Organic chicken - dear but worth it.

squeaky

1.2Kg did for 2 chicken kormas, 1 chicken salad, 4 individual chicken pies and enough stock for the base of a two serving soup or casserole...

..and yes, most of the portions were small and well padded

competitionscafe

Curry_Queen wrote:

Living truly Old Style, as people did years ago, means eating meat less often, and with smaller portion sizes, and padding out meals with cheaper veggies, carbs etc

And using cheaper cuts - oxtail, belly of pork, shin of beef, spare rib, chicken thighs instead of breasts, lamb shanks, etc, etc - sometimes these take longer to cook (need long slow cooking) but they can be very tasty if done right - fall off the bone tender melt in your mouth meat (and perfect for the slow cooker)

Sometimes we rush too much and want instant this, instant that - slow can be good*. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/slowfood.shtml

*except when it comes to internet connections.

bektoria

Hi Everyone

I am new to this board, although I have been lurking for a few days !! First I wanted to say thank you for all of your great tips, I am trying to work my way through all of the 90 pages of posts !!!

I do try to buy organic meat after watching 'Dispatches', I was horrified by the conditions that the chickens etc were kept in and even the average chicken (not value) in Tescos has the hock burn mark. It is also the additives to the meat which concern me with buying the cheaper meat. This programme has changed my total way of thinking with buying food for my family, my husband has grown veg for the last couple of years but now I also buy our veg from farmers markets. Like many though, I am not able to buy the expense meat all of the time for my family. So I try to stock my freezer up by buying the meat when it has been reduced, I get a bargin, better tasting meat and a clear conscience !

Hope to get to know you all better,
Bek x

scuzz

Curry_Queen wrote:

Living truly Old Style, as people did years ago, means eating meat less often, and with smaller portion sizes, and padding out meals with cheaper veggies, carbs etc

Nooooooooooooooo! I can't live without my meat - she says munching on a ham sandwich

Lillibet_2

I don't have veg or meat boxes delivered as I fnd them expeisive and I like to pick what I want myself rather than be stuck with someone elses choices, so having rather extensively tested various different supermarkets organic offerings over the last 3 months, I think that Sainsburys corn fed free range organic chicken is by far and away superior to all the other main stream shops, and Tescos organic beef (mince, sirloin & stewing/braising steak) and organic pork sausages best. Don't want to be a snob but Duchy of Cornwall organic bacon really is fab but at £3 for 6 rashers this really is a treat to be savoured! Don't really eat lamb so haven't tried that at all, and don't eat much pork and what I have tried so far I haven't found any tastier that regular good quality non-organic pork (ethical reasons aside for a moment). I keep meaning to try the butchers meat but feel a bit of a idiot walking in & asking if they even sell organic meat, let alone probably lanching at their prices!

From one medium organic chicken I usually get for 2 people one roast dinner, one stir fry, one chicken flan, a round of sandwiches or a salad & a batch of soup. From one pack of 6 sausages I usually use 4 for a sausage casserole, slice one up on pizza & use one chopped very finely with other stuff to stuff potato skins for 2. It's just a case of really s-t-r-e-a-t-c-h-i-n-g the meat out to get your moneys worth.

Lillibet_2

bektoria wrote:

Hi Everyone

I am new to this board, although I have been lurking for a few days !! First I wanted to say thank you for all of your great tips, I am trying to work my way through all of the 90 pages of posts !!!

I do try to buy organic meat after watching 'Dispatches', I was horrified by the conditions that the chickens etc were kept in and even the average chicken (not value) in Tescos has the hock burn mark. It is also the additives to the meat which concern me with buying the cheaper meat. This programme has changed my total way of thinking with buying food for my family, my husband has grown veg for the last couple of years but now I also buy our veg from farmers markets. Like many though, I am not able to buy the expense meat all of the time for my family. So I try to stock my freezer up by buying the meat when it has been reduced, I get a bargin, better tasting meat and a clear conscience !

Hope to get to know you all better,
Bek x

Hi Bektoria & welcome to the boards, nice to meet another new poster.

I also stock up when I see the organic meat & milk reduced, it's the only way I can afford to do it, plays havoc with the budget though! Even so I am aware of how much it is full price & it scares me that we have all got used to paying so little for modified meat so try to use the good stuff to the maximum effect even if I have got it cheaply...I can't help feeling that one day the wheels are going to come off the cheap food train when the farmers revolt or something!

Xbigman

I bought mine from wellhungmeat.com and very tasty it was. I also bought a £60 lamb box, at £8 a kilo plus £8 delivery. I'm more of a lamb lover and added a chicken to see how it tasted.
This all started because my reasonably generous £40 a week budget for 2 was more than enough and I was running 25 - 30 under budget every month, but I was eating a lot of cr*p. I've been looking to upgrade what I eat so I've switched to a 3 monthly budget system where I can have a decent sized organic meat box delivery one every 3 months. I also decided to stop buying the Tesco's thin sliced value ham and buy a joint and slice it. Would you believe that both the big (2kg) value packs of pork and the value gammon joints actually work out cheaper than the cheapest pre-sliced stuff.

I've also started doing a bit of baking without great success. OK, its all edible but not brilliant. Using sunflower spread insted of margerine probably didn't help
Regards



X

Liney_2

Curry_Queen wrote:

My reasons for buying organic/free range meat & poultry are as much for ethical reasons as they are for eating a healthier and MUCH tastier product!

I refuse to support an industry that can raise animals in substandard and inhumane conditions just to put a piece of meat on my plate (the same with eggs!) and I'd rather go without and eat veggie meals if I can't afford the meat

£7.99 a kilo for a chicken is at the higher end of the scale of what I've seen available, but no doubt worth every penny when you come to taste it! I usually pay around £10 for 1.8/2.0kg sized chicken and I'm perfectly happy to buy additive free/free range birds which are that bit cheaper than organic but are still raised to the same standards. It just means that the farm raising them hasn't yet got their licence from the Soil Association, but other than that there's no difference!


Edit: forgot to add that much of what you're paying for when buying cheap supermarket chicken is WATER so the real weight of meat is much less than you think. Water is injected into the flesh and can be as much as 30% of the total weight!!! :eek:

You won't find a drop of water in an organic chicken


Oh, and another thing ... from a 2.0kg organic chicken I can make 5 meals, plus soup and stock for me and DS, so that works out at less than £1 a head per meal

HERE HERE!

I have started buying organic meat now too but from a local butcher rather than a supermarket - it does cost more but I am so worried about how the animals are treated for supermarket meats. Making stock is so easy with a carcass - if you can't be bothered to make it straight after you have cooked the bird, just freeze the carcass until you are ready. Get the most from your meat and it will soon seem like better value. What I prefer about going to the organic butcher is being able to buy only the right amount of mince or quantity of sausages, chops etc so that way I don't buy more than I need.

Lara

I'm an organic person as well. Milk, eggs, meat, carrots, bananas and lovely braeburn apples always. Such a HUGE difference in taste especially with the fruit.
You can't beat the taste of organic chicken and especially turkey at Christmas time. Expensive I have to agree but well worth it .

competitionscafe

Got a sweetcorn cob in my organic veggy box which I had last night with my smoked mackerel & horeseradish fishcakes (got the idea from someone on the fishcakes thread and they were yummy!!) Anyway I boiled the corn on the cob for 7 minutes and had it with unsalted butter and freshly ground black pepper - probably the sweetest, juicest, tastiest sweetcorn I have ever had. Who needs ready meals or tins when you can get such great 'fast food' the natural way?