to be kind of glad they found horse in cheap meat?

[ManyBellyKicks]

I mean I'm not glad they did it, but that its all out now?

And more importantly its gave me a massive kick up the arse because I don't want my kids eating unknown crap. Its not the horse meat thats offensive to me really, more the thought that I was buying 'cheap beef products' and it wasn't beef at all.

Of course I've always known these ready meals and cheap processed stuff isn't the best, I'm not daft, but it was cheap and edible and the kids liked it and it suited my (struggling) pocket. I knew it wouldn't be prime cuts of meat but the realisation that there's stuff not listed on the box is quite disgusting, who knows what the heck is in there.

So in light of this, the last few weeks we have had NO processed meat.

This is quite a turn around in our house.

I'm cooking frech meals with fresh lean beef, lasgane, chillis, bolognases. And instead of things like chicken nuggets or chicken burgers I'm 'splashing out' on chicken breasts and doing my own.

So AIBU to think that this could turn out to be a (slightlyyy) positive thing is it makes people who ate alot of processed, convenience food think about their meals and eat better?

[PrettyKitty1986]

Tbh I'm sure just as many people who used those products couldn't give a shit if they're eating ground up unicorn as long as the price is right.

[BreakOutTheKaraoke]

But how much is this affecting your pocket? As much as it seems ideal, it's expensive and VERY time consuming.

[DontmindifIdo]

I see what you mean, and it does make you think more about your diet and what you are eating.

If the budget is being stretched by buying better quality meat food products, then perhaps take a decision to go veggie once or twice a week to balance it out.

[TheMagicMumber]

Yanbu, in the grand scheme of things, its bloody brilliant IMO.

[MrsGeologist]

Yes, I can see that too. Also, I hope it gets people going to their local butchers (if they have them left) because it's always better to support community shops.

It's more expensive, but on the whole, the meat is better, the staff are knowledgable and the cuts and types of meat are more varied than stuff from the supermarket.

[ManyBellyKicks]

Well thats the ting break, its alot more expensive, but other stuff is going to have to be cut back. We don't drink or smoke, we don't have a car either but still find it hard.

I think it was mostly laziness on my part. Hard to admit but true.

[ManyBellyKicks]

Don't mind, we eat 'veggie' meals alot anyways, so it would be 'meat everyday'

I think good meat 3/4 times a week is better than bad meat everyday?

[ManyBellyKicks]

*wouldn't be meat everyday

[DeepRedBetty]

I'd already given up cheap meat from Lidl, Tesco etc, not because I was worried but because it was always either rubbery or full of water or both. Even stuff in the Finest range wasn't as good as Waitrose or the butcher. However appreciate that some families will struggle to afford meat if they avoid these shops. Pragmatically speaking though, you cut your coat to suit your cloth.

[Birdsgottafly]

There isn't loca lbutchers in easy reach of where i live, except for Bexleys, which most families who live around me could not afford.

What your preaching for able bodied families is great, if they can afford it.

But i used to work in an adult disability team and i have been involvedin the care for the elderly, who cannot prepare food from scratch.

Also, whilst they are saying that the riskis samll from the drugs used, do we know the effect on pregnant women?

My relative has been very ill and has found that she could keep Icelands ready cottage pie down (amongst other things).

If we are pledging to teach everyone to cook and giving them enough money to do so and if they cannot that Social Care is funded so that ready meals are not used, then i would agree.

Does anyone know if hospital food has been involved?

[DeepRedBetty]

And I agree, better a couple of good meat meals in amongst several vegetable based meals than cheap processed crap six or seven times a week.

[Birdsgottafly]

I'd already given up cheap meat from Lidl

Do you mean their Beef, Mince etc? Or prepared food?

I wouldn't say that it is cheap and Lidl seem to be the only one not mentioned.

[ManyBellyKicks]

Birds I'm not preaching, how am I in the position to preach when I've ate nothing but this cheap stuff for years?

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

We generally stick to unprocessed meat at home, have sausages occasionally but that's about all. The problem comes in cafes, takeaways etc, which is something we do a couple of times a month, more on holiday.

[babiesinslingsgetcoveredinfood]

We need to eat less, better quality meat. It's not rocket science.

Hugh F-W doesn't seem like such a loon now, does he?

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Again, I don't want to sound preachy, but it sounds to me as though you eat too much meat. Why not have it as a special occasion once or twice a week, like people used to do?

[DontmindifIdo]

sorry babiesinslingsgetcoveredinfood - but you are very wrong, it will take more than this to make Hugh F-W look non-loon like

[OhMyNoReally]

I just hopes it helps tighten the market. British cattle need passports since I think BSE, I don't know about European or Irish cattle but we do need a way of ensuring the quality and traceability of our meat. Even if putting 100% beef in processed food dose bump the price up.

I very rarely buy processed meat but I hope the scandal improves the food we eat. Hopefully anything put in place in the future will ensure we can trust the labelling on the packets.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

(never thought Hugh was a loon. He seems like the sanest of the lot. He has done more than any other individual to highlight the dangers of over fishing amongst the general public)

[MrsGeologist]

The big supermarkets have killed off most of the small local shops, so now butchers/bakeries etc. are seen as artisan and do cost more.

Fucking Tesco.

[MrsGeologist]

Not to mention supermarkets get meat cheaper because they can buy more.

[peanutMD]

My DS is an extreme restricted eater so sausages, chicken nuggets and sausage rolls is the closest he gets to meat.

My DP is also quite a restricted eater and will not touch any veg or fish and only the occassional pasta dish so its meat only in our house at meal and we have no chance of being able to buy butcher all the time unfortunately :(

I would love to cook from scratch all the time using the best quality products but the fact that no one would eat it except me would make it v.uneconomical regardless of the quality of the ingredients but no YANBU.

[DowntonTrout]

Many years ago I had a friend whose father had a chicken processing company. They made ready meals for the big supermarkets, including the high end ones, not just cheap stuff.

They NEVER ate anything that was processed and warned me about chopped and shaped chicken saying "if you knew what went in there you wouldn't eat it."

That stuck with me and I have always avoided stuff like that, although I'm sure the odd chicken nugget has passed my DCs lips over the years. They were not suggesting it was anything other than the horrid bits of meat went in there, but even that was enough to put me off. I'm the same with sausages.

I think what's scary about the horse meat thing is you don't know what you are eating and that drugs that are banned in the UK for human consumption may well have been used on these horses abroad.

I usually only buy meat from my local farm, and I know the animals have grazed in the fields around my house. It costs more and a joint of beef is like taking out a mortgage! (over exaggeration there but YKWIM)

[limitedperiodonly]

There is nothing wrong in expecting the food you're eating to be affordable, of good quality and correctly labelled. This is a not just punishment for people being somehow lazy. It is fraud and whatever the government is currently saying, it is a public health issue and one of public trust.

How do you know the meat from a local butcher's is good? I think mine is, and I think I can trust Sainsbury's, but I don't go shopping with a DNA testing kit.

There's a lot talked about the percentage of income relative to expenditure on food and how it's lower than it used to be and that that's somehow bad.

I happen to disagree. Within my mother's memory people, generally women, regularly went without food to feed their families, and generally the husband got the lion's share. It wasn't necessarily because the men were horrible. It was because they needed food to be able to work and for their families to exist another day.

People were malnourished. They contracted disease because of malnourishment and malnourishment made it difficult or impossible to recover.

It's only because we live in a time of food abundance that we forget this.