to feel sorry that chickens' happiness isn't worth 60p to most people?

[oohdaddypig]

So - in my local Sainsburies you can buy pre-cooked whole chickens. Free range cost 60p more than the battery farmed variety.

Girl behind the counter told me almost no one buys the free range ones.

Now, I know things are very very tight these days for many families. But this is Sainburies where the average shopper is probably slightly better off.

Doesn't anyone care about where their food comes from now at all? Is the only thing that matters now the cost?

I'm not vegetarian - but I try to shop reasonably thoughtfully, locally when I can etc,

poor chooks!

I couldn't eat the sorry little non free range chicken, too sad. There are far cheaper sources of protein anyway.

YANBU.

I am not a vegetarian, but I do try and eat meat where the animal has been kept as well as possible. I think that's the least we can do.

Still, we aren't the nation of animal lovers we claim...

I do think there are some people who really can't afford that extra 60p, but I also think there are far more that don't give a shit.

Still, people are generally selfish and want something for nothing, which is probably why farmers are being paid less than production costs for milk... :wholeotherthread:

Intensively reared 'barn' chickens suffer from hock burn due to the tightly packed conditions and the weakness of their legs combined with their intensive growth. They simply can not carry themselves about so sit in faeces all their lives :'(

Caged (battery) layers have been banned in the UK (although many products containing egg use battery eggs from abroad)

Yanbu. It isn't necessary to eat meat on every meal or even everyday. If people bought less meat and only free range or organic, countless animals would have less torturous lives.

Well they're definetly not doing it anymore as battery hens are illegal in this country, I think the ban came into force in Jan.

I'd be suprised to be honest if they ever did. Broiler chickens are killed for their meat at about 30 weeks old and are a very different type of chicken from an egg laying bird. Egg layers are much smaller, thinner and not worth eating - especially not a year old which is when they're "retired" from egg laying. You wouldn't eat a year old chicken. Maybe they get put into nuggets, but not a whole chicken for roasting.

You will get burn marks on barn or even free range chickens. Its mainly to do with them been so fat and spending a lot of time sat down in soiled litter. Not from been in a cage.

Free range chickens are NOT a mere 60p different, no way! If that were the case i would only buy free range as they are much nicer and obviously i hate battery farming. We used to only buy free range but now i simply cant afford it. I draw the line at eggs and will buy free range eggs but even those are starting to feel like a luxury :(

Meat used to be a once a week thing. If you look at the proportion costs of meat in the 1970s to now its never been cheaper.

So free range/organic meat isn't expensive. Even that is cheaper than what it used to be. Its just that cheap meat has become very cheap and as a whole we've got used to eating it for most meals.

I do think its a shame. I rarely eat meat, would rather eat it once a fortnight, etc and buy good quality, tasty stuff. But I do appreciate that I like cooking - so am happy to do vegi curries, etc that perhaps people wouldn't be confident to cook. On lazy days I'm happy to have eggs on toast, cheese on toast, jacket potato and salad, etc. It probably helps that dh is vegi and dd isn't keen on meat.

To me, proclaiming you spend 60p extra on a supermarket chicken isn't any indication of how you care about animal welfare. More about susceptibility to marketing.

If you're really bothered about animal welfare you're unlikely to be buying meat in the supermarket. You'd know that the conditions required to give something a free range label aren't all that great.

YANBU to think that people who can afford it should buy free-range wherever possible. Some people genuinely can't manage at the minute because times are tough - but there are lots of people who will plead poverty when really they have just chosen to spend their 60p differently. It is an ethical decision in the end and some people have a loudhailer conscience and some have an easily-gagged conscience.

those who are saying that we needn't have meat every day are making an excellent point. I absolutely agree.

We can't afford it anymore anyway and lets face it, when the meat is cheap crap it is, well, crap. DP and I have actually discussed having meat free meals this week so this thread has set my resolve. Thankyou everyone.

I shop In Sainsbury's because I find it to be the cheapest. Lots of half price items these days. It is chaper than Asda and Tesco IMO.

Do you mean the pre-cooked chickens in the refridgerator or the rotisserie?

Sorry its a DM link but talks about banning battery hens and it does mention imported eggs.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079935/Britains-battery-hen-Liberty-homed-practice-banned.html

Ah, they can still be kept in cages but bigger ones.

I don't buy eggs as have chickens in the garden. But I'm sure caged hens would not become a supermarket chicken. Like I said earlier they're totally different breeds of bird.

I'm surprised it is only a 60p difference. I think I'd tend to assume it would be loads more and so go for the standard chicken. To be perfectly honest though I don't really care how happy my dinner was.

Back in 'the olden days' meat was respected more, IMO.

A Sunday roast leg of lamb would feed the family, then chunks would make Mondays stew, then the remaining meat would be minced down for Tuesday's Shepherds Pie (along with the remaining veg & spuds from Sunday), then the bones would make a stock for Wednesdays soup. Sadly many people (not all before anyone jumps on me :P ) have lost these thrifty housekeeping skills, or the Supermarkets have made it too easy for us with their 2 for 1's and so on - they lull us into believing we are being thrifty.

Yes Toughasoldboots - I believe 'eggs from caged hens' means battery and therefore not British

It is not free range if it was only 60p more.

Free range s usually double

Cheapo chicken, cheapo rashers are just injected with loads of water anyway.

Tis an optical illusion.

www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1342630464305

£4.99/kg £4.99/kg for free range

www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1342630464305

£6.00/unit £2.79/kg so free range is almost double the price per KG

I wouldn't buy really cheapo chook, but I wouldn't pay extra for free range either - there is usually a middle ground.

People should eat more fish, not the overfished varieties such as cod, but the less familiar ones that we export to France as they can't get enough of them.

There must be an offer on because IME free range usually costs around double. We eat meat, but I buy as high welfare as I can and the last time I was in the supermarket I couldn't afford any chicken at all. And I usually normally buy thighs, which are loads cheaper in the first place.

If people aren't buying FR that's only 60p more for a whole bird it's because its not clearly marked or something. I'd buy 3! One for tonight and 2 for the freezer!