it can often be the kiss of death to an otherwise great plan.

The plight of battery hens opens our eyes to eggs and the part the supermarkets are playing in the support for the industry. Moving to local, small producers opens your mind to a completely new set of perameters. Then you may well consider a box scheme, perhaps visit a farmers market or find a butcher with locally reared meat....the list goes on and on.

If you start by realising the benefits of the simple egg, the evidence I have seen shows the others will generally follow.

I meant to put another great link up for you. It will help you to find many of your small, local producers of good food! Simple type in your postcode and voila!

Here is the link for Big Barn

Have fun!

Debt_Free_Chick

Ooh Tracey, I like having you around here

I think I've seen you elsewhere on similar message boards, but you're very welcome on MSE too.

I moved to a very rural area 2 years ago, from the City. Apart from a longing to live in the countryside, we simply had to look further & further from London to find a property of an acceptable size to fit our budget. We now live in a very small village on the Kent/East Sussex border. Real "rural" with orchards, small farms, shoots etc.

Since then, I've become absolutely fanatical about buying local produce. I grow most of our own veg, but meat comes from the local butcher who only buys from local farmers. Eggs from the farm gate. Veg, when I need to top up my supplies, from a local grower who also sells at the gate.

I have a loathing for Supermarkets who have all but destroyed our local food producers.

You're absolutely right ... start with one thing, and eggs are a good example, then start to find out about what food is on the supermarket shelf, where it came from and how it got there. You'll soon be clamouring for local food - fresher, better taste, raised with real commitment to animal welfare and environmental benefits.

Tracey_Smith

Hi DFC and thank you for that lovely post :beer:

This is a great section, the 'Old Style', although I would contend the title of it to be honest

Maybe the 'Old Style' reference links back to a time when all there was no hideous pressure to have all the electronic gagetry, loans that are thrust upon us and extended credit in almost every avenue of our daily lives.....years ago, people lived within their means, because there was no other way!

There are LOADS of folks here and now taking a downshifting and self-sufficient'ish route to keeping their money in their pockets. Almost as a by-product of doing so, they re-evaluate their thoughts and feelings on food, its source, recycling, charity shops and more besides.

My job is to open peoples eyes to these new ideas and help them 'dip their toes' into a new way of thinking, spending, enjoying life and holding onto their hard-earned cash!

If they like it, they take it further and find a level that really suits them. Writing about it is the heart and focus of my work.

I do feel quite at home in this section and will try to chip in more

Pal

It was me who made the comment that buying intensively farmed meat while insisting on free range eggs did not make sense.

While I appreciate that "one step at a time" might be the best way for most people, I believe it is simple a matter of applying your principles properly when it comes to food, and perhaps spending a bit of time thinking about what you are buying before buying it. If someone believes that intensive farming is cruel and do not wish to purchase battery hen eggs, why would that same person then buy intensively farmed pork, duck or chicken that is often subject to even worse conditions? Do people really go into a supermarket and only apply their principles to one item while ignoring it for all the others? If cost is the reason then they are falling into exactly the "cheap food" advertising trap that supermarkets are using to dominate retail in the country.

The problem is, of course, lack of awareness of factory farming methods. Many people know how battery hens are raised but assume that meat animals are somehow raised differently. If the same amount of media attention was given to intensive pig or chicken farming that was given to battery hens in the 1970s, the position would change very rapidly as people changed their spending habits.

Thankfully the media is slowly starting to pay attention. Books are being written, TV chefs are advocating well raised meat and so on.

The main point though is that free range meat tastes a lot better because it is slower growing, has a greater fat layer to protect from the weather, and has a more natural diet. If that isn't reason enough to change shopping habits, I don't know what is.

Magentasue

I'm sure it's best to take small steps and succeed (even if you end up with double standards) than to do the best thing in all areas and give up because it's too difficult.

We have hens and don't eat meat so we have guilt-free eggs. But ... although I buy fair trade stuff, I can't afford it for everything. We go through gallons of milk and I know that dairy cows suffer to allow that. I'd love to buy organic milk from humanely reared dairy herds but that's not achievable now.

Eggs are a great thing to start with because chickens are so easy to keep. Even if you can't keep them yourselves, you might live near someone who does. And if you don't, well you can what you feel is best given your circumstances. And if that's ALL you do, well IMO, it's better than nothing!

Debt_Free_Chick

Milk .... ggrrrrr :mad:

Whatever happened to our wonderful dairy industry? Do you know that the farmer only gets paid 19p per litre, but it ends up on the supermarket shelf at about 47p per litre? Wonder who's getting the extra 28p ? :think:

Poor dairy farmers Dead on their knees and going out of business every day.

Pal

Magentasue - I agree completely. It is impossible to be whiter than white in all areas. For example, you say you drink milk - an industry that is part and parcel of the beef industry because something has to happen to the dairy calves that are born each year but are not needed for milk production.
The same sorts of arguments apply to fish, prawns, bread, meat, eggs and so on. Then we get into plastics, wood, packaging materials, consumer good etc etc. Choices have to be made. We are all sitting in front of a PC that damages the environment every time it is switched on!

However the transition is some areas is usually very simple, especially if you start with buying locally produced free-range meat from a farm shop or market. They will almost certainly sell locally grown vegetables and free range eggs as well, along with ready packaged pies, cakes, jams and so on. In the end most of your shopping can then be done in one place, just as it is at the moment.

Alternatively there may be a local greengrocer with a nearby butcher's shop that could fit the bill nicely for most food shopping. They may even be better quality and cheaper than the local supermarket once you add up the price of everything you buy. The walk between them and back to your car may even be shorter than the walk around the supermarket aisles!

Pal

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Milk .... ggrrrrr :mad:

Whatever happened to our wonderful dairy industry? Do you know that the farmer only gets paid 19p per litre, but it ends up on the supermarket shelf at about 47p per litre? Wonder who's getting the extra 28p ? :think:

Poor dairy farmers Dead on their knees and going out of business every day.

Actually, supermarkets regularly sell milk at a loss to themselves in order to get people in through the door. Much of the price goes to packaging and transport companies. In the end no-one really makes any money from milk - it is a major weapon in the supermarket price wars. Unfortunately it is destroying the UK diary industry in doing so because us lot, the consumers, fall for it.

leonie_2

Weyres wrote:

Hi Leonie,

This thread has brought back some wonderful memories of my childhood. My Mum used to raise day-old chicks to fatten them up for our freezer. I got to keep 1 every year as a pet (until the year I accidentally chose a cockerel - when it attacked me, it got turned into roast! ).

They make truly wonderful pets, even the laying hens. I had a very special pet chicky that I used to carry around underneath my arm; she never pecked me and was quite content to be hauled around for hours. I was only 5 and this chicken ended up weighing nearly 4kg; some of the photos are hilarious.
Sniffle. I do miss them.

The eggs were absolutely wonderful and once you have tasted their like, you will never go back to value, barn or caged eggs ever again, I promise.

Well I spoke to the other half last night about the possibility of keeping a couple in the garden but he is not happy and bangs on about the fox situation round here (one strolled across the garden the other day!) He says its all very well to talk about them being companions for the children but what if they get attached then mr fox kills them :-(

I am not put off though and will continue finding out whether its a 'do-able' project.

River cottage website didnt help with quite a few owners talking about losing birds.