So I just bought, cooked and fed the family value chicken and we're still alive...

[nkf]

Have I been too precious all these years? It tasted fine too, cooked a la Slater. Free range would have been three times the price. Felt a bit strange as, for years, I have been avoiding cheap meat. But credit crunch etc...
Have other people made changes and found them not so bad?
And I do know that many people buy nothing else and I apologise for insensitive Marie Antoinette sounding anxieties.

I would eat a vegetarian meal rather than eat the value stuff

Not just because of the taste but because of the methods of production

I just don't like chicken that much, I suppose... can easily go without rather than buy cheap instead

I'm with notnow, I'd rather eat meat less often and buy the occasional free range chicken and use it wisely to get 3 or 4 meals out of it, than to consume chicken produced in those conditions.

nfk, I eat it sometimes, and DS and I are still alive. If I didn't buy value chicken, we'd never eat any meat at all.

Neads must. I cannot afford to be picky. Our bodies don't differenciate, protein is protein is protein...

Me too, I also sometimes get frozen chicken.

OMDB!!!!
Hello.

My husband would eat his own arm rather than a vegetarian meal. And I have a child with dairy allergies. So we consume more meat than I am comfortable with. I an't afford to buy free range any more.

Me too.

Some of the Basics range (Sainsbury's equivalent of Value) isn't too bad; for example Jaffa cakes.

Food hygiene regulations mean that any meat you buy in a supermarket in this country is safe to eat, so it depends on how you feel about animal welfare. Personally, I'd rather never eat chicken than eat a battery raised one, but each to their own, I suppose.

Basics is the same product as Sainsbury's Own. At least that was what I was told by someone who worked there. The brand stuff will be a different recipe.

Goober!!!

Happy Brithday

I know, organic/free range is hideously expensive

DP also requires flesh with every meal (But will happily eat fish, which gives more choice)

Meat from the butcher is much better value than supermarket, IME

Our local butchers is wonderful but also extremely expensive. If you want to be on first name terms with the cow whose mince you buy, it's the place to go. But it makes supermarket organic look like a bargain.

Thanks OMDB.
Have missed you. Come back soon.
Love you.

That's a shame

Dairy allergy doesn't mean no pulses, lentils -there's lots of stuff to eat that doesn't involve dairy or cruelty to animals.

Frankly I would refuse to cook for anyone who wouldn't eat non meat meals sometimes!

I'm with notnow too - but then DH is a vegetarian so no complaints from him - and after four years a meal without meat does feel like a proper meal to me ...

dont like food snobery, fact is u choose to eat food u can afford to buy.of course we would all like to eat free range organic, but some simply cannot afford to.think the main point is making sure your family is fed at all.

Agree that I would prefer to eat no chicken than value chicken. It is about much more than taste, although free-range does taste much better imp.

It isn't snobbery. I eat very little meat at all (=cheap!) but what I do is generally decent welfare standard because that's important to me (and in the case of chicken, eked out over several meals).

sorry - another vote for doing without the chicken (or eating it less often) rather than getting the ones with appalling animal welfare standards. ditto eggs. there's probably not a huge difference in quality of meat though unless you are getting organic.

I bought a large free range organic chicken for £8 - it fed dd and I for 4 meals.

That's 8 portions of food per chicken. I think that's cost effective and again I also couldn't eat cheap chicken because of animal welfare.

And there's little point in making stock (4th meal rissotto)out of the bones of cheap chicken as it has no flavour and is watery.

I can't do it either
I would far rather eat no meat than eat something that has been raised in a vile way.

You can buy very cheap cuts of meat eg stewing lamb that has had a normal life. You don't have to eat intensively farmed products

And as for dhs who can't have a meal without meat, that is frankly pathetic. Maybe they need to be educated a bit more about how intensive farming affects animals. And try cooking some filling wholesome non-meat dishes. VERY odd imo.

but can u guarentee the free range ? could you look after an animal/bird ,feed it care for it then slaughter it? if not u shouldnt eat meat at all.

since the subject of animal welfare has came up, how many of you have free range leather goods(shoes handbags sofas coats car interiors)? what about that then?

but those goods are mostly a bi-product of the meat industry

and there aint much worse than the life of a battery hen

(i do keep chickens - well, one, the other one died after 4 happy years about 6 weeks ago)

Not sure what you mean by guarantee the free range though I try to go for organic chicken when possible because of the smaller flock sizes etc. I would happily (and would prefer to) eat animals I'd raised myself (and DH says this might sway him from vegetarianism ...) but it's not really an option at the moment. I disagree that you shouldn't eat meat if you can't kill it yourself though.

Free range leather? Are they battery farming cows now?