'Hugh's Chicken Run' A Moral Dilemna for DFWs?

girlsmum

i buy free range ones, but make the meat go further, tonight for example i had a 1.1 kg free range roasted chicken we had that and i picked enough off the bones to make a pie tomorrow.
and yes they do taste much better,

dizzy_lizzie

There were posts on the other 'Hughs Chicken out thread' about the varying prices and I think someone said when you looked at the weight of the free range which were bigger as opposed to the cheaper versions which were smaller it worked out at an extra 25p per head for four people for free range,, so not a lot really. Though I know to some, this added up per year may cost a little more depending on how often you bought it.
Luvz Dizzy x

PayPeanuts_2

You don't have to eat meat with every meal...theres plenty of cheap tasty healthy vegetarian meals you can make. It is not right to eat bacon for breakfast, chicken sandwich for dinner and turkey drummers for tea!

Theres no excuse for buying cheap nasty meat in my opinion, no matter how skint you are. The meat processing industry is an outrage. This is coming from someone who would gladly see Hugh F-W and Jamie Oliver pecked to death

melie3

can anyone say, hand on heart thatthe free range chicken you are buying IS definately free range. reason i ask is that many moons ago my hub used to work for an egg farm. he said that all eggs were the same ie marks and sparks, tesco, little shopper etc. they had free range eggs delivered to them to pack, but if say they had run out, they would replace them with normal old battery hens ones. how can you tell the difference? i wouldnt trust supermarkets one bit, obviously there is a difference from a proper farm shop.
i bought a large chicken from asda. ive noticed that the legs have been removed from the joint now, just cutting off the urine burned bit i guess. it did put me off it tho. poor chick:(

ZTD

melie3 wrote: »

can anyone say, hand on heart thatthe free range chicken you are buying IS definately free range.

Yes. You can taste the difference and the texture is also different. The acid test is hit it with a cleaver. If it goes all the way through and bites into the chopping board, it's not free-range. If it gets stuck half-way, then it is.

melie3 wrote: »

reason i ask is that many moons ago my hub used to work for an egg farm. he said that all eggs were the same ie marks and sparks, tesco, little shopper etc. they had free range eggs delivered to them to pack, but if say they had run out, they would replace them with normal old battery hens ones. how can you tell the difference?

When eggs are laid, they are soft, so when they sit on the wire battery hen cage, they pick up wire marks. You can detect these using an infra red light and a some sort of magnifier.

Trading standards have picked up quite a few supermarkets selling caged as free-range, but no prosecutions. Surprise surprise... :rolleyes:

melie3 wrote: »

i wouldnt trust supermarkets one bit, obviously there is a difference from a proper farm shop.
i bought a large chicken from asda. ive noticed that the legs have been removed from the joint now, just cutting off the urine burned bit i guess. it did put me off it tho. poor chick:(

That's exactly what it is alas...

DisillusionedAnna

Ive just scoffed a reduced priced bag of Asda hot n spicy chicken portions for 30 p they were delicious, and Im ashamed to say that I never gave a thought to where or what there live had been like, the reduced sticker made the sale due to my circumstances.
On the other side of the coin I have cleaned a kitchen to keep 6 chooks in the best of lifestyles, some free range some ex battery hens. Doo lally and Diana and the Supremes and Dipstick strut there stuff in a farm down the road, whilst I wil be ironing farmers shirts lol.

LouBlue

Cazzdevil wrote: »

In her defence (I can't believe I just said that), she was the only one of them who said she already used up the leftovers, she said she always scraped it to the bone because she couldn't afford not to.

Bet she does....and devoured the bones probably. :rolleyes:

I always bought free range beforehand, but after this programme, I REALLY hope more people will switch. Whatever they can afford, even if its just once a month. Its a start. If more people buy it, then the supermarkets will make it more available, and then hopefully the price will come down.

gt568

Surely all the talk of herbivore, omnivore, vegitarian, vegan whatever is irrelevant to this debate. Isn't the debate whether or not we can afford to eat battery chicken both morally and financially.

Vegetarian/meat eater is for another thread surely.

tinks2100

Rog I dont think you should feel guilty the choice is completely yours, but I watched the programme and it has changed my view on buying 2 4 1 chickens from leading supermarkets, and yes it is more expensive but if everyone started buying free-range chickens then the supermarkets would have to bring thier prices down, Now tesco's have decided to stock the majority of free range there will be a pricing war and it will be interesting to see who has the cheapest free range chickens in about 4 or 5 months time -thanks tinks2100:beer:

newmum1

Personally the way I see it is that unless we all live sheltered lives most of us will have been aware of the situation on previous documentries as this has been going on for many years its nothing new. I think that this docu has just been very powerful in getting its point across to millions.
If you can afford to buy free range go for it, if not dont end up paying for it for years to come. We all have diferent budgets, and has anyone thought of eating out in restaurants and so forth - surely they will use the cheapest they can get.