That chicken programme, on at 9 tonight, hugh someone...

[charliecat]

3p a chicken the supermarkets pay

t/shell - if you haven't made meringues before Hugh's mum, spookily enough, recommends using twice as much sugar than most recipes use. I will try it next time as my meringues are always too crispy and explode when I try to lift them off the tray.

Sorry for hijack. As you were...

I have to ask but how many chickens do people eat per week? I suppose it would depend on the size of family but do people really have more than one meal where a whole chicken is eaten?

The whole argument that Hayley gave is utter crap. I'm a single mother of two and I buy one chicken every couple of weeks from a local farm shop as well as eggs. The chickens are running around nearby.

I am lucky that we need a small chicken so can get a good size one for about £5-6. From that I can make 3 meals (the last being of course soup from the bones!) The amount of meat you get on a free range bird is far more than bigger but pumped full of god knows what cheap chickens. And the oysters (the bits underneath) are where you can really taste the difference.

Only happy animals are eaten in this house. It is a matter of budget and spending it wisely.

We eat a whole chicken every 2 or 3 weeks and just chicken breast-meat every 2 weeks.

I like to eat/provide a varied diet.

I looked at the price of a free range chicken I have in the freezer btw - from Sainsburys, £3.25. It's hardly high cost food.

DofNorks - that's interesting about meringues, will try it!

Unashamedly hijacked!!! !!!

Heard someone on the radio today from a supermarket actually defending the abuse of chickens as part of 'consumer choice'.

"We offer free-range for those consumers who are concerned about ethical considerations, and we offer other chickens for the benefit of those with a budget to consider"

Can you imagine anyone defending sweat-shops like that?

"We offer well-made, ethical clothing for those that are bothered about their fellow human beings, but if you're poor, and therefore obviously without morals, we offer you the cheap sweatshop alternative"

Or "We offer high standard food for the people who are more well off, but for the chavs who don't know any better, we offer a line of food that is probably going to lead them to an early grave".

Did anyone else get a letter from sainsburys about their chicken this morning??

not as yet Lady.......our post comes in the afternoon

I think Hugh is completely missing the point with his programme. I don't understand why he's targeting the fresh whole chickens in supermarkets where the battery ones are often bought by people on low income. Why isn't he instead targeting middle class people who frequent establishments such as Giraffe, Pret a Manger and eat stuff such as Tesco Finest ready meals? All of these use battery chicken and by and large, the people buying them could afford to make a more ethical choice and they also tend to pretend that they have some sort of conscience where food is concerned.

It really gets on my goat that middle class parents behave as though taking your kids to McDonalds is akin to taking them to a crack den and yet they'll happily eat at Nando's or Giraffe.

Good point dot

I got that Sainsburys letter - it made me laugh, as I think it shows that Hugh has put the wind up 'em. It's a weaselly letter though - doesn't actually say anything very much at all but seems as if it's saying a lot (iywsim!)

I think he's pretty brave to be doing what he's doing. As he said in the programme, he's the sort of person who cares what others think of him and he's laid himself open to all sorts of local flack. Some people just see the double-barrelled name. messy hair, London incomer, old Etonian posh bloke - and immediately take umbrage, without even listening to what he's saying. I thought it was telling that when he got some of the Millwey estate people to come and do his Tescos leafleting with him, they seemed to get a much more positive response.

It'll be interesting to see the reaction Jamie Oliver gets, with his cheeky chappie persona

I think the jamie oliver programme may make ppl think again-nothing like seeing the shit that goes into your food.. (aswell as the background to the food production)

Wonder how many ppl will continue to eat chicken nuggets and the such like after seeing the raw ingredients...

Felt really sad in morrisons this morning. They only had 2 free range chickens on their shelves, no organic and their select breasts where BOGOF. They also had large whole chickens for £2.49. Find it really insulting that they should do this straight on the heels of the programme.

