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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask MEAT EATERS if you buy free range or standard chicken?

283 replies

Granllanog · 04/10/2021 11:03

I got attacked on my last thread for saying I buy standard supermarket chicken. Considering only 4% of all of the chicken produced in the UK is free-range and only 1% is organic I don't think I am unusual in doing this?

YABU = I'm a meat eater and only ever eat/buy free-range chicken.
YANBU = I buy standard chicken.

OP posts:
BringPizza · 04/10/2021 15:44

@Comedycook

Oh and I'm amazed how many people have local farms ...
It’s one of few perks of being stuck out in a shitty tinpot village. Can you tell I’m still a city girl at heart? Grin
TheKeatingFive · 04/10/2021 15:44

Well this turned nasty 😵

IsabellesMissingSock · 04/10/2021 15:45

@RobertaFirmino personal attacks hey? What a great contribution 🤣

HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 04/10/2021 15:45

It always does. It’s almost as contentious as shoes inside or not.

Siriisatwat · 04/10/2021 15:51

Peak mumsnet when mud starts slinging over bastard chicken.

Meat should only be for those who can afford the best standards, the rest of us can eat cake.

RobertaFirmino · 04/10/2021 15:54

[quote IsabellesMissingSock]@RobertaFirmino personal attacks hey? What a great contribution 🤣[/quote]
If you can dish it out (under a veneer of faux innocence), you can sodding well take it.

OhWhyNot · 04/10/2021 15:57

If I have the money free range

If not then standard

Emmelina · 04/10/2021 16:01

If I can get hold of free range when I’m shopping, I do. I’m not bothered about organic necessarily.

julieca · 04/10/2021 16:09

This thread is a perfect example of how unrepresentative MN threads are of the general population.

Porcupineintherough · 04/10/2021 16:21

I think its a better example of how selective we all are when it comes animal welfare tbh. The reality is no one wants to admit that there are limits on how much they care, even though that's true for just about all of us. Would you want to post on this thread saying "I prioritize cost and convenience over a chicken's welfare"? Kudos to those that have, they are not in the minority in rl but I can see its a lot easier to respond if you do buy free range meat, or are vegetarian or whatever.

peepholepringle · 04/10/2021 16:24

@KingsleyShacklebolt

So more than half of the people who read AIBU are in the 4% who buy the organic stuff? Ok then. Hmm
Why is it so hard for you to understand? Do you really believe that most people are lying? Surely those who don't eat free range would just scroll by rather than concoct a story.

We buy our poultry from Pipers farm, and the occasional pork joint from them too. We're fortunate to be able to afford it. I don't see why some posters think it's OK to sneer at meat eaters who buy standard supermarket meat. It's bloody rude.

Horst · 04/10/2021 16:24

Honestly I can’t tell the difference between “organic” “free range” and standard chicken taste wise. I cook with the seasoning I want to get the flavour I want.

Eggs meh sometimes maybe, bugger brighter yolks but honestly an eggs an egg to me it goes along side bacon, sausage, tomatoes etc.

Those chickens running around in the fields and the farms are 100% laying hens broiler hens get too heavy for that life style due to their breeds normally.

Pippapet · 04/10/2021 16:25

Yes - only free range or organic.

I tend to eat a lot less meat than the average meat-eater, but of far higher quality.

Can't bear the thought of cheap meat either from a life standards or a quality point of view. I know people who eat the worst meat not because it's all they can afford but literally because it's cheap. These are people who can afford the best meat but are only prepared to pay for the cheapest because, cheap. Same with eggs.

peepholepringle · 04/10/2021 16:26

@Powertothepetal

I feel it’s just another attack on the poor tbh. Wages aren’t high enough, loads of people in poverty, guilt trip the poor for not buying the £5 - £10 chicken, they are only allowed savers bread and pasta. I would like to think that the majority of people would buy free range/organic if they could afford it. It’s just another stick to beat the poor with imo.
I agree with this. It's an attempt to shame. I often find that those who appear to be militant vegans are the most vicious with their words.
AuntieJoyce · 04/10/2021 16:27

I would put good money on the fact that all the MN free range chicken eaters do not have teenage boys at home. Mine can inhale a 20 nugget box of maccie d’s then wonder when the nandos chicken in a bag is coming out of the oven

peepholepringle · 04/10/2021 16:27

Just to add, if anybody wanted to try Pipers farm properly free range meat you can use the code PF25 for 25% off at the moment.

ohdelay · 04/10/2021 16:27

Standard chicken almost every time

KingsleyShacklebolt · 04/10/2021 16:35

@Bobsyer

I buy cheap meat. I also buy cheap eggs.

I don’t buy chicken from Lidl or Aldi as i find it tasteless and full of water - but Asda is fine.

Could I afford to spend more money on meat? Possibly. In all honesty I don’t really care that much about animals reared for meat.

I think this sums up my attitude the best too.

I have had the roast in the bag chickens from whole Aldi which have been fine but their chopped/breasts/mini fillets aren't great. Ditto cheap bacon, it's so filled with water that it's not worth it, you're better off spending more. And we don't have gammon often as the kids aren't so keen, but the cheaper ones tend to be very salty.

We are not on the breadline and could afford to spend £15 on a chicken if we wanted to. But I don't want to, I don't think a £15 chicken is 3 times better than a £5 chicken, and i'm not bothered about chickens. Same with eggs - I generally don't eat eggs by themselves, they are ingredients for other things. There is NO WAY you could tell whether a cake is made with free range or battery eggs, and I don't believe people who say they can when the egg is eaten with lots of other ingredients.

FlyingWhistle · 04/10/2021 16:49

YABU I only buy free range chicken and higher welfare meat.

I have some ex-commercial free range hens as pets and if you'd seen the state of them when they arrived you'd probably not buy free range either.

Having spoken to vets at length about this, chicken is the food that would be most adversely affected by poor welfare conditions.

user1487194234 · 04/10/2021 17:07

Buy all me meat from local butcher ,my money ,my choice
Don't give a toss about what anyone else does

forinborin · 04/10/2021 17:28

@Claudethecat

Thanks *@forinborin*. Food for thought!
I hope I wasn't too preachy! It is a topic I thought about a lot myself, and I do buy commercially produced chicken myself... just feel increasingly uneasy about it.

I don't even know what would be the fair market price of a traditionally reared, actual high welfare / free range, slow-grown (and necessarily fattened then) table bird. Probably around £25-£30. Commercial broilers are dispatched at 6 to 8 weeks, traditional breeds gain that weight closer to 4-5 months. And males at that age need to be caponised too.

forinborin · 04/10/2021 17:38

Probably around £25-£30.
Just checked and wasn't far off, there are some specialised providers of chickens for Christmas roughly along the lines of what I described, and a medium to large cockerel starts from £40 - but there's probably a Christmas premium there too.

julieca · 04/10/2021 18:43

I guess that is why chicken used to be a special meal.

QueenBee52 · 04/10/2021 19:05

well this thread took a dark turn 😳

Whitefire · 04/10/2021 19:09

@Siriisatwat

Peak mumsnet when mud starts slinging over bastard chicken.

Meat should only be for those who can afford the best standards, the rest of us can eat cake.

But cake means eggs and well you know I'm not sure the poor people deserve cake made with organic free range eggs.