Ethical eating

[MsTrunchbull]

I am a former vegetarian, but now eat a fair amount of meat & fish in my diet. I was just talking with some women on a weekend away on their vegetarianism & their reasons for being so. Some of the stories about the meat industry have made me feel like I need to try & source ethical meat and diary products. BUT with part time wages and two small children this may be a challenge. Is it always expensive? Any recommendations? It's eggs in particular... Thanks

**Dairy, obvs

Depending on where you live is there anyone you can buy eggs directly from? Either a farmer or someone that just owns them? Any way you can keep your own chicken? We have the same problem with meat right now we have managed to cut meat back to about 3/4 times a week which for my husband is a huge achievement! The meat we buy is more expensive but as we eat less of it it works out. For the nights we are meat free I bulk out with veggies, beans, pasta etc.

Thanks :)
Live in a city so not near a farm and struggling to look after myself & two small people without adding in a chicken
Cutting down but eating the "good" stuff sounds like a plan

Farm shops? even if they a bit of a distance away you could bulk buy and freeze and go monthly.

We belong to a meat collective for red meat, chicken and fish, get our fruit, veg and eggs from a farm shop that does deliveries and get our organic milk delivered from a milkman.

It's costs a little bit more but not a lot, and the quality is so much better than supermarket stuff so I think we need less. I also used to be a vegetarian because of animal welfare issues so it's very important to me.

If you post your general location maybe other posters could share their knowledge of local farm shops, sometimes it can be difficult to get the information online.

I live in a city - Nottingham - and we have farm shops, so it is worth investigating :)

See if Abel and Cole deliver to your area - I now get the majority of my meat from them.

Oh, I'm in Nottingham. There's a farm shop at Bramcote for veg. Waitrose sell a lot of ethically reared meat, there's a tiny one opposite John Lewis and they are opening a large one on Thursday in Wollaton. There's usually a farmers market in the market place once a month but I'm not certain of the date.

I order a lot from Abel and Cole (meat, fish, fruit, veg, dairy, bread etc). It's all from regional farms and ethically reared. I can buy organic or high welfare (the organic is also high welfare) and I bulk the meat and fish out with veg/rice etc so I don't spend too much, more than I'd spend if I shopped at Tesco though. Animal welfare is really important to me, I'd rather pay a little more and know that the chicken or whatnot has been cared for.

www.local-farmers-markets.co.uk/nottinghamshire.html Hope this helps.

re eggs, the more you buy at once, the cheaper they are - even for free range. We only ever buy free range, but Sainsburys do 15 odd sized eggs for just £2, so we live off them also can recommend going to local butcher, as they can tell you exactly where the meat has come from and often sell cheaper cuts than supermarkets if you ask.

I think Waitrose and M and S have the best track records for ethical food if you need high street shops. Their prices reflect this of cours. Waitrose sell ethical mozzarella for example, from Laverstoke farm (uk), I think that farm has accreditation from compassion in world farming, it may be worth looking on the Laverstoke website as they also produce ethical meat and have a list of stockists of their products. Good luck!

Try if possible to buy Soil Association organic approved foods (you will see the logo on the packaging). They have the highest standards of animal welfare and audit all approved foods to ensure the standards are adhered to. Organic food is more expensive but our view is better to eat a little less knowing the food is responsibly sourced.

Sainsbury's and Morrisons seem to sell the most Soil Association approved meat. Waitrose used to be good but lately they are selling other organic standards which just don't have the same rigorous animal welfare standards.