okay, so we all know that organic is best but ....

[oxocube]

what if you can't bloody afford it? Have just read Sophable's post about only buying wild salmon, feel horribly guilty about buying non-organic/battery chicken but at the moment, its either that or nothing. Whilst I am happy to be veggie for most of the time, my DH and kids aren't.

So what to do - not eat salmon etc and live off seasonal local veggies? Or live with the guilt?

live with the guilt

I suspect, seriously, that battery chickens are not madly good for you.

I'm living with it at the moment and agree it's hard.

I try to buy cheap cuts rather than cheap meat iykwim. For example, a pack of free-range organic chicken thighs is cheaper than a pack of battery chicken breasts. And a breast of lamb costs just pence and makes roast dinner for four.

But I have to say, I don't feel guilty about buying farmed salmon - I haven't read Sophables post but wild fish generally is hopelessly overfished so the more we can do to relieve the strain by buying farmed fish, the better imo.

eat less meat/fish and more veg

cheaper cuts of decent meat

there was a good article in the times on Saturday (from that woman who won MasterChef) saying that we are spolit with cheap food and years ago it was mainly veg and pulses for our diet and now we expect cod fillets, chicken and steak everyday

if you buy a decent chicken - maybe £7 or £8, make it stretch over several meals

when I was in Australia (ooer get me, Ms Globetrotter), they had a huge thing about farmed Scottish salmon and how they feed on their own poo

yummy

I mean, I do cook and bake - lots. And if it were just up to me I could live quite happily on salad, pulses and the odd home-made pizza but its not just me I have to feed. I don't buy shit or any ready meal type things but I do feel awful when I go to buy my budget eggs insead of the twice the price free range ones

I'll probably be reincarnated as a battery hen

Well, you can only do what you can do. If you know you can't afford it then don't feel guilty , we all have to make decisions based on the budget sometimes. I'd like to give more money to charity but we can't afford it at the moment, but I know I'll go back to giving more when I'm back at work.

I'm on a low income but I do buy organic. Dh tuts at me - he'd buy & eat the cheapest stuff going, but I'd rather cut down on other stuff and spend more on organic food. Not easy if you're already on a tight budget & still can't stretch to organic though I know.

I grow my own organic veg, and in winter I buy frozen organic veg and the odd fresh bits, I do only buy organic fish and meats though. I dont find it that much more expensive, you dont need alot to compensate the quantity of non organic veg (let me word that again, you have to eat more non organic to gain the same nutrition values) am I making sense (sorry have two children grizzling at me and I'm about to rocket to the moon - anyone want to join me??

I think of battery /cheapo chicken as junk food really, and I just don't buy it. We don't have meat every day but that's perfectly healthy and my meat loving dh deals with it quite happily. I buy one whole organic chicken each week and that makes one kind of roast dinner type meal, then I put bits in DH/DS lunchbox the next day, and I boil the bones to make soup for the next night, so I think that's pretty damn good value actually.

The drugs, hormones etc that are in battery/intensively farmed stuff are too scary for me.

i am living on a tight budget and cannot afford organic meat/poltry/fish, i dont feel guilty as im putting food in mychildrens bellies, it may not be the best in the world but they are happy and full.

i dont buy junk food, they eat their 5 protions every day and i cook from scratch so i feel im doing the best i can.

dont make yourself feel bad!

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yes well that is all very sardonic and pithy cod but actually the shite in intensively farmed shite, is shite.

any food is better than no food

I cant afford organic, i buy it if its on offer, i prefere wild salmon (less fatty) but only buy it as a treat. I dont buy organic veg. Im sorry but i have to agree with Cod 'organic shite'

Don't worry oxocube, as long as they have food in their tummies. I would never spend £8 on a chicken , i only spend £45 on a weeks shopping!

we just cant afford organic meat, we have to go shopping and count every penny.

So, where does organic salmon fit in?

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wild salmon? why can't you get it tinned?

personally I avoid meat partly cos its so crappy if not organic and I can't afford organic.

I think nutrient wise, seasonal local would probably be a better bet than air freighted organic ANYWAY

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why are 'organic' chickens so small though. you can buy one for about £7 in tesco that wouldn't feed a family of four. if they're so well bred and kept why are they tiny!

i cannot afford £15 for a decent sized chicken however much i know i should.

surely it's better for people on a budget to get cheaper chickens than to go without.

don't like salmon so can't comment there

If you can find a good butcher, that also helps, as they have the cheap stuff that the supermarkets just chuck.

I've just been to an organic butcher/farm shop and bought a ham hock for 99p - with a bit of sausage and bacon bits (bacon bits also 1.29) and a load of white beans, that will be 6 or 8 portions for not very much. They also had chicken carcasses (i.e what's left after the thighs and breasts have gone but with loads of meat on) at 2 for 49p - I reckon 2 packs of those would have made a decent chicken curry and a soup the next day.

I really empathise. I have this discussion regularly with DH, as we are desperate to get shopping bill down to £80 or lower. But cannot without going for factory/non-fair-trade/non organic stuff.

I have found, however, that free range thighs and wings are almost the same price as a pack of non-free range breasts. And I try and buy organic for the fruit and veg the kids eat most of - eg apples, carrots, broclli and strawberries etc while stuff I eat is non-organic (My body's fucked, it's too late )

And for several months a year we grow our own.

oh, and I twist myself inside out if I try and feed us cheaply, healthily and thinking about air miles...