Tesco Fresh British Chickens £1.99

Fogg1969

I'm not especially poor, but I know enough about poultry farming to buy cheap chicken with a clear conscience.

The vast majority of UK chicken is produced to a very high standard. That little red tractor that's you see around supermarkets, it's not there just for decoration. Broiler chickens carrying that logo have been produced by a qualified stockman, properly withdrawn of any medicines that may have been given. Any antibiotics used have to be given following a veterinary consultation, and only with good reason. They aren't pumped full of hormones, the birds aren't tortured.

http://www.assuredchicken.org.uk/chickens/

Broiler chickens don't get an opportunity to peck at grass in a field... By the same token they don't get eaten by foxes and get a chilly North wind rattle between their legs. They live a life devoid of hunger, thirst, and fear.

Free range has a higher mortality rate, and its inefficiency results in vastly greater qualtities of gas and electricity being consumed to bring the same kg of meat to market. A wholesale switch to free range would be disastrous for the environment. 800million chickens being produced per year far less efficiently - not good!! The RSPCA standard is the way forward IMO.

If you care most about animals go veggie.
If you care most about the environment buy the £1.99 chickens.
If you want to feel unecessarily smug and self-righteous, whilst still eating a plate of slaughtered animal go free range.

Perez

Fogg1969 wrote: »

The vast majority of UK chicken is produced to a very high standard. That little red tractor that's you see around supermarkets, it's not there just for decoration. Broiler chickens carrying that logo have been produced by a qualified stockman, properly withdrawn of any medicines that may have been given. Any antibiotics used have to be given following a veterinary consultation, and only with good reason. They aren't pumped full of hormones, the birds aren't tortured.

http://www.assuredchicken.org.uk/chickens/

Broiler chickens don't get an opportunity to peck at grass in a field... By the same token they don't get eaten by foxes and get a chilly North wind rattle between their legs. They live a life devoid of hunger, thirst, and fear.

What about PAIN from crippling leg injuries - let me quote a BBC News article from today:

Meanwhile, research funded by Defra suggests more than a quarter of broiler chickens have difficulty walking as result of their high growth rates.
The study of 51,000 of the chickens, intensively bred specifically for their meat, found that at about 40 days old 27.6% exhibited "poor locomotion" and 3.3% could almost not walk at all.

Full news item available here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7230959.stm

I don't see why any animal should live it's life in such an un-natural way - not even seeing the sunlight, surely you don't find this a desirable "feature" of buying these cheap chickens?

Did you watch Hugh's Chicken Run - the chickens in the shed had absolutely no space by the time they got to a certain size (AND he didn't even stock them to the maximum allowable density) - it was truly eye-opening to see, we're talking about living animals here so they should be treated with respect while they're here (yes, i've decided that I want to eat meat and this is fine for my consicence - many types of animal eat others, it's natural, but what is wrong is the way we're farming our meat)

Fogg1969 wrote: »

Free range has a higher mortality rate, and its inefficiency results in vastly greater qualtities of gas and electricity being consumed to bring the same kg of meat to market. A wholesale switch to free range would be disastrous for the environment. 800million chickens being produced per year far less efficiently - not good!! The RSPCA standard is the way forward IMO.

Please back such statements up with evidence, why is the mortality rate higher? At the end, ALL of these chickens die - however if more of them have a happy/happier life when they're alive then surely this is a good thing?

As for electricity and gas consumption, would be interested in seeing some figures. Sure, Free Range farming uses up more space but this is fine - at least that space isn't being used to build new estates!

Fogg1969 wrote: »

If you care most about animals go veggie.
If you care most about the environment buy the £1.99 chickens.
If you want to feel unecessarily smug and self-righteous, whilst still eating a plate of slaughtered animal go free range.

This is a pretty ridiculous statement too - it's not about feeling smug, but being able to know that the chance of the animal having suffered is a lot less (and at least it would have been able to have a relatively natural life)

At the end of the day, these animals have been bred to eat, but that doesn't mean that they are to be considered meat before they have been humanely slaughtered!

greyster

I fancy my chances as a free range chicken...

rather than born in a cage, never fully appreciating the ability to stand.

user051105

ASDA do free range chickens we had a large one for £4.49 and did two meals and soup so come on people.

Fogg1969

No birds grown for meat are kept in cages.

I think you'll find that chickens hatch, and aren't born.

The mortality rate is higher in free range because the birds have greater exposure to bugs (inc bird flu & salmonella), parasites, and predators. Total control over bio-security is impossible to attain once the doors have been flung open.

... No stats at hand - need to get to the gym before 8. Will edit later if poss. Again, the Freedom Foods RSPCA standard is the ideal IMO - daylight, plus most of the efficiency, slower rate of growth, plus control over hygiene. That's the ideal - I'll still eat the cheap stuff.

V_tricky

I made the choice to only buy organic meat some time ago.

I used to exclusively buy chicken breasts from Mr T's, and when they were on BOGOF I loaded the freezer. I always preferred chicken off the bone.

Something changed, in fact, a few things did.

I had chicken thighs at a friends house and they actually tasted of chicken! And I got pregnant, and really had to think about what I put in my body, rather than just filling up on whatever was on special offer. Finally, I think I've always been a bit of a closet veggie - I like meat, but a mmmmmmmmcheesenpotatopiemmmmmmmmmmm would do me just nicely too!

