Rachel Johnson's £32 chicken!

[Fifi2022]

Was listening to LBC discussing the cost of living or high salaries, can't remember what. Anyway, she said she bought a chicken from her local butcher for £32! She justified it by saying it was herb fed! I was flabbergasted to say the least.
Do people on a high salary really spend their money like this without any thought?

Well, yeah. If you've got loads of money you can afford more expensive things.

Yes. More money, more freedom of choice.

Hopefully it was a chicken which had a happy, herby life.

Just walking into a local butchers means you got money to burn.

£32 probably somewhat reflects the true cost of raising a chicken ethically. I have always wondered how meat is so cheap.

I buy a supermarket brand free range chicken for about £14 so with her level of income why wouldn't she buy the best chicken (which will also have really good welfare standards).

She lives in Notting Hill, a couple of very expensive butchers there.

I suppose some people prefer to buy quality produce they know the provenance of vs just whatever they can get affordably at the supermarket - but yes, it is a luxury to be able to do this.

If she’s doing a roast, the alternative beef of lamb was probably the best part of £80-100 so she probably thinks she’s got a bargain.

I’m not wealthy by any stretch, but do use my local butcher, and yes it’s expensive. I might spend that on a chicken for a celebration meal- it’s cheaper than going out by far!

I bought one (not particularly large) in Sainsbury’s the other day and it was £20. I find chicken very expensive now. It used to pay you to buy a whole chicken and portion up, but now I’m not sure it does. I like to use the carcass for stock though.

That chicken probably saw daylight, stretched its wings and enjoyed its life, unlike the miserable existence of battery farmed chickens that go for less than a tenner.

Only rich people go to the butchers???

Lots of them here and quite cheap too northwest.

I heard this. It was a cost of living discussion and she was, to be fair, bemoaning the prices and saying it’s even getting tougher for wealthier people now and how she got a shock when she was told it was £32. However, she still bought it!

I always buy organic, happy chickens and have easily spent £30 on one.

Im the only meat eater in the house now so it lasts me a week.

i think a weeks worth of protein for £30 is a bargain.

It is still within living memory that having a whole roast chicken was considered a luxury and something most families would not have that much.

Does she say how big the chicken was ? But yes, meat is often artificially cheap . I don't know if it is still the case but it used to be injected with water to add weight. Any cheap meat has meant comprise somewhere. Whether that's the farmer,the retailer or more likely the unfortunate animal

Gosh and here we have the notorious MN chicken which feeds the 5000 😂

So this is why there are some people on high incomes then moan about being short of money! £32 for a chicken wouldn't be on most peoples' shopping list 😂

Once bought a 100 day old chicken from the Ginger Pig and it was £30+
But it was really yummy and served loads of people and had leftovers. The meat wasn't pumped full of water so it was much denser than a super market chicken.

If I could afford it I would only buy quality meat. At the moment we have gone mostly veggie as I would rather eat veg than shite meat.

Shoulder of lamb in Sainsbos £35 yesterday

Oh my god I remember when the ginger pig was THE place to get your meat if you lived East 😂 My mum and her husband came and spent Christmas with me- I was like 24, living in a flat share in Hackney- and spent about a months rent at that bloody shop, because it’s where all my older (much better paid) boujie colleagues went. Such a shock 😂

The days of cheap food are truly over - and I think what’s happening is a massive flattening of prices across shops. Waitrose not much more expensive than Asda / Morrisons/ Sainsburys now, and the quality is a bit better, so have just started shopping there. I was in Lidl the other week and prices for meat were basically the same there as everywhere else too,

I raise my own, I have 60 at the moment. I honestly think £30 is about right for a chicken you'd actually want to eat, and felt you'd given a good life to. And if the money is supporting a good quality of life, those who can afford should pay it. People have different priorities. They'll moan about a £30 chicken, but see a new Audi as essential. Is quality meat for the year, at one chicken a week, better value than one months payment on an Audi?

@FigTreeInEurope how much space is needed for 60 chickens? Just curious.

We've got 10,000 SQ meters, which is about two acres, and I've noticed they never wander further than about a half acre. That's all our meat for the year, and eggs for neighbors and friends too. We spend about £100 a year on materials, bedding and supplements, but that's offset by the manure saving for the veg garden.

I would spend on food if I was rich. We have an amazing local butcher and their meat is amazing when I splash out occasionally, but a turkey from them is £110-130, mine is half that at Sainsbury's.