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Original poster

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

68 replies

nkf · 07/12/2008 16:11

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.

OP posts:
Lauriefairycake · 07/12/2008 23:13

yeah, chickens are killed for their meat - not to make handbags

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:13

Yes I have killed animals and eaten them. I have shot birds, caught and killed fish - and prepared them, cooked them and eaten them

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:14

not true laurie

dsrplus8 · 07/12/2008 23:17

so its ok to wear an animal thats not free range, just not eat it?

Anglepoise · 07/12/2008 23:18

Can't get that link to work but quite like this one

Are cows not free range?

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:18

most leather is from cows who are free range anyway

Same with sheep

You don't see "free range" beef or lamb do you, just organic or normal

The organic thing is another issue. It is the free range for chicken that makes the difference to their welfare.

Lauriefairycake · 07/12/2008 23:19

lol guitar

I'm confused dsr - surely most cows when you wear leather are free range ? Most cows, lambs are free ranging beasts. Pork can be farmed (appallingly in some non-eu countries that supply loads to Britain) but as long as you buy EU pork (or preferably British) then you're fine.

TheOtherMaryPoppinsJingles · 07/12/2008 23:20

I could care less, a chicken is a chicken and bred for food, it's going to die anyway and it's not known any other life than what it has been born into.

Can't afford ethics when you only have £20 a week to feed your family.

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:20

In fact it is mainly chicken and pork that is the problem. Intensively farmed pork is terrible, pigs are intelligent and suffer horribly when intensively farmed.

dsrplus8 · 07/12/2008 23:20

guitarheroine pmsl at that link!!!

Lauriefairycake · 07/12/2008 23:21

No one should only have £20 to feed their family in this country

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:22

if you have £20 a week to feed your family then surely vegetarianism is the best option anyway?

Or very cheap cuts of beef/lamb

LilyMayPlumpington · 07/12/2008 23:25

Well of course value chicken isn't going to poison you - its just crap ethics

Anglepoise · 07/12/2008 23:25

guitarheroine my understanding is that organic flock sizes are restricted so that the chickens can actually get outside, whereas if they're just free-range then they have to have a certain amount of outdoor space but may never manage to get outside the shed because the flocks are so huge. Could be Soil Association propaganda though!

FWIW I'm currently on maternity leave and DH unemployed, so we're not exactly rolling in cash here. Veggie food and starches are cheap. Meat is a treat, not something we have daily as a right.

Anglepoise · 07/12/2008 23:26

PS chicken thighs are really cheap - I'd get organic thighs over value breasts.

dsrplus8 · 07/12/2008 23:28

laurie ,most beef cows are free range , some dairy one are not and spend most of their time indoors in cramped little stalls connected to milk machines.these are the majority whos hides are used for leather. makes you think.if you choose freerange/organic is it right to do so for select products ? or should it be all or nothing?

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:29

thighs so much tastier than breasts anyway

Yes personally I buy organic but I can understand why one would choose free range and not organic if on a budget at least the birds aren't stuck in a tiny cage. Same for eggs

Lauriefairycake · 07/12/2008 23:33

Not all or nothing about anything in my opinion. Just as far as I can afford and can live with.

So organic eggs, dairy, chickens for me. Chickens welfare is the highest on any list I can afford. I would happily go without if I couldn't afford it and instead would use neck or mutton for meat that I could slow cook.

guitarheroine · 07/12/2008 23:36

The thing is
you KNOW that a chicken you have paid £3 for has had a totally shit life

That is irrefutable.

So how you can eat that poor bird is beyond me

dsrplus8 · 07/12/2008 23:39

im glad u said all or nothing, i am a all or nothing girl myself, was vege, but because of kids am now a eat anything person. i dont think people who cant afford organic/free range should be made to feel bad about it.if op was a starving person from a third world country you wouldnt dream of saying "no , stop its the eggs, theyre not organic!"(catherine tate style lol)

dsrplus8 · 07/12/2008 23:41

you get leather from pig skin too, its usually used in cheaper products as its not quite as good quallity.

seeker · 08/12/2008 08:53

I think that an all or nothing stance isn't defensible - because I can't afford to eat free range organic chicken every day I will eat value chicken that has had a short crap life.

If you can't afford free range organic every day then eat chicken once a week and eat vegetarian the other days.

shinyshoes · 08/12/2008 10:36

To me the way it's been raised is important but also nutritional value is just as important.

Hugh Fearnley said that eating a battery chicken has NO nutrtional value whatsoever and the more free range and oragnic you go the more Omega 3 etc there is and is far better for you.

I wouldn't but a battery chicken theres nothing healthy about it at all. I might as well give them value ham or those fish fingers that cost 40p for 40. Damn cheaper and the kids are more likely to eat them.

Each to their own though.

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 08/12/2008 10:44

Have to say I only ever buy free range meat (but not necessarily organic). I bought value chicken once and it went off well before the date on the pack and I never bought it again. Other value products seem absolutely fine.

thegirlwiththecurl · 08/12/2008 10:56

On a budget of £12,000 a year to feed a family of five, i have no qualms about buying cheap meat. I know it is ethically unsound and when I could afford it, I did buy free range, but I simply can't afford it now. My kids are healthy and growing nicely so I don't worry about that. It's not like I can afford anything but the basics at the moment and as I want to provide a varied diet for my family, I have to do this.