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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to be angry with people who do not buy free range eggs?

646 replies

ohnoudidnt · 08/04/2011 19:58

I know that they cost more, but surely it is worth the extra to know the bird has had a better standard of living.

OP posts:
LaWeasel · 08/04/2011 21:01

I am happy to retract my competative poorness comment. It was definately not phrased right) and I'm happy to see that some people have realised putting aside chicken welfare issues to feed your kids does not mean you are a mini-psychopath in the making.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 08/04/2011 21:01

I think that the public at large has been encouraged to think that chickens are stupid/non-cuddly/expendable so that producers of eggs/meat can get away with shitty welfare tbh. My hens are every bit as inquisitive, playful and full of character as any other creature I've encountered. The tide is turning, albeit slowly. And battery eggs are used in many, many products, so avoiding all of them is bloody hard.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 08/04/2011 21:03

I buy mostly frozen veg because there is no waste. I even like the really cheap mixed veg because the DCs like the teeny tiny bits of whole brocolli (sp damn!) and cauliflower you get in the mix.

Places like Sainsburys charge a lot for little bag of frozen chopped onions/garlic etc but in morrisons and iceland you get big bags really cheaply. They work out more economical than fresh because they dont go off, nothing is wasted.

I also hate chopping garlic and onions. Mushrooms go slimey after a couple of days in the fridge so frozen ten times better for pastas and stews.

Battery eggs? Pah nothing to how snobby people are over frozen veg Grin

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 08/04/2011 21:03

Frozen veg is ace. Less faff and brilliant for stir frys etc.

SugarSkyHigh · 08/04/2011 21:05

YANBU

Susiewho · 08/04/2011 21:05

YANBU.

pookamoo · 08/04/2011 21:05

awubble I'm not sure that free range eggs have any greater risk of salmonella than others... I think they are all vaccinated now if they are commercially produced.

In fact, I would have thought that overcrowded / grubby battery and barn eggs would be more likely to have problems Confused

SugarSkyHigh · 08/04/2011 21:06

sorry, meant to say YABU
Wine

BeakerTheMuppetMuppet · 08/04/2011 21:06

YANBU OP

but agree to 'hate' someone for it is a tad harsh

i choose to buy certain products but skimp on other stuff, it's a choice i make, for my own reasons, not to belittle others or for competative poverty or affluency.

zukiecat · 08/04/2011 21:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 08/04/2011 21:07

A couple of blokey chef types were sneering on morning tv the other day because welfare food vouchers can now be used for frozen veg.

One of the reasons was 'because you see I enjoy chopping onions, its relaxing' (not exact words, it was early in the morning, I foget).

Now there is a man who doesnt have to make dinner for four moaning kids!

Life is too short to chop an onion.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 08/04/2011 21:08

Hence the vaccinating, pookamoo. I keep pure breeds, and none are vaccinated. None of us have died yet. I have had salmonella poioning though, which was shit. It was from chicken at a Thai restaurant. Put me off Thai, it did.

jammyscone · 08/04/2011 21:08

ohnoudidnt - do you know that even free range hens don't get to live once they're "spent", and their sons don't last very long at all before they're disposed of? If you feel strongly about the welfare of hens, you might consider going vegan.

There are plenty of cheap sources of protein that don't involve hours of cooking and aren't factory farmed.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 08/04/2011 21:09

If you enjoy onion chopping, it's because you don't have to do it. Nobber.

MarianneM · 08/04/2011 21:11

Those who say they are skint and cannot cut out anything else, worrying about money at night, what about your internet connection? Surely a luxury?

We only got an internet connection at home in 2008, managed just fine before...

buttonmooncup · 08/04/2011 21:11

YABVVVU OP. Why is it only chickens you give a shit about? Why not get on your high horse about free range meat and fairtrade produce? To shop completely ethically costs ££££ that a lot of people don't have. Keep your beak in your own trolley.

LaWeasel · 08/04/2011 21:11

What a nob!

When we were entitled to vouchers It really annoyed me that I couldn't buy frozen stuff with it when the nutritional quality is the same, so it's nice that that has changed.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 08/04/2011 21:11
youcangetpregnantstandingup · 08/04/2011 21:12

Free range is meaningless to be honest.All it means is that the hens have access at some point during the day to the outside. I could keep hens under my sink and as long as I let them out for ten minutes once a day I could call them free range. It's one of those terms like organic that producers know consumers buy into but don't be fooled.

The Happy Egg Company, for example? Seen their ad, with all the happy hens riding on the back of tractors? Here's the reality.

www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/chickens/happy-eggs.htm

No egg is cruelty free. It's a cruel industry. The male chicks that the layer hens produce are useless to the industry so are destroyed at one day old - often by being macerated alive. Really.

www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/animals.html

Don't kid yourself. If you want cruelty free eggs, keep your own chickens. Otherwise you're buying into cruelty and pain.

...and as for the poster who called the OP petty...having concern for other living beings is hardly petty, what a sad reflection on you!

MarianneM · 08/04/2011 21:13

BTW, what's so difficult about chopping onions Confused

Thingumy · 08/04/2011 21:13

You can tell if a eating chicken has been kept in a awful state.

When buying a chicken free range ( 'barn reared' or mass produced),if it has brown or raw marks on its legs,it's been sat in it's own piss and the piss has burnt through the skin.

We go without chicken and only buy organic,chicken is not a bloody necessity in this house,it's a luxury as all meat is.

I saw 3 chickens for £10 the other day,gawd knows how much those chicken farmers are getting,it must be pence per bird.

Our butcher is selling organic chicken for £14,I'm not sodding paying that either.

Both prices make me Shock

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 08/04/2011 21:13

The Happy Egg Company thing was really cynical, wasn't it? Total toss that advert.

youcangetpregnantstandingup · 08/04/2011 21:14

ps Organic means nothing about the welfare of the animal either in case you're wondering. In fact, it's often more cruel - if the animals get ill, for example a dairy cow, who often develop mastitis as a result of the brutal way they are constantly milked, the farmers will not give them antibiotics as that way the milk would no longer be organic.

Organic doesn't mean anything except that nothing extra has been added to the product.

LaWeasel · 08/04/2011 21:14

I'm going to be charitable:

marianne - there is such a thing as contracts that you are legally oblidged to keep for the whole term.

The internet SAVES most people more money than it costs - for example in discounts for online billing, finding out about 9p pasta etc. It's also extremely useful for job hunting when your library is being closed down.

Rubyted · 08/04/2011 21:14

I only buy free range eggs...but don't eat meat, so have no costs for that. (I have no lack of weight problems though!) Wink

My DS is a bit of a skinny thing, but I find that extra carbs is better than extra protein to put weight on him.

It's not my job to lecture people about the eggs they eat...and I'd never look down on anyone for their egg/meat choices. I do what I do...they can do what they do!

Expat......you say you want rescue rabbits.....have you thought about house bunnies?