By the way, as a single parent on benefit, my two children and I ate much less meat but what meat we ate was free range AND organic. We didn't have puddings nor a lot of other things, but we still ate well on a budget.
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We lived close to a farmer who kept battery hens when I was a child. One day I had to go into the shed and fetch him. It was dreadful, noisy and hot. I could get out and go home, but the hens couldn't...
It's completely possible to eat well on a budget and still not have to buy battery hens/eggs.
The taste of Organic chicken just knocks any other sort into a cocked hat!
Yep, I'm there too. We have bought free range eggs forever, and always try and get free range chicken, which as Steg says does taste so much better than the water filled tasteless cardboard of the intensively reared birds (I gather the reason why non free range birds are so full of water is because of a process called 'tumbling', where they are all put into this big vat of water prior to packing, and tumbled to make the flesh absorb water. This artificially increases the weight and makes the bird more profitable).
Saw the Hugh Fearnley Thingy prog on the tv last night. Good, except that he needs to keep away from the 'Ahhh, poor little fluffy chickeny-wickenies' argument. Yes chickens are cute, but that sentimentalises it (like people don't like killing baby seals but wouldn't give a toss about an endangered snake for example). It weakens the argument (certainly for the hard nosed supermarkets who only give a toss about margin/profit).
Anji What an experience as a child! I find it curious though, that for some the shock factor lasts as long as it is visible and given the opportunity of a tasty and cheap meal then those good intentions go. I'm not thinking of you, but particularly of conversations with my son in the past and previous programmes we have seen (not the real thing like you did!) which go out of the window with a "tasty" chicken shop down the road.
Steg I agree with you on both counts, though of course lots of spices and marination can make a difference to manky meat. In these programmes, one clearly sees people entrenched in their views that free range is too expensive whilst still trying to stuff an obscene amount of food in their systems and downing pints in the pub. And yet it is OK to mistreat poultry for our cheap consumption? Humph!
Jo I didn't know that about the tumbling process - why am I not surprised! I know water is used in a lot of products such as mass produced bacon to bulk them up but didn't realise this. I also agree about the over-sentimentalisation but I think HFW tried to address that a bit better with tonight's show. I hope it does all make a difference, eventually.
Doris I bet you have had a crisis of conscience since your very last post was lovingly describing a Fajita recipe made with turkey and you know that wasn't free-range meat? And quite frankly there was no excuse for it ... although the excuse might be that Mr Doris had already bought the meat. But still, you knew at the time it was a huge quantity of meat with relatively little bulk from vegetables. Tut.
I signed up. I'm lucky, I get eggs from a coworker who keeps his own happy chickens all summer long, but apart from that, it's an easy choice, really, isn't it? BE NICE TO CHICKENS!!
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