Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Original poster

So, would you have stuck to your principles or gone for the cheap chicken option?

26 replies

GossipMonger · 19/03/2009 15:00

Tesco had a deal of a big battery chicken and a huge bag of veg ie potatoes, carrots and swede for 2.99

WOW! Would have done us a few meals out of it.

Would you have bought it or stuck to your 'I only eat free range chicken after watching Hugh's programme on how badly chickens are treated!'

OP posts:
Bobbiewickham · 19/03/2009 15:05

I couldn't eat it.

I'd rather just have the veg.

Original poster
GossipMonger · 19/03/2009 15:55

I stuck to my principles too and told the chap who was putting them out that the reason no one was buying them was because they werent free range!!

OP posts:
FAQinglovely · 19/03/2009 15:59

I'd have bought it and made it last for 3 meals.............

sorry but often principles go out of the window when you're on a tight budget.

Although I'm very happy that my "local" shop is a Co-op so I know I'm buying more ethically when I'm popping in there

YouKnowNothingoftheCrunch · 19/03/2009 16:00

Couldn't eat it.

stealthsquiggle · 19/03/2009 16:00

stuck to my guns.

..but I am not in a true position to judge, since we are not on the breadline by any means.

We buy local veg in sacks from farm shop at a tiny fraction of supermarket prices, and local free range meat/chicken at more than the lousy welfare stuff but less than supermarket free range. I would rather have less/cheaper cuts of decently raised meat (which tastes much better anyway).

Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/03/2009 16:01

I wouldn't have bought it but I'm lucky, right now I'm not cooking on a budget. Were the cheap ones really not selling?

sweetheart · 19/03/2009 16:01

I don't have many principals or morals and so I would have brought it even if it wasn't on special offer.

Nabster · 19/03/2009 16:02

Wouldn't have bought it.

Original poster
GossipMonger · 19/03/2009 16:02

I was swayed by the deal and would never judge anyone who did buy non FR chicken but then remembered that DH and I agreed that we would rather not eat meat than eat crap meat......so it is lentils for dinner again!

OP posts:
LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 19/03/2009 16:02

couldn't have eaten it.

My chickens in the garden would have disapproved

Mintyy · 19/03/2009 16:03

No.

If I were down to my last £3 there's loads of other family meals I could make for that.

I stopped buying battery chicken and eggs years and years ago, long before Hugh and Jamie's programmes.

thumbwitch · 19/03/2009 16:03

food is our one real luxury in life - so I wouldn't have bought it. Nor would DH.

Original poster
GossipMonger · 19/03/2009 16:03

No, they really werent selling! There were fridges full of the deal which originally was £5 for chicken and vegetables and had been put down to £2.99 and still not selling!

OP posts:
Ivykaty44 · 19/03/2009 16:03

I really try hard not to shop in tesco It works most of the time but I do slip up now and then

I wouldn't have seen the offer and got a chicken at the butchers.

if I had seen the offer as walking through to buy one or two items (needs must and the odd occasion I use as corner shop) I wouldn't have had the money to buy and therefroe although tempted would have had to pass

cat64 · 19/03/2009 16:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

stealthsquiggle · 19/03/2009 16:04

Laurie do you eat FR chicken?

I was cheerfully informed by the butcher that the one currently in my slow cooker was called Priscilla - but if one of ours doesn't stop trying to climb in my office window she may be next....

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 19/03/2009 16:06

Yep, happily eat free-range chicken (not ours, they are just for eggs)

Original poster
GossipMonger · 19/03/2009 16:06

I loathe Tescos but I had taken a prescription in for ds1 and was mooching round with ds2.

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 19/03/2009 16:11

Likewise (evidently, from the fact that there is one cooking ). 4 nosy chickens following me around and demanding food in return for not getting under the wheels of the car is more than enough.

I am working hard on DH whose preference for cheap and nasty sausages is one of few remaining gaps in our reasonably ethical sourcing of most food (the others being spam (DH, not me!) and garlic sausage).

Original poster
GossipMonger · 19/03/2009 16:12

SPAM!!

My food hell.

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 19/03/2009 16:14

DH is training the DC to like/demand it as part of a (rare) cooked breakfast .

ABetaDad · 19/03/2009 16:19

cat64 - it is hard to tell people to buy expensive when they are on a budget and absolutely accept that.

To be honest though I work with a lot of people in debt and I see their bank statements. They spend a lot on junk food not supermarket food. I am not judging - just saying that buying a slightly better quality chicken is feasible for a lot of people.

I used to clean out chicken sheds many years ago. Massive buildings with 10,000 broilers in. I used to go in after the bulldozers had been in to clean the manure out. My job was to pressure wash the microfine dust from skin, feathers, food and faeces off all surfaces. To protect my lungs I used to wear full body sealed suits with filtered air supply.

I saw the charts on the wall measuring death rates. I will not buy a cheap chicken and will not buy an organic chicken (as I think the supposed benefits are dubious) but I buy chickens that are barn reared or free range as they have a better quality of life and are healthier animals. I beleive that intensively reared chickens are continuously fed antibiotics to stop them getting ill.

If it is affordable, and I accept it is not affordable for some people, it is worth buying slightly more expensive chicken.

expatinscotland · 19/03/2009 16:29

We've stuck to our principles

Kathyis6incheshigh · 19/03/2009 16:32

It's easy peasy to get free range when you're buying whole chickens. The problem is with buying readymade sandwiches or takeaway curries etc. That's where I tend to slip up.

CrackerNut · 19/03/2009 16:34

Same as FAQ