What gets me is why don't the supermarkets see the missed marketing opportunuities here. I have never ever seen free range or organic on offer. Why don't they push these this week while Hugh is doing all the advertising for them.

And why on earth don't they grab hugh or jamie and get them to do a huge marketing campaign for them. I mean at the moment they are getting loads of bad press. Of course Hugh will help them promote organic and free range - its what he'd after - win win all round. Why are they fighting it all. Why not go with the flow and milk it for all its worth. I'm sure there is still a decent mark up on free range and organic.

well said Allmytime - I was wondering the very same thing last night - seems an obvious step to me!

Hugh was very brave to target Axminster - a sleepy Devon market town and one where he doesn't even live. Most rural communities resist "incomers" (or whatever the Devon version is). As people said on the programme rural wages are poor, he wasn't targeting people who can make the switch by giving up their Starbucks latte.

Interesting the assumptions made - didn't notice Hayley smoking or signs of nicotine on her fingers so why assume she spends on cigarettes. And she's supposed to feed her kids sausages and mince instead of cheap chicken - with all the rubbish that goes into most sausages and mince? Buy quality ones and they are more expensive than a chicken once you allow for getting more meals off the chicken.

Personally I don't always notice the taste difference between free range and other chicken. Our last (Sainsburys) free range chicken (which cost me 6 pounds, where does a 3.50 one come from?) had less taste than the barn one from the local butcher.

To the person suggested tofu and quorn - thanks but we have allergy problems that mean tofu isn't suitable and quorn often seems to have nut warnings on it. We used to eat it before the children came along although I don't enjoy eating it. My family dislike chickpeas and I don't find them filling when I eat them. Be interested in any recipes for chickpeas, though, as I'm doing the Jamie Oliver "22 tastes" for foods they don't like . They do like baked beans though.

I don't believe Hugh would easily survive on a single parent budget without cheating -like going off with his mates to catch fish. But he could always make another programme showing how to do it. He might then have more success. He is associated with rather more expensive meals.

Our chickens

Our chickens are raised in bright, airy, open-sided sheds with lots of natural light where they have enough room to exhibit all their natural behaviours and have plenty of space to move around. Whilst this is not free-range, it is low-density farming and the chickens take longer to mature than the UK standard. There is no routine use of antibiotics in the flocks and they are fed a GM-free, natural, vegetarian diet of maize, wheat and soya.
From the Pret a Manger website:

We insist on chicken husbandry levels that exceed the UK standard for chickens and we only use production sites which are accredited with the BRC Grading A.
We've been working with three UK free-range producers throughout 2007 and, in February, we hope to launch UK free-range chicken sandwiches in our test shops. For the test to be successful, we face two challenges. Firstly, will our customers be willing to pay upwards of £3.50 for a sandwich and secondly, the availability of free-range chickens in the UK. Less than 5% of UK-bought chicken is organic or free-range. 95% is non-free-range so free-range chicken meat is in very short supply. The large supermarkets, with their strong buying power, take most of the 5%. The problem is compounded because UK farmers remain very wary of investment to free-range particularly with the very real threat of avian flu.
If our customers respond to the trial positively and we can secure a consistent and guaranteed supply of chicken, Pret will move to 100% free-range very soon. We're working very hard with our suppliers to achieve this.

Sorry for the long quote, but I thought quite interesting.

I agree that I am more concerned about chickens in ready meals, restaurants and sandwiches than whole chickens - Presumably whole chickens are bought mainly by families, but I would imagine that more chickens go to the catering industry and food production companies?

Sorry, problems with cut and paste - that post should have said "from the Pret a Manger website" at the top.

So what was the content of the 'sainsburys letter' then????? I heard Jamie Oliver has had to say he has been misrepresented in the chickenout campaign after Sainsburys got a bit humpy with him. They must pay him a lot for his 'services' but they also have him over a barrel at times - hope he still thinks it is worth it.