Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)

roddydogs

A normal chickens life span would be about 8 years, so free range, whilst better, is hardly giving the chicken a "Good Life"!
What about the thousands of animals slaughtered without being stunned first?(Halal)
not forgetting all the shellfish boiled alive, or dont they count?

Lotus-eater

We need to understand that unless we as a country eat alot less meat, then it will have to be farmed intensively in some way. A family used to eat just a few chickens a year, Almost no-one could produce the amount of chicken they eat now in their garden.
To me, we have to understand that some intensive farming will be needed and make the best of it, Hughs free range and Jamies better practice indoor reared methods aren't that bad.

Meat used to be an expensive option, now its everyday and only because of horrible farming practices. I am shocked at the people that talk about only using the breast meat off a chicken. When we eat meat, an animal has to die, we should respect that and use it all to its utmost.
I've killed, dressed and eaten my own meat for years, I'm happy that it is finally being shown on tv, reality is an animal dieing and its never nice to do, or watch, but if you want to eat meat, take some responsibility and realise what has happened so you can eat it. Lets have no more head in the sand/ meat comes from a plastic box.

Smiley_Mum

Free range chicken for lunch tomorrow, managed to get one in Tesco the other day. M&S had no whole free range chickens, plenty of the freedom range birds (standards set by the RSPCA), where they are indoors but have more space etc and a better quality of life. They were shown last night on Jamie's Fowl Dinners.

I never thought about the eggs that they add to sauces, quiches etc, like the woman said on the programme, you just think about eggs, chicken etc. Something else to think about when you are buying your groceries.

charis18uk

I watched Hugh's programme on C4 as well as Mr. Olivers last night. I was shocked at the inhumane way we treat poultry in this country. I say WE purposefully as ultimately we are all culpable as purchases of these products and as Jamie demonstrated it is not always easy to differentiate between battery farmed and more humane ways of farming due to labelling and hidden ingredients.

I feel very strongly that the only way the industry will change is if the consumer changes first. The supermarkets come in for a lot of criticism but ultimately aren't they just providing us with what we as consumers demand - lower and lower prices at any cost.

I feel genuinely angry at those who say, oh I can't afford the extra cost, I'm on a budget etc. Although my finances are much improved now I can remember times when I'd stand in the supermarket with three pound coins in my hand wondering how I'd feed myself until giro day. The caged bird eggs stayed on the shelf even then.

Ask yourself, do you really want to eat meat or eggs from an animal in the condition that battery farming produces. How on earth can that be healthy?

How will things change within the industry and supermarkets if we as individuals are not prepared to make that change.

What came first the chicken or the egg?

[EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com?subject=Reporting post http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=7847921"][/EMAIL]

geordie_joe

Smiley_Mum wrote: »

I never thought about the eggs that they add to sauces, quiches etc,

Don't forget the chicken that goes to make soup, nuggets, burgers, curry etc. Jammie didn't really mention much about that.

geordie_joe

charis18uk wrote: »

What came first the chicken or the egg?

The Chicken.

Lotus-eater

geordie_joe wrote: »

Don't forget the chicken that goes to make soup, nuggets, burgers, curry etc. Jammie didn't really mention much about that.

Yes he did he poured out a load of it onto the floor.

geordie_joe

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Yes he did he poured out a load of it onto the floor.

I said he didn't say MUCH about it. With the eggs he actually went to a woman's house and picked stuff out of her fridge. Then contacted the manufacturers to see if they would stop using battery eggs in their products. Even had a man from Hellmans in the audience.

With the chickens he didn't go to BirdsEye and ask them to use freerange chickens in their nuggets, or Heinz to use them in their soup.

Strapped

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

One thing I have decided tonight is to try and eat more British Veal after watching the other programme. So many calf bulls are needlessly slaughtered and incinerated due to lack of demand for veal meat due to lack of demand for the meat, and all because it hasn't been properly promoted as a good healthy option. Many of us, including me until I saw the programme, don't realise that veal production in this country is now one of the most ethically and humanely produced out of all the meat and poultry we eat!!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/veal.shtml

It has to be BRITISH veal though as continentally produced veal is still not up to our standards. Does anyone here buy it already that can tell me where to source it at a reasonable price (not from Tescos :mad: ) please?

I've found this site so far http://www.alternativemeats.co.uk/asp/product.asp?recorprod=&product=106&cat=&ph=&keywords=&recor=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=

Surely if we start eating more veal so demand goes up then it will mean fewer calf bulls are slaughtered as waste, and in turn it will help subsidise the dairy farmer if he can gain value from those too :T

Good points :T

kethry

geordie_joe wrote: »

With the chickens he didn't go to BirdsEye and ask them to use freerange chickens in their nuggets, or Heinz to use them in their soup.

I was actually thinking about this last night after watching Jamie's Fowl Dinners. Its scary how ubiquitous chicken is, when you just don't think about it. For example. before watching all this i would sometimes buy the Bird's Eye flavoured frozen chicken breast, 2 in a box, 2 boxes for £2.50. and then i thought.. well, apart from that i don't really buy chicken. maybe a big bird once in a blue moon. and then i thought.. yes, but there's the frozen pizzas you buy from tescos for saturday night, that has chicken on it. and there's the packet soup you buy, tesco's thai veg chicken soup. that's surely got chicken in it.

and its then that you start to really think about the practicalities of cutting out battery chicken from your diet. Its relatively easy to promise to buy a free range bird, but to extend that to pizzas, soups, takeaways, sandwiches.. its cheap, filling, its *everywhere*. people are so used to it, its no longer the special thing it used to be.

its something to think about. I know when i go out later to get a pizza for tonight's dinner i won't be getting a chicken one, and i have to make a decision as to whether i want to continue buying that soup from tescos. I certainly won't be buying birds eye any more until i know for sure that their chicken is at the very least abiding by freedom food. No more chicken from takeaways, McDonalds or BK. no more cheap chicken and mushroom pies from tesco. Suddenly a lot of things are not on the "list" of foods to eat - or if you do eat them, you have to cook them yourself to make sure that its happy chicken. While this is something i'm prepared to do, i can see that there are a lot of people out there who probably aren't.

And then, of course, there's eggs. there's beef. there's lamb. there's pork. all have variations of mistreatment because of intensive farming practices. i dunno about anyone else but i can easily forsee myself standing in the middle of a supermarket and my head exploding cos of not being able to choose any food!!!

looks like its a veggie's life for me...

keth
xx