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Original poster

The latest from PETA ...

137 replies

bubble99 · 11/10/2006 20:43

I heard a representative from PETA this morning on 'Farming Today' on R4 (yes, I get up at stupid o'clock with DS3)....saying this. I can't do links, but if you Google 'PETA meat child abuse' it will show up.

Valid points about additives, hormones etc used in intensive farming. But this is outrageous scaremongering, IMO. And to link something as awful as child abuse to dietary choices is just wrong.

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Heathcliffscathy · 15/10/2006 00:18

exactly.

my granny wouldn't countenance what we call meat.

chicken bones didn't just break when you bent them then.

Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:20

A lot of the old people in care homes would call a shepherds pie made with left-overs and veg.. 'meat and two veg.'

The thing is that nowadays people tend to make shepherds pies with mince. So it is no longer a 'left-overs' dish which would traditionally have contained a lot less meat. I am a happy carnivore but even I would not like to eat meat every day.

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Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:22

And it's interesting to note that the British wartime diet, with it's rationed meat, eggs, dairy and sugars has been judged by nutritionists to be the most healthy for many years.

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Heathcliffscathy · 15/10/2006 00:23

sometimes i feel that jamie and his sledgehammer are right. people don't get what cooking is about now. a lot of is it about leftovers. and making meat stretch.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:24

you just have to read this article......it made me PMSL - found it while looking for references to meat eating (" Once, or at most twice a day, is often enough for any woman who does not lead quite an active life, to take meat;") would suggest that meat eating was reasonably common in them days - but the whole article makes fantastic reading

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:26

bubble - they used to mince the left over meat to make the shepherds pie - somewhere in the back of my cupboard I have an ancient mincer that used to belong to my Gran - which she used for making shepherds pie - and I recall my mum used to mince left over meat to make stuff too.....guess we're just lazy these days and buy it ready minced ).

Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:29

Exactly, QOQ. Shepherd's Pie is traditionally made with the cooked lamb left over from the Sunday Lunch and very nice it is too. Much nicer than making it from lamb mince, IMO.

My dad ( who was a very good cook) used to make it with a mincer similar to the one you've described with lots of onions.

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HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:31

mind you in them days Lamb was cheaper than it is now so they could buy bigger cuts.........even a 'cheap' cut is too expensive for me to buy for a roast....never mind leftovers.

Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:39

Lamb shoulder is very cheap and much tastier than leg, IMO.

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HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:41

Even a lamb shoulder big enough to feed us is simply too expensive - I can buy a large free range chicken for the same price as a small cut of lamb.....

Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:44

Really? Even at Waitrose (I've just checked ocado) Welsh farm-assured lamb is the same price per kilo as free-range chicken (£4.29)

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Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:44

And that's for a whole-shoulder.

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HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:50

Looking at Ocado - the 1.6kg pack (which we could probably squeeze between us all - bearing in mind that one you cut the meat off the bone there's not vast quantities left) is £6.86

And Wow - yes if I shopped at Ocado I guess lamb could be cheaper - but I don't - and I can buy a large corn fed free range chicken, which comfortably feeds us for roughly £5.50

Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 00:52

I'd have lentils and something for a couple of days, then. And save up for the extra lamb. Yum.

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HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:55

Lentils for a few days - ermm maybe once a week - but not more than once a week! If I cook vegetarian (with beans, pulses etc) I have to spend as much on the ingredients to cook with as if I buy meat.....other wise I have a particularly hungry DH raiding all the other stuff in the fridge.....and DS1 isn't far behind him LOL.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 00:56

ooops - just seen the time of my last post - didn't realise it was that late - I've got to be up in the morning, and I'm working tomorrow night - better go and sleep !

Original poster
bubble99 · 15/10/2006 01:00

Then you must be buying gold-plated ingredients!

If you have the time to soak pulses overnight and cook them the next day they cost pennies and the usual suspects to go with them, tomatoes, cheese etc are cheap. I know this as I budget for and cook food at our nursery.

I do understand that your family may feel short-changed without meat, though. Mr Bubble often says that, however tasty and filling it may be, a veggie/lentily/pulsey type meal never feels as satisfying as a meat meal.

