To think that if you cannot afford free range chicken/turkey meat and eggs...

[LolaTheShowgirl]

...then don't buy at all?

I mean the suffering these birds go through in cramped, dirty sheds is unbelievable. There is usually no natural light and the birds are usually ill before they're culled.

If you can stomach it, please look at these:
WARNING: NOT NICE PICTURES!
HERE

His knife skills aren't great, but he does try to practice them as often as possible.

Now of course, he drops stuff often enough and between him and DD1 it's like living with elephants .

The comment wasn't intended to be offensive, but if the hat fits.....

However, given present day literacy levels amongst the general populace it was valid. BTW where did I categorically state that state that low income = poor education?

As for living on a low budget - ask any graduate past and present - we know about living on low incomes - we've all done it!

I may get a DS then. I take my laptop into the kitchen but it does take up rather a lot of worktop space.

I'm glad your children are receiving great support. It isn't always easy to find that and early intervention can make a real difference. I wasn't diagnosed until 2 years ago.

LOL. That's how my poor partner must feel too.

shineoncrazydiamond - no it isn't any of my business but that begs the question why mention it in the first place?

Bronze I try to cook a variety of things each week but here is a typical week.......

I will only buy free range chicken and eggs (including in pre-packaged sandwiches, when out at a restaurant etc) but I think the welfare standards are much better for other animals so I don't get chicken that often and am happy to buy any beef, lamb or fish. With pork I prefer to buy outdoor reared if there is any but will settle for British as I know our minimum welfare standards are fairly good.

Having kept chickens I wouldn't buy battery eggs or budget chickens whatever the size of my food budget, but I think the freedom food barn chickens/eggs are probably a reasonable compromise. Otherwise you can get all the nutrients and protein you need from a diet containing red meat, fish, cheese, milk, pulses etc.

YABU

I'd rather my child and I ate a varied diet of protein than not.

Quite frankly in the grand scheme of things, I'm not too concerned about the quality of life an animal has before it provides me with protein. and my body certainly doesn't give a shit, when it converts the protein to amino acids, what quality of life the animal had or how much money I paid for the privalage of obtaining the protein.

Someone further up the thread made the point that a healthy/ethical diet demands a lot of time putting into it (scurrying around sourcing organic meat/locally-grown veg) and, for instance, if you are car-free and miles from anything but a Costcutters, lugging sacks of spuds and lentils on the bus (with buggy and toddler) is a bit of nightmare.
There's also the fact that being whined at and patronized by middle-classe eco-wankers is the last thing that's going to make you want to put in that time and effort, when you are run ragged all day with DC, low-paid jobs, shit housing, unreliable transport etc. You want something quick, easy and cheap - and let's not forget that unhealthy food is more filling and perks you up more than lentils and beans: fat and sugar are comforting.

What annoys me, is that people will happily buy fish while being picky about what type of meat or eggs they buy, and actually fishing id far crueller and more destructive than chicken farming, for example.

well said solidgold

lol at Lucia's comment on eating thriftily whilst a student.

That's it then. Everyone read the other thread about the nasties that people cooked, and instead of battery chickens cook your children cheese curries, peas on toast and sosmix!

Expat and Helsbels - agree with you and think my posts were quite extreme, I know that for the most part people are not feckless idiots, can follow a recipe and are able to cook etc. What I don't like is the general smugness surrounding chosing organic meat over cheaper stuff. FWIW I buy Sainsbos basics bacon and value chicken pieces, it is my choice to do so.

helsbels- not critisising but trying to answer your question. The first thing I would do is buy a decent chicken. They contain less water so stay bigger when cooked and also theres more taste so a little seems more if that makes sense. I would then use that for the monday meal and the wednesday stirfry. To be honest you sound like a good cook anyway and that you do just make one or other lump it occasionally.No judging here With your original post it did sound like you cooked them individual meals pandering to them.
I know it isnt easy I have four though luckily ones too small still.

Solidgold i definitely agree that eating ethically and on a budget takes time - it'll be a big challenge to keep our food costs as low when I go back to work in sept.

There are plenty of people on this thread who I have to agree have little choice but to buy whatever they need to - Expat springs to mind - but for plenty of other people I really think it comes down to choices - they don't want to eat beans, so they buy cattery farmed meat. Until food welfare standards are improved and competition means that free range food is cheaper, I just don't see that changing, which is a bit depressing.

Any gravitas that post had is really destroyed when you get to the 'cattery farmed meat' isn't it? DS on lap!

Oh Bronze I definitely don't cook them individual meals I'm afraid it is, "Eat it or go without" here (wicked mother ) which is what makes serving up lentils and beans and the like even more difficult! My dd wouldn't eat anything!

Also known as roof rabbit Hopefully?

Calories work differently when there are ketones in the blood though remember. I get through easily over 3,000 calories a day these days (on workout days anyway) but don't seem to gain any.

Have you tried cauli rice? Might make things a bit more interesting for her:

Grate/process cauliflower until grainy, then nuke it in a covered bowl for a 1min/1minute and a half.

I was about to suggest it goes well with beef stroganoff, but not that helpful really. You could make a mushroom one or possibly tofu instead?

'It is darker than factory chicken and not so tasty for sure. If I spend a fiver on a chicken then I'd want to make a meal for four, sandwiches for my DP and DD, a stock for a soup and possibly a stir-fry with noodles the next day.

The chicken may have suffered but it won't have been in vain if it makes it into my kitchen.' - spaceman

chicken meat isn't naturally pasty white, it's lost so many of the goodness by being tortured it's whole life... did you see the Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall program where he had the meats laboratory tested and it was found that the cheap stuff and the slightly more ethical but still not free range stuff had almost no nutritional content whatsovever? you might as well not be eating them.

battery chicken is tasteless, i can't stand it and the last time one was in the house my kids who normally love roast chicken took one bite and refused to eat it. and free range isn't stringy if it's cooked right, it's not the chickens fault you're doing something dodgy to it.

i spend 9 euros on a free range chicken and it feeds all four of us for a roast (and dp alone eats a breast and a leg by himself!), makes stock and i make a risotto or pasta dish with the leftovers the next day.

as for your last sentance... seriously? read that back to yourself and ask yourself if it was your child suffering would you have the same attitude? how about back in the day of slavery, would your attitude have been 'well it's ok that these people are slaves, tortured and repressed and forced into labour for another human being, because they cook my dinner so they're suffering isn't in vain'

i'd hope not, so why is it ok for a living creature of another species to suffer degradation and pain for your benefit?

whoops, that was meant to be italics not crossed through obviously!

(darn baby brain!)

YABVU i cannot afford free range stuff all the time, not gonna become vegetarian over it.

YABU
I buy free range / organic beef , pork and lamb as it is not that much more expensive. Free range chicken costs a hell of a lot more than standard. I can buy 5 standard chicken breasts for the price of 2 small free range chicken breasts. Huge difference IMO
I understand the suffering that the animals go through and I do care. I just couldn't afford to feed my family the way you describe. I actually did a shop one month buying all free range / organic. The difference in price was huge. The quality did not justify the price.
If I was on a low income I probably would buy the really cheap chicken. If it's that or being veggie I would go for the meat every time.
We eat a lot of fish. Don't they suffer a cruel death. Hauled out of the sea and left to suffocate...