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

Cazzdevil

tinks2100 wrote: »

if everyone started buying free-range chickens then the supermarkets would have to bring thier prices down

It kinda defeats the point really doesn't it, supermarkets were forced to bring down the price of "standard" chicken and that's probably why conditions in intensive farms have declined so much in the first place.

What's wrong with paying a bit more for something which by all accounts is a treat? Chicken shouldn't be an everday food but sadly it's become one due to stupidly low prices.

rayday2

Now I do feel poor Cazzdevil! - I think I only buy chicken about once a month! We are kinda fishy people lol

Saying that now someone said we should not have bacon for breakfast my bacon is screaming at me!

Phirefly

I stopped eating meat when I was 11 (a hefty 18 years ago!) and discovered the facts about intensive farming. Its never been about the cutey-wutey animals, I'm a country-dwelling realist, but more about my refusal to support practices which I feel have no place in modern civilisation.

Growing up in a family of five, my parents had to make ends meet and back then little was known about organic and ethical produce. So I felt my only choice was not to eat meat.

I now run a household of my own and have a strapping, meat loving Mr. Phirefly to feed. We now only buy local, organic meat and dairy produce from our fantastic local farm shop Manor Farm. I'd happily share Matravers' meat with him, but it just been too long since I ate meat and I have no appetite for it.

Its more expensive, and having just bought our first home we're on a tight budget. But instead of buying a pack of 4 waterlogged intensively farmed chicken breasts, we'll buy one huge local organic one, which will provide Mr. P with a meal and some leftovers. We bulk out our weekly protein intake with sustainable Mackerel (dirt cheap) and organic salmon.

The best value organic meat of all is supermarket organic beef mince. Its always on special offer in Tescos. Instead of shovelling nuggets and chips down their kids throats, low income parents would be better off making a huge organic beef bolognese full of beans and pulses.

As others have posted, its a CHOICE. I choose to buy my electrical and white goods second hand on ebay and work hard shopping around to get the best deals on home furnishings, consumables and other expenses so that I can afford to buy local organic food. I'd rather eat healthy, toxin-free, humane food than subscribe to sky, smoke or spend my friday evenings down the pub. But thats me.

Getting back to the OP, on a modest income, Mr Phirefly has managed to clear 5k of debt over the last 3 years AND eaten only local, organic meat.

zultan

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rog2

gt568 wrote: »

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.

Thanks, gt. :beer:

Strapped

Tesco have made the dilemma harder... Went to Tesco yesterday and they are promoting the standard chicken (and beef too). The packs of breasts (4-5 breasts) which are usually £5 were "2 for £8". OTOH, free range breasts were £4.29 for just 2 breasts. (I acknowledge there may have been more weight to the free range breasts).

It was all too much for me...I bought two packs of the beef

Jorgan_2

We watched it and as a result have decided to buy free rangeRSPCA scheme in future. Went shopping in Tescos & they had a very limited choice, two chickens, both about £7. So we didn't buy any chicken. I'm new to having to livie on a budget, so looking into recipes for soup etc to see if the free range bird will work out more cost effective.

The programme made me think a lot more about where the food comes from, which has to be a good thing.

hbl_2

I missed the show(s), can I catch it on 4oD?

I don't care much for animal welfare - I think a lot of time and energy is wasted by people who care more for animals than they do people. Of all the attrocities in the world, a cheap sustainable food supply is not a social ill. After all it is a capitalist economy and you get what you pay for.

JoeHel

Was I the only one who wished the camera man had sneaked us a peak in Hayley's trolley and found out what else she had in there on her "buget"...?! She could do her whole family the biggest favour ever by putting back on the shelves whatever it is that's keeping her that size and buying fresh fruit & veg (from the market, not Tesco) and free range chicken. She might end up losing a few pounds too...

But I know there ARE families who would not get to eat chicken at all if their only option was the more expensive free range birds. I agree that the show was aimed at those who can afford it but currently don't (like me). I never think twice about the chickens I buy and now I will actively search out free range and not buy unless I find one! Surely if those who can afford that bit extra for free range do it, the price will start to come down and more and more people will gradually be able to afford it?

rog2

hbl wrote: »

I missed the show(s), can I catch it on 4oD?

I don't care much for animal welfare - I think a lot of time and energy is wasted by people who care more for animals than they do people. Of all the attrocities in the world, a cheap sustainable food supply is not a social ill. After all it is a capitalist economy and you get what you pay for.

I hope you can catch up with the show, as I think you may wish to 'edit' your post, hbl.
You are quite correct in that this is a 'capitalist economy' and, ordinarily, I think I might agree with treating humans as a 'priority' but the 'treatment' of the 'chickens in question' was more akin to the Nazi's treatment of religious and ethnic minority groups than a few 'crackpots' suggesting that we should treat animals better than we treat our own kids.
I'm sure that, had you watched the show, your views may not be quite so 'black and white'.
It has certainly given me a few reasons to 'examine my perspectives'.