Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)

nearlyrich

My butcher had a reasonable supply this weekend, I don't buy any meat from the supermarkets.

~Chameleon~

Hapless wrote: »

Breeding 2 chickens to produce a different breeed is not genetically modifying in the way most people think. Otherwise anyone of mixed race would be "genetically modified".

It is selective breeding..e.g. using a light sussex and a black rock. Not sticking their genetics in a test tube and see what happens.

Yes, perhaps I should have phrased that differently but the bottom line is breeds have been mixed up so much in an effort to produce hybrids that are the "perfect" laying or meat bird that many of them suffer in other ways as a consequence. This isn't something that only affects chickens either, but also dairy cows and most likely other farm animals too.

Having said that, they are experimenting with GM animals although I don't think any are allowed into the food chain ... YET!!!!!

This article published in 2001 claimed we would see GM animals in food production within 10 years!

And a more recent article claims scientists have produced GM chickens which will prevent them catching the Avian flu virus.

toasterman

I wasn't really shocked by the documentaries this week. I thought that was pretty much how intensive chicken farming worked.
I was surprised at the number of the intensive ones that they culled purely on the basis of being smaller than the others, or not walking properly.
Seemed a bit crazy considering most gets carved into smaller packs of meat anyway (not that many entire birds on sale in my local store), and that the reason they couldn't walk was caused by the situation they "lived" (to use the loosest possible sense of the word) in.

I bought some chicken this week and did forget to check what sort it was. Saw it was the "Tesco's finest" one and thought it was also the free range stuff. Sadly it wasn't, but I ate it of course - me not eating it now is helping nothing.

I have looked since then though, and the end-of-aisle cabinets that were about a month ago, full of free-range-only stuff - are now stocked with everything from cheap chicken to hamburgers. No spaces where free-range would have been. Guess I'll have to ask.

A local butcher is a lovely idea, but I don't have the time before work, and work til 5.30 (and can't really guarantee where I'll be working either), so until butchers start opening past 6pm, I'll have no choice but to use Tescos.

Hapless_2

And if you eat soya that has been imported from the US, chances are it's GM Soya.

Smiley_Mum

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.

I don't really buy ready made nuggets, curries, burgers etc. Did buy the Southern Fried Chicken at M&S but not now. Do buy soup occasionally, Baxters or Heinz. Think I'll email and see what they say about the meat in their soups.

toasterman

While I do applaud a lot of you for eating healthier, cooking things from scratch etc, doesn't it take a lot longer?

I share a house with 4 other people, and I get home from work around 6pm weeknights. By this time theres normally someone else using the oven/hobs already, and not really enough room for me to do anything in there til gone 7 by the time I've washed up the required pans that were just used by my other housemates.
If I started baking something from scratch, preparing ingredients etc.. around 7.. I wouldn't be eating dinner til gone 8pm..surely?
I generally end up eating dinner somewhen between 9pm and 11pm at the moment as I get distracted by something else and struggle to get the enthusiasm to go and start cooking something that late in the evening.

We've only got the one fridge so preparing the day before, and cooking the following day isn't an option either really...just isn't the room.
How on earth do you lot find the time?

Oh and cooking for one has to be the most expensive way possible. I enjoy tortilla wraps - but you can only buy tortillas in packs of 8 for some reason. For one person, I really want maybe 2? Sauces seem to be designed to feed 4 as well. I tried to get into cooking more last year, and went browsing recipes. On Sainsbury's website, you can (or could.. guess you still can) search by occasion, so I thought I'd stick in valentines as it'll be smaller recipes. About 90% of the recipes were still designed for 4 people. How many valentines dinners have more than 2 people?!
I know you can halve (or quarter) some stuff, but not always.

competitionscafe

Could you not take turns with your housemates cooking for all of you (or 2 or 3 of you)? There are lots of meals that take less than half an hour to prepare from start to finish (pasta, couscous, pilaffs) but time is a factor for other meals, yes - I am lucky in that I really enjoy cooking but even then I sometimes wonder why I spend 1 or 2 hours cooking something when it's only for myself - but that does give me the next day or two 'off' as I always make enough for 3 or 4 portions or sometimes up to 8 and then freeze lots of homemade 'ready meals' for when I can't be bothered to cook or don't have time if going out etc...

Jue_xx

toasterman wrote: »

While I do applaud a lot of you for eating healthier, cooking things from scratch etc, doesn't it take a lot longer?

I made it my New Year's Resolution this year to do "proper" cooking instead of being the Queen-Of-Heating-Things-Up, as I want to know exactly what I am feeding my family (tying in very nicely with the Jamie Oliver programme), and I have to say I'm really enjoying it and haven't found the cooking much more time consuming. I now spend an hour or so on Friday evenings browing recipe web sites and books and plan our week's meals in advance then go shopping for the ingredients on the Saturday morning.

However... I had hoped that buying ingredients instead of ready meals was going to save me some money, but yesterday my Morrisons bill came to £125.00, compared to my normal bill of around £80.00! :eek: How on earth did that happen?! :eek:

Jue_xx

toasterman wrote: »

On Sainsbury's website, you can (or could.. guess you still can) search by occasion, so I thought I'd stick in valentines as it'll be smaller recipes. About 90% of the recipes were still designed for 4 people. How many valentines dinners have more than 2 people?!

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Ooh, I've got my first star!

~Chameleon~

Jue_xx wrote: »

However... I had hoped that buying ingredients instead of ready meals was going to save me some money, but yesterday my Morrisons bill came to £125.00, compared to my normal bill of around £80.00! :eek: How on earth did that happen?! :eek:

First of all congratulations in wanting to give you and your family a much healthier diet! :T

It is usually cheaper to buy fresh ingredients than ready meals and pre-packed foods but that will also depend on the food you are buying. I'm wondering if you've chosen quite a few products out of season?

This would make them much more expensive to buy than when in season locally, especially imported fruit and vegetables which, to be honest, are often far inferior in taste and quality than when grown and picked locally.

It might be an idea to go through your meal plans again and really look to see whether you're choosing expensive recipes and where you might be able to cut back using some cheaper meal options and also making food such as joints of meat stretch to more than one meal.

If you go over to the Old Style board you'll be able to pick up loads of hints and tips in how to make cheap, healthy nutritious food whilst keeping an eye on the purse strings, and even get help and ideas with meal planning.