Supermarket Secrets revealed?

scorpio_biker

I noticed other people posting some links to suppliers of quality meats such as better chickens, so can I recommend Devon Rose.

http://www.devonrose.com/

On their information page it says

We are a manufacturer and supplier of gourmet foods. Supplied in hampers and boxes delivered direct to your door. We rely only on natural products and specialise in free range and organic products. We do not accept the need for mass production methods and shun additives,preservatives,growth promoters, GM and pesticides. This site is dedicated to real food enthusiasts.

I've used them several times and personally I think their meat is excellent.

Their customer service is excellent too, and they are very friendly.

HTH (and I hope its OK to post here)

Just a satisfied customer.

honey

I chose not to watch this programme because I thought maybe I was better off not knowing (daft ... I know)

But now I've read through this thread I'm worried anyway!!!

In the last few months I've switched to free range eggs (after seeing the hens on telly). I guess now I should switch chickens too. The butchers in town is one of a chain so I'm guessing this is not a good choice either?!

The thing is where do you stop? We try so hard to keep food costs down but organic is so much more expensive. But if I go for organic meat then shouldn't I go for organic veg too?? And then organic cereal, juice, flour, etc.

Also when we go to a BBQ or out for a meal, what are we eating then???

Maybe I should just make the choices I can afford???

The other thing is - we buy quite a lot of non-food items from Tescos - dvd's, music etc because they are competitive on price. Does anyone avoid buying these sort of things from supermarkets so as not to support them???

gritts

I found https://www.whyorganic.org useful for sourcing cheap organic local meat fruit and veg or finding farmers market.

I do use Supermarkets - Tesco and Waitrose but only buy organic fruit and veg (maybe they will talk about pesticides etc on the next programme on Monday). Organic does not have to be expensive. For instance on many occassions you will find things like Kiwi fruits actually cheaper than the 'factory' grown sort or for instance Tesco currently have a BOGOF on frozen sweetcorn and 50 clubcard bonus on frozen organic produce.

Check out: 'Not on the Label' - author on last nights programme (this is not an advert for amazon by the way)


http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141015667/qid=1122634772/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-0847964-0788655

One last thing if you have to use supermarkets - email them - let them know how you feel about such matters as animal welfare, pesticide over use, pressure on suplliers and growers, food miles,etc etc etc.

Debt_Free_Chick

competitionscafe wrote:

There is a list of Real Meat butchers here:
http://www.realmeatco.sageweb.co.uk/services.htm

(Real Meat is not organic but is produced with high standards of animal welfare):
http://www.realmeatco.sageweb.co.uk/aboutus.htm

Interesting. I've not posted a link to my favourite supplier as I feared he'd be too expensive! However, at a quick glance all his organic meat seems to be cheaper! And it's available mail order!

Fill yer freezer

Well Hung Meat



p.s. I like to support these guys from time to time, but most of my meat comes from my local butcher. He is the third generation of his family to be the village butcher and what he & his colleague don't know about meat, ain't worth knowing. Very little on display in his shop - you ask for what you want, he goes out the back, fetches the carcass and butchers it there & then in front of you. Bacon is hand cut too

VickyA_2

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

p.s. I like to support these guys from time to time, but most of my meat comes from my local butcher. He is the third generation of his family to be the village butcher and what he & his colleague don't know about meat, ain't worth knowing. Very little on display in his shop - you ask for what you want, he goes out the back, fetches the carcass and butchers it there & then in front of you. Bacon is hand cut too

My mum is lucky enough to have a butchers like that down the road too. Since the little general store/post office closed down it has now taken over the post office bit too. They always have gorgeous meat there and my gran always takes it upon herself to buy OH and I fillet steak whenever we visit for "a meal" - or 3 by the time we've finished with it!

competitionscafe

swizzle wrote:

Nearly £10 for a free range chicken, looks like we will be going veggie!!

Try this article and recipes from the independent on how to cook four delicious meals from just one chicken: >

Pecking order.
Do you make the most of your bird? Mark Hix reveals how to cook four delicious meals from just one chicken......
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/features/article14638.ece

--

squeaky

We have other threads too on how to s t r e t c h chicken to three or four meals here. There is at least one in the Old Style Recipe Collection and there are others in the MEGA Index.

A good way to find them is search on rubber chicken

'Cos it s t r e t c h e s... see?

Zend

I have been vegetarian for a few years now, mainly because of animal rearing and slaughtering practices. I made myself watch the programme last night and cried throughout it, those poor birds and those chicks being thrown from that machine :mad: . Since seeing the programme my husband has decided to only eat meat from our local butchers. I do buy supermarket cheap milk but after seeing the trailer for next week with those poor cows who are literally milked to death I will certainly be looking into an alternative supply. The problem is that I don't know what contains unethical produce eg does the milk in most chocolates come from these dreadful factory farms?

summerday

This is such an interesting and useful thread. Honey, I know how you feel, I'm still thinking and making my mind up about where to draw the line. For now I intend to get all my meat organic, but because it will be significantly more expensive I expect I will buy less of it. i have recently started buying organic milk and will continue to do so especially after seeing those poor cows yesterday- interestingly there were also articles in 2 national newspapers today (think it was the Daily mail and Mirror) about the awful concrete pens many cows live in and never see a field in their lives. I have always bought free range eggs.

It is difficult when you think about the products that have eggs and milk as their ingredients though such as chocolate, biscuits etc. I feel that part of the solution is for me to avoid processed foods as much as possible and make my own meals and snacks from ingredients that I know are free range. Don't suppose any Old Stylers know if a Chocolate Maker machine has been invented yet do they as that will be a problem for me!

It is going to be a challenge I know, our food budget is modest as it is but I'm just going to have to plan my meals more carefully and perhaps meals when I would have used a lot of chicken use smaller amounts now and pan it out with more veg or something.

For now I can't afford to buy all organic fruit and veg but next year I'm determined to grow as much veg as poss in our little garden. My main concern is that I don't want animals to suffer awful lives.

Please keep posting everyone, it's real 'food for thought'. Tomorrow I'm going to speak to people to find a good local butcher and greengrocers...quite excited about it actually, I've never bought meat in a butchers before!

sarah

beadysam

Does anyone find that proper butchers rarely have the price on the meat? I daren't go in sometimes in case it costs more than I can afford and I am made to feel like I don't value the butchers 'quality' product....