All of that animal protein must be addling his brain.

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HRHQueenOfQuotes · 15/10/2006 20:02

I DO soak my pulses ovvernight - but I have to add LOADS of veg to make it filling enough for them! (mind you if you saw how much meat protein they need to fill them up you'd understand LOL).

FrannyandZooey · 16/10/2006 08:12

Don't quite understand - pulses, and veg in season, are as cheap as you can get?

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 16/10/2006 08:14

Ok give me an example of the quantities and ingredients of something you would make with pulses and veg to feed a family of 4........

FrannyandZooey · 16/10/2006 08:38

Well as 1 kg of lentils only costs a few pennies more than 500g, and the same with potatoes, carrots etc, I am not sure what the point of that would be, QOQ

I am presuming you are going to say that your family would need more than I am suggesting, but pulses and cheap veg cost very little to begin with, that is my point

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 16/10/2006 08:44

Franny - my family are incredibly big eaters (except for me LOL) and even if I fill a plate with pulses and veg.....they'll want desert. If I cheat and buy shop pizzas in - 3 (goodfella's size) Deep Pan is just enough. I read with amazement people who have beans on toast for a meal - and say it's enough, and fish fingers and chips is a no no - we'd go through a staggering large amount of them before everyone dedided they'd had enough.

I have to put a huge vareity of veg into my 'veggie' meals (which they do eat on a frequent basis) in order for it to pass a) the taste test and b) the filling test.

I've planned pulse meals from recipes and done them off the top of my head - and I still usually end up spending a similar amount per meal whether it's a 'meat' or 'veggie' meal.

I'm just hoping that DC3 is going to have a small appetite like me or I'll be skint before I'm 30 LOL.

LemonTart · 16/10/2006 08:49

We eat mainly veggie now. Two reasons:

  1. Health - less likely to be full of nasties and we find it easier to stick to a low fat high fibre diet if we avoid a lot of meat
  2. Cost - we are so concerned about many farming practices now that the only meat we would be prepared to feed our children is the fully accredited "know the farmer personally" type meat from local sources. As a result, veggie options work out cheaper and just as filling.

QOQ You can make loads of really really filling veggie food that works out fairly cheaply. Sure, if you compare it to a Tesco Value extra large family pizza, a veggie spicey lentil bake with homemade chunks of fresh bread will work out more expensive but what would you rather feed your kiddies?

We use Quorn a lot for cheap reliable protein. Similar price to cheap mince with less concerns about the "extra ingredients" added to the mince to make it plumper, heavier and redder (is that a word?!) We eat loads of homemade soup and fresh bread for lunch - all for pennies and much of it organic/from my dad]s allotment. For eves we eat a lot of rice dishes, daal, potato curry, lentil bake, quorn chilli, jacket spuds, roasted veggies etc etc. We love our food and are quite fussy. Never go hungry and never spend a lot anymore (can?t afford to!)

FrannyandZooey · 16/10/2006 08:49

Well, we are big eaters too in our family, which is why we find pulses, whole grains and veg, which are very cheap, filling and nutritious, the best choice for us. I very rarely buy pizzas etc because they are expensive and don't fill you up, I agree.

LemonTart · 16/10/2006 08:54

QOQ - posts crossed - my pizza comment was before I read yours!
I think quantity is an iinteresting issue. We used to pack away a large pizza each. On the rare occasion we eat pizza now, there is no way my stomach would let me finish off a whole one. (I am not a skinny cow, dieting, making progress and a lot thinner but still a stone to go)
Maybe I have a really wrong picture of you but can?t believe you all sit there eating a veggie bake and then finish off with a few pizzas on top?!!
If you start the day with a big bowl of decent cereal, maybe a yoghurt/banana etc, have a mid morning snack or two of something healthy but filling, what is wrong with beans on toast for lunch?? Follow it with a yog and an apple/banana/pineapple chuncks etc, it is a fine meal! My hulk of a hubbie who needs BIG food, has beans on toast for lunch loads and it fills him up.