I made the choice to only buy organic meat because as a general rule I have found it tastier. I now don't eat meat every day, and I certainly waste MUCH less. It really made me think about what I could afford, and how I could go about it, and if that means eating the tasty thighs, then so be it.

BUT... (and this is a little off topic) I also breastfed my child for 13 months, exclusively for the first 6 (although I had all the epidural they could give me when I gave birth and am totally unrepentant)

For ME, I CHOSE to make these two decisions based on the evidence I had read, however, does that make me a better person? Should I sit in my ivory tower and pour scorn on all the peasants who don't live in what I choose for myself to be the 'right' way?

Hell No!

If you're happy buying broiler chicken (particularly if you have actually THOUGHT about it) and if you're happy bottle feeding your precious lil one's ALL POWER TO YOU!

All this taking-the-moral-high-ground really gets on my nips (and it's rife on both sides, you should hear the competitive parents at almost any baby group - the one side trying to lord it going "oh well, of course I would ONLY have breastfed my little Tarquin" and the others "I hate that all those breastfeeders think they're all that"). Why can't people just chill out & let people make their OWN choices without judgement on either side?

Don't think that everyone making the choices that are socially acceptable today are lemmings, or think that they're better than everyone else - that's not the case

and

Don't think that everyone making the less socially acceptable choices are low life scumbags

I don't need anyone to justify the choices they make, whether they smoke, drink, drive a flashy beemer, eat nothing but MaccyD's all day long and give their kids Wotsits for breakfast, and moreover, I don't feel the need to justify MY choices to anyone - in fact, I think that's what gets on my tits the most - that people feel the need to justify these type of choices to anyone but themselves. Anyone who says that they don't buy organic or free range meat because they can't afford it doesn't tell the whole truth.

What they're actually saying is either "I can't afford to eat the cuts of meat I prefer, as often as I like" or maybe even "I could afford to eat organic or free range meat, but for me, I value Sky tv, broadband [insert luxury of choice here] more" - these are just as valid reasons as mine are for wanting to make sure that I can afford to eat what I choose to.

love2save

user051105 wrote: »

ASDA do free range chickens we had a large one for £4.49 and did two meals and soup so come on people.

I have bought a free range chicken from Asda for the last couple of weeks and it was £5.08 for a 1.5kg one....is that classed as large? I managed to make Roast Chicken for a family of four and soup the next day.

fablad75

I think buying a humanely-bred chicken is a bit like giving a few coins to charity - most of us can probably afford to do it, but not all of us do, because it's easier to think of ourselves.

"By buying that cheap chicken, I get dinner AND pudding."

"£1.50 for a Big Issue? I can get a latte for that!"

It's not a pretty reflection of society, but realistically, the welfare of poultry doesn't rate very highly in most people's list of daily priorities. Ask a smoker which he/she would rather have, a pack of cigarettes or more space for an anonymous chicken in a farm somewhere and it's going to be the fags every time. It's easier to look out for number one and I think most of people, having made the choices that they make, still sleep just fine at night.

Well, better than those chickens anyway.

Odd_Fellow

I have long since known about the awful conditions of battery and broiler chickens but only recently made a concious decision to stop buying it, mainly due to the TV coverage by Jamie Oliver and Hugh wotshisname.

I am also aware of the conditions that many pigs are kept in and have been unfortunate enough to have toured various abattoirs (I developed a tracking database for disease in Pigs for the Meat and Livestock Commission and needed to visit such places to better understand their processes) and have witnessed slaughter rooms at first hand.

It is a throughly unpleasant experience - let me assure you.

It's no less plesant whether it's our feathery friends or our porcine chappies - less just less blood and the squealing is clucking.

The point is that in order to feed the population, horrible as they are, such places are necessary (you can argue that point separately). What's not neccesary though is the dreadful conditions that the birds are kept in whilst alive. A 38 week old chicken has had no life; it's a mini, self-contained meat factory. If we kept humans in such conditions (regardless whether we slaughered them when they were fat enough) they'd be an outcry. In fact, Hitler did exactly that.....

I'm not questioning the morals of consumers. We all have a choice. The problem is the supermarkets - FULL STOP. These giants have created the demand by manufacturing new ways of producing these poor wretched birds (and other animals) that reduces costs (and welfare) in an attempt to gain more custom from competitors and the buying public has blindly followed, not appreciating the consequences. At the same time, we've not appreciated the difference in taste and now, crap meat tastes normal to many people. In fact, we're almost at the same stage as the French a couple of hundred years ago when they produced sauces to cover the terrible flavour of the meat they were eating.

If we have never had the concept of two chickens for the bargain price of a fiver or less, paying £4.50 for a bird would be entirely normal and those on a budget had the choice of buying or not. Now there's a choice of decent meat or mini, self-contained meat factory. We've made our choices because those that control us (YES, CONTROL US) have made it normal (even acceptable) or a chicken to cost £2 a throw.

We all like a bargain but when it comes to our meat, we're not asking the question "How the devil can they sell it so cheap?".

Cast your mind back to the most honest businessman of the early 90s. Gerrald Ratner stood up at an agm and repeated the question he was commonly asked about his jewellery; "How can you sell it so cheap?"

Anyone remember the answer? "Because it's Crap" is what he said.

Mr Ratner no longer has any highstreet stores in his name....

Inactive

I thought this page was dedicated to bargains, not moral spouting.:rolleyes: