Tesco Fresh British Chickens £1.99

TGM

Lotus-eater wrote: »

The only reason this nation has the eating requirements of large amounts of chicken, is only because they started being raised in ever larger numbers, in ever more crowded conditions and became cheaper, cheaper, till the cost of a chicken in no way relates to an actual chicken, but to a plastic, water filled lump of fat filled "meat", and that quite honestly disgusts me how we as animals can treat other animals this way and at how people put their head in the ground and say, I don't WANT to know where my food comes from, its not something I want to think about.

Pay more for decent meat, eat less of it, you will be healthier, there will be less animals killed, less pollution

To be honest if you feel that strongly about 'poor little animals' why do you eat them?

On the whole I'm an animal lover, some are delicious:p, but IMO it isn't a case of not wanting to know where their food comes from. Necessity dictates what each family can afford. We don't all live in affluent areas, some of us struggle on, on minimum wage. This is where, Hugh FW (imo) fails to understand. Some people from well off back grounds, simply don't know how the other half live.

Lotus-eater

TGM wrote: »

To be honest if you feel that strongly about 'poor little animals' why do you eat them?

Because I don't think there is anything wrong with eating little animals, however that doesn't mean I want them tortured before I do eat them.

davetrousers

barginboyrob wrote: »

What effect does eating a battery chicken rather then eating a free range chicken have on us, i really don't know

A broiler chicken is 'ready' for slaughter at 39 days a Free Range slightly longer (not sure possibly a week or so more, anyone know?) They need to be ready quickly to help keep costs down, the feed they have I believe has some hormones in to make them develop quicker, the chicken ingests this and in turn the consumer ingests it. Maybe if you were genuinely interested in it you could do some research and let us know what you find out.

Perez

£1.99 for a chicken - that is pretty sad really, I wouldn't touch that with a barge pole personally, imagine what a life that poor thing has had - shameful.

TGM wrote: »

Organic is just BS IMO. A chicken can still be fed organically but still be kept in a filthy !!!! hole.

Sorry but don't agree with this statement at all.

Think you should read the Soil Association site to find out what that particular organic certification actually means!

It's not just that the animals are fed organically - they ARE free range by definition, and have to (in order to meet the certification) be given considerably more space than intensively farmed chickens.

Also they're not given growth promoters/antibiotics - whatever your opinion on the taste of chicken (and if you tried a Label Anglais free range chicken you would not in a million years be able to say that it tastes the same as a supermarket chicken!!), surely it makes sense not to consume meat that's been pumped full of who knows what pharmaceuticals!

Here's a link explaining the standards which Soil Association demands with regard to poultry farming:

http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/ed0930aa86103d8380256aa70054918d/d6d15ce4cfad3ea480257149004cb425!OpenDocument

Hope this helps some people!

At the end of the day, if you can't afford decent, properly farmed meat all the time, eat it once in a while and really enjoy it... The rest of the time, why not eat vegetarian? Plenty of cheap meal options leaving money for decent quality meat... If chicken is just protein to you in your diet then try something else that's not had a horrendous life...

TGM

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Because I don't think there is anything wrong with eating little animals, however that doesn't mean I want them tortured before I do eat them.

Tortured!!! :eek:

Yeah OK :rolleyes:

Perez

dazza32 wrote: »

it is sad how some chickens are treated like in that video but lets face facts most people only can afford the cheaper chickens but the way im thinking is if you go to t-aways resterants ect how do you no what chicken there using lol and i bet the typical chinnese or indian uses them cheap ones they taste the same at the end of the day its a dog eat dog life sorry to say :rotfl: (just off to tesco,s to pick my £1.99 chicken up yummy ):rotfl:

I've decided not to eat chicken in takeaways anymore, opting for lamb instead as that's pretty much guaranteed to have been raised outdoors and in a less intensive manner than poultry...

I do wish all restaurants/takeaways would offer a free range chicken option (at extra cost) - I'd be more than happy to pay extra for it.

Jonny_B_3

Well it meets my definition of tortured.

Lotus-eater

TGM wrote: »

On the whole I'm an animal lover, some are delicious:p, but IMO it isn't a case of not wanting to know where their food comes from. Necessity dictates what each family can afford. We don't all live in affluent areas, some of us struggle on, on minimum wage. This is where, Hugh FW (imo) fails to understand. Some people from well off back grounds, simply don't know how the other half live.

Well IMO it is that people don't want to know where their food comes from. Ask them to actually treat the animals like dirt, hurt them and see how badly they are kept....... I don't think many would do it, BUT, if someone else can do it for them..... and they don't have to see it, then they don't have to think about it, so thats OK.

Sorry, minimum wage doesn't do it for me either. Pah, most people in this country don't know what being hard up is. Got sky? Not hard up, Got a TV, same, Smoke, same, Go to the pub? Takeaway, same.
Some people will be hard up enough to buy cheap meat, that will always probably be the case, for most of you, its just a bad excuse.

Perez

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Well IMO it is that people don't want to know where their food comes from. Ask them to actually treat the animals like dirt, hurt them and see how badly they are kept....... I don't think many would do it, BUT, if someone else can do it for them..... and they don't have to see it, then they don't have to think about it, so thats OK.

Sorry, minimum wage doesn't do it for me either. Pah, most people in this country don't know what being hard up is. Got sky? Not hard up, Got a TV, same, Smoke, same, Go to the pub? Takeaway, same.
Some people will be hard up enough to buy cheap meat, that will always probably be the case, for most of you, its just a bad excuse.

Totally agree with all of that - I bet many of the people who "can't afford" to spend money on meat that's been ethically produced are the first to spend £2k on the latest 50" LCD TV (on credit card of course so they can worry about it later...)

The reality is that it's all about priorities - and some people see food as a means to an end - if they actually ENJOYED cooking and eating then they'd probably take a bit more pride in what actually ends up on the table...

Skippy2roo

The only reason this nation has the eating requirements of large amounts of chicken, is only because they started being raised in ever larger numbers,

Way back when, a chicken cost a hell of a lot more than now and was far beyond the reach of Mr and Mrs average, in order for the masses to comfortably enjoy this as was then a treat, they cost had to come down. The only way was through mass production.

Pay more for decent meat, eat less of it, you will be healthier, there will be less animals killed, less pollution

Mr Oliver & Mr HFW seem blinkered to the fact that there is a percentage of this population that DO NOT have the income capacity to afford on a weekly basis the cost of a Free range chicken. Therefore if there were no battery hens then your comment above " pay more for decent meat, eat less of it " becomes enforceable.

Everyone has their own viewpoint on this subject but one thing that concerns me more is the extent that these " celebrity chefs " promote their own cause through the back door. I would rather the effort and money spent on this matter have been spent on i feel a more worthy cause the " NSPCC "

Who do you care more for a chicken or a human ?