Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)

margaretclare

kevana wrote: »

Thanks to Margaret for her comments - she said many of the things I had wondered about. I also wondered about this attitude we seem to have about the amount we must eat, I think there are many people who do not have a clue (myself included). I was watching one of the dieting programs the other night that gave an indication for recommended portion sizes for meat, carbohydrates etc. This was nowhere near the portion sizes I dish up for my family, although I do know I have a tendency to do too much food. I do think a lot of these problems are connected, advertising by 'big business', reducing price of food, epidemic of health problems and obesity, over spending etc.

We recently went on a weekend organised by Diabetes UK and, as you can guess, there was a LOT about food, nutrition, portion sizes etc. Take an ordinary dinner plate - the biggest section of it should be filled up with vegetables. Potatoes next, because they're the starchy carbohydrate food we need for energy, then meat should be the smallest part of the plate.

Have a look: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/obesityandweight/portioncaution/

I think what was different about the way DH and I grew up also, was the fact that food was treated with much more respect, and valued, not just for what it cost. Where I lived we all knew where our food came from because we lived close to the land. We even took part in harvesting, especially at 'potato-picking time' - the autumn half-term. There was a lot of casual labour involved then, cereals harvesting, potatoes, even children were involved, all that has been lost and yet it was what our ancestors understood for many centuries. My DH was also evacuated, from the East End to Norfolk, and he understood it well, too. We also understood that any luxury foods - like oranges! - had cost lives to bring to us.

DH tells about something which happened in the preparation for D-Day. He lived at Iver Heath then and near the main road going from London towards the south coast. He was loitering by the road as small boys will, watching column after column of army vehicles going by. And the kids would call to the Americans 'Any gum, chum?' (chewing gum) DH would hang back a bit, he wasn't quite as bold as some of the others. A sergeant in an American vehicle called to him and said 'Here, kid, take this home to your mom'. It was a 7-pound tin of cling peaches in syrup. DH's mum wanted him to take it back - 'we're not beggars'. But the column had moved on by then. All the family, and some of the neighbours, had a taste of those tinned peaches. They'd never tasted such a thing in their lives!

The 3 ounces of sweets I had for a week would nowadays be scoffed by a modern kid and wouldn't even be noticed!

Well, it was an eye-opener. I usually avoid going to the supermarket because I hate it, but today I drove there and volunteered to go round with DH. We have a huge 24-hour Tesco near us which has recently been extended. DH says he likes to go there because 'there's so much choice'. But mostly, he shops to a list, we mainly buy the same things, and there are rows and rows of things that he never even looks at! Rows and rows of cakes, bakery goods, just rows and rows! And all the ready-meals and things like jumbo packets of crisps...we never even looked at them.

Anyway, I particularly wanted to see the chickens on sale. There's a huge long row of fresh chicken, but at least 75% of it is chicken pieces, chicken legs, thighs, breasts, drumsticks, chicken goujons, nuggets, pieces in breadcrumbs, a vast array, all in plastic trays and wrappings. At the very end we came to the whole chickens. I think that Hugh is on a loser unless the free-range chickens are displayed and marketed separately from the others, because if you're going along that long, long row and if you're shopping purely on cost, your eye isn't even drawn to the free-range. We only spotted them because they're in a green plastic tray rather than a white one. We didn't need a whole chicken this time, but we did buy a pack of 4 chicken drumsticks for £3.17. They'll make a meal for us, but I notice they're labelled 'organic' and not free-range. If people are trying to do what Hugh would like us to do they are going to have a job to find a chicken which is actually labelled 'free range'. DH thinks that to be organic they must be free range. I'd rather they were actually labelled as such!

Margaret

maypole

Cazzdevil wrote: »

From the Chicken Out homepage - written by Janet Street-Porter for the Independent:

"It's easy to sneer at successful entrepreneurs like Hugh, who don't have to feed a family on a budget. But the truth is, we slather our faces in "age-defying" lotions, and yet we seem perfectly happy to give our children chicken that has stood in its own faeces and never seen daylight.
You can eat well cheaply (if you learn how to cook) and as a nation we eat far too much meat anyway. If we made fresh vegetables, pulses and pasta everyday food and treated meat as something special, then everyone could afford free-range.' "

In my opinion this is absolutely correct. When I go to the shop, I buy ingredients to make a meal, instead of buying a ready meal. I get great satisfaction from cooking a meal from scratch.
Once upon a time when I was younger, Sunday was the day we had our meat, very rarely in the week.

