why wouldnt you use value meat and/or fish

[LucyLasticKnickers]

i dont, i dont know why. I try value bacon and have no problem with it, I tried value smoked mackeral and that was deliciious.
i owuldnt try the sausages for fear of the gristle.
what is wrong with value chicken?

I would be concerned about the conditions it was reared in; to achieve such a low price I would assume the bird had led a pretty terrible life. Also the nature of its feed, which does affect the flavour. If I needed to save money, I would prefer to eat less flesh and more vegetable protein.

Poor welfare conditions. Less meat on it makes it worse value for money. More chemicals and water pumped into it.

We only buy organic, free range meat / fish. So we only eat it once or twice a month. If I can't afford the decent stuff then we stick to a veggie diet, I'm an ex-veggie though so it's easy to avoid meat.

Welfare conditions of the animals and the chemicals used in the feeds etc.

We only buy organic but we can't afford to eat loads of meat. We only buy a chicken every 6-8 weeks (whole , large, organic one from a local butcher, costs £16) but we use every scrap including stock from the bones.

I have to admit I would presume conditions, if raised here, meet our standards. My issue is quality, I would presume chicken to be pumped full of water, the beef to be tough, and like you op I would imagine sausages were full of fat and gristle. But better quality and eat meat less often, it's healthier!

I need to be sure any animal I choose to eat has lived a good life expressing natural behaviour. We only buy local meat from the farmers' market so we know where it came from and how it was reared.

We just eat less meat than most, I guess. And, as has been said above, get maximum use by making stock from bones for soups, sauces, gravy, risotto, etc.

If you check the nutrition information on value chicken v organic/free range chicken, the value version usually has about half the protein, which means it has a ton of water pumped into it.

When i have needed to eat value meat i have done so and if ever i needed to again i would do it. Basic brand produce enabled me to live within my means when i had a mountain of student debt to pay off. Now i am enjoying the career that i paid all that money for so i don't need to buy value brands, although i still do buy value fruit juice because i prefer it.

Concerns about animal welfare are fine if you have plenty of cash or want to be a vegetarian but i think value brands have their place and people should never be made to feel bad about using them.

I use value meat as at present we can't afford better quality. It does its job, the DCs get fed and I refuse to put the welfare of a chicken ahead of the need to feed my children. We could do more veggie meals but we can barely afford fruit and veg as it is. Just enough to make sure the DCs have some fresh fruit everyday and veg in some form- fresh/frozen/whatever I can afford that day.

Same with eggs. I would love to buy free range organic. But £1.50 for 15 value or £2 for 6 organic free range. It has to be the cheaper option right now.

I agree with TheNightIsDark regarding the welfare of chickens and i definately cant afford organic/free range anyway. I buy value meat, I also buy the cheaper cuts for slow cooking and try to visit the local market late on a Saturday afternoon when meat is being sold off cheaply.
I have also bought value sausages and they are not at all gristly. They are smooth, more like the texture of a hotdog and make great sausage sandwiched and are nice cooked in onion gravy too.

good to hear the altenrative point of view.
family health is of course more important than that of an unknown, bred to be eaten, animal

Weird. If you want to eat cheaply, why eat meat or fish? Eat pulses and cheap veg.

Family health vs welfare of animals can be a both-and, doesn't have to be either-or. Eat meat infrequently, choose fish that is on the MSC list, buy cheaper cuts, etc.

Because when you are feeding 6 veg isn't that cheap. Not to mention DS has to see a dietician and all grains need to be whole grain which bumps the price up

Plus there are health issues around eating too much meat. We have as a nation got into the mindset that we should eat it every day. I'd rather eat less meat which has been raised humanely and isn't pumped full of additives.

TheNightisDark I am shocked that you buy value eggs .... You don, t need to pay the price for organic but please at least get free range , in asda they are not much more expensive than hens kept in cages .
I am always a bit :( when I see people with luxury items in their baskets and then pick up eggs from caged hens .

That's just not true. E.g. Sainsbury's: Red or green dried lentils, £2.16 / kg (that's the dried weight, the price per kilo when wet will be considerably lower). Cheapest chicken is £2.50/kg for a whole bird, and you're paying for bone there.

Mejadra is always going to be a cheap-as-chips and wholesome dish, and much cheaper than a chicken dish.

Along the same vein: potatoes are 80p / kg; leeks are £2.70 / kg; onions are a £1 / kg; frozen broccoli is £1.40 / kg.

etc etc

Meat is more expensive than veg.

Aldi free range large eggs are £1.95 for 12.

I don't disagree that lentils are cheaper than value meat, but why should a person have to eat them just because they cannot have premium meat. In my case i had cut out all luxuries, no meeting up with friends for coffee, no new clothes unless they were also dirt cheap. The one thing left was food. Value meat and other produce meant i could cook nice meals like the chefs on the tv on my budget. For me the situation lasted just a few years but it was long enough to be truly depressing and the fact is that i had bigger things to worry about than mass produced meat.

I think the point about value meat is that if you are looking for cheap, veg and beans/pulses/lentils are cheaper and as/more nutrious.

Not if you have a child who won't eat food in sauce. There's no way to hide pulses whereas meat he will eat and eat because it's not in sauce, funny coloured.

value meat vs vegetarian food?
not really the same. when you are feeding a family
and I was a vegetarian for many many years.

Thats ok then BucketnSpades You had bigger things to worry about than mass produced meat ....
sure the poor chicken confined to a cage and not seeing any sun light would understand that you needed your meat !
You cut out all your luxuries !! Big deal this is an animal who is having a shit life .
I don't eat meat but I buy and cook meat for my husband , I only buy high welfare and free range for him.
On a tight week he has no meat , its not right to make a animal have a shit life just because we feel hard done by without meat .

Becaus lentils and pulses taste like crap to many people. Sorry, I know it's a sacred cow on mumsnet, the healing restorative power of lentils, but the look and smell like something a cow crapped out and they taste rotten. Many people have tried to say "no no! You've just had BAD lentils! MY lentils are beautiful!"

Yeah, no. Bllllaaaacchhh! Not to me and not to my children!

I think lentils are lovely. DD's (15 months) favourite food isbeans - of all varieties! I think value meat tastes and feels like crap. For us, meat is not a daily part of diet. It is a celebration, like Sunday roast.

It is not good for humans or the planet to eat meat every day. It is only very recently that we in the West started to eat like we do.