becs

I am so sick and tired of hearing the supermarkets say "the consumer is insisting on lower prices" . How many people have actually been asked whether price is more important than quality? We're all guilty at some time or another for buying so called "bargains" but I do get so fed up with the same lame excuse that people can't afford the extra £2 a chicken for free range as was stated in the program. I am fully prepared to accept there are some who genuinely can not afford this and for whom this would be the difference of having chicken or not. Equally there are a large number hiding behind this excuse. They may have low income and may not have spare money at the end of their shop but how many have areas that they could cut back in? I'm trying not to be disrespectful to Hayley in the program, but if I were a betting person I wouldn't mind betting I could find something of £2 in her weekly shop that she could live without in order to have better quality food at the same time giving these poor animals some chance of a decent life.
I for one see many people on lower incomes smoking for instance, I'm not saying they shouldn't smoke if they want to but sometimes we have to make choices. With a packet of cigarettes costing appx £5 a packet cutting back on a few cigarettes a week for instance would allow the choice to buy free range.

kethry

Those who are interested in this subject may want to watch Dispatches on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm - "The Truth about Food", including whether food lives up to nutritional claims and packaging and so on. Promises to be interesting!

keth
xx

jessie00h

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Lol

Well i jsut went for my shop at the supermarket and thought - oh ill have a look round and see how much the chickens are and how good they are size wise (more how much meat can i get off it) and there was no whole free range chickens at all!!!!!!!!!!

Wonder if this is a clever ploy to sell th eless better quality intensive farmed chickens by not havign the option of free range - i will definately be getting one free range asap.

not only do i fancy a roast dinner but bf jsut text sayign can i make him a chicken curry next week so thats where soem more of the chicken will be going - only a shame i dont eat curry so sandwiches it is for me (or antoher roast! lol)

anyone elses tescos not got free range in????????? Im quite ashamed too that workign in a coop for my usual roast i would buy one of there chickens, no bloody more i tells you!!!

Yes, same here, i went to my huge tesco Extra this morning and at 11.15am when i went to look there was NO freerange chickens left, are tesco's really that thick?

dND

Do report back on 'the truth about food' as I don't have UK TV but am really interested in the subject

alyth

Am I the only one who thought the programme was just a massive publicity stunt, in the same way as Jamies School Dinners was? I'm afraid in this day and age everyone knows how animals are reared for food, or at least I hope they do, and on the same lines as the programme on tonight, of course a ready meal has absolutely no nutrition in it, it's just additives and sugar and salt. However, in our busy lives, not everyone has the time and inclination to be able to cook from scratch.

I'm wary of programmes like this, I watch little TV so only caught a little of Mondays and half of last night's, but I do despair of these celebrities trying to force what they think onto the rest of us - I applaud Hugh's stance on the chickens, but I'm sure there's a limit as to what people will watch on this subject, we hear it time and time again about how you should eat free-range, lots of veggies, etc but people rarely do.

I don't have the answer as to how to change public opinion, but I do think this type of programme isn't the answer - it's another form of celebrity TV for those that took part in it I feel.

LizD_2

Just came across the River Cottage Chicken Out campaign:

http://www.chickenout.tv/sign-up.html

G-G_4

alyth wrote: »

Am I the only one who thought the programme was just a massive publicity stunt, in the same way as Jamies School Dinners was? I'm afraid in this day and age everyone knows how animals are reared for food, or at least I hope they do, and on the same lines as the programme on tonight, of course a ready meal has absolutely no nutrition in it, it's just additives and sugar and salt. However, in our busy lives, not everyone has the time and inclination to be able to cook from scratch.

I'm wary of programmes like this, I watch little TV so only caught a little of Mondays and half of last night's, but I do despair of these celebrities trying to force what they think onto the rest of us - I applaud Hugh's stance on the chickens, but I'm sure there's a limit as to what people will watch on this subject, we hear it time and time again about how you should eat free-range, lots of veggies, etc but people rarely do.

I don't have the answer as to how to change public opinion, but I do think this type of programme isn't the answer - it's another form of celebrity TV for those that took part in it I feel.

I agree.. I watched this programme and was really annoyed at the way he was forcing his opinion on others, just like a vegetarian who thinks no-one else should eat meat and makes comments.. (not that all vegys do that )..

There are very strict animal welfare laws in this country and so I doubt that they are broken all the time as was suggested in the programme.

& I hate to say it, because I am all for animal welfare, but chickens have very small brains and they are being reared for food, they are not pets and they are not as intelligent as say a dog... People seem to forget this.. What next, heated fluffy beds for them to sleep in?

I sound really horrid now don't I

I'm all for free range, but at the end of the day you shouldn't have 'celebrity' type people TELLING you that you are a bad person by not buying free range.

I would much rather put the £2 I saved on the chicken towards my monthly direct debit for the RSPCA..

Sorry if I have offended anyone, but this is my honest feeling...

Gem

~Chameleon~

G-G wrote: »

I would much rather put the £2 I saved on the chicken towards my monthly direct debit for the RSPCA..

I hope that direct debit is going directly to one of the many local RSPCA shelters around the country then otherwise none of the poor animals in need will ever see a penny of the money you donate

BTW, many chickens are as intelligent as dogs