Hugh's chicken run

[mccfluff]

anyone watching this, if so what do you think? will it stop you buying cheap chicken? I went to buy my dinner earlier and looked at some pre-prepared chicken breasts, but i checked to see if they were free range or organic and couldn't find any info on them so opted for veg instead.

[Goodsoulette]

Well done Mccffluff. I have been watching it but I always buy meat where I know it has been sourced. I don;t buy meat in the supermarket anyways and would rather buy brisket from the butchers than silverside from Tesco etc.

I hope it changes peoples outlook on what to buy. I have to say that enormous Hayley on the program harping on about what her pocket can afford. Single mum with two kids, she probably doesnt pay for her housing and gets around 150 quid a week to pay bills and food and clothing. It's not easy and you do watch the pennies but how do you get that big on benefits? She has enough money for cakes and biscuits by the looks of things and moans about not being able to afford an extra 2 quid for a chicken that should easily do her and her two children two meals i ot three. Poppyc0ck!!

[HJT40]

Firstly I will admit that I have not seen this programme, but have seen some of the trailers and do get the idea, but cannot face watching it.

I live in a rural community where there is a local farm shop and local produce. Although one farmer, and I think this was on the local news near Christmas, charged �100 + for his Turkeys, which I were either free range or organic. At this sort of cost who could afford it?

Having said that I do not eat meat everyday because I can''t afford to. I am a single mum, who works full time and pays for housing etc myself. So pennies are short. I would love to eat better produced food if there weren't such a marked difference in price. Perhaps programmes like this will make people stop and think and eventually the good stuff will be cheaper because of the demand - we can live in hope.

[mccfluff]

i was thinking that, she is a bit on the large side isn't she. I thought it was interesing when she went to see the battery chickens and her reaction, surely if she just cut down on a couple of packs of biccy's a week and spent the extra on free range..........

to be honest a lot of the stuff i buy is preprepared bung in the oven stuff and take aways (and i know its not a good excuse) but working two jobs cooking when i get home is a bit of a pain and this is where i find there is no information on where the meat has come from. I'm not really sure what to do, maybe go veggie!

[whiffey]

The Gumment are going to outlaw battery farming, and ABOUT TIME TOO. Chickens should be able to scratch around in the open.

This is the first sensible initiative from New Labour (apart from getting rid of Saddam Hussein)

[Whickerman]

can i ask though - how can you be sure you're getting free range? If you buy from a butcher, what's to stop him getting the battery chicken and then just selling it for a higher price to those of us that try to buy a more humane product?

[Goodsoulette]

Go to a reputable butcher and then ask them. I'm in the fortunate position of knowing my butcher and knowing the farmers who supply them. The farms if providing free range or organic foods have to be certified and a butcher would be a fool to be switching the labels as there are directives governing this in the dreaded policies of the EU.

[mimi-moomoo]

yes i've just heard about this. i'm worried that they may ban battery farming in england but allow imports of cheap chicken from other countries - lets hope not.
i dont watch the series so can anyone explain what he's doing? i've not seen it because from the advert it looks like hes using these poor birds as a way of proving this is wrong.

[Lindylou]

We really like chicken. Cheap protein now. But couldn't afford to buy it if it wasn't cheap. Pension, you know... After having worked for 20 years for the NHS (as a minion..) even with an index linked pension I'm still entitled to benefits. A �4 (large) chicken gives us five meals plus homemade soup from the carcass. I would really like to buy organic, freerange etc etc. But can't afford it. We love fish but we live on vegetables, pasta, mince, sausage. Cheap, nutritious type stuff. Would LOVE to be able to buy fish. Apart from tins of tuna/sardines. Mackerel, traditionally a cheap meal, is now too expensive for us. I have to consider cheapish meals that provide 'left-overs' for the following day. OHH!! for a steak... or some halibut, hake or cod. When I was a child you could buy rabbit for 6d each (approx 27p in today's prices), but even this cheap protein is an awfully lot more expensive than it used to be. I watch Cooking the Books, Ready Steady Cook, Saturday Kitchen, and all the other cookery programmes (usually dribbling....) No one, but no one, teaches you how to live on an extremely small budget. We don't like pastry products, pies, pasties, etc. I do manage to limit us to chips (oven ones, at that) once a fortnight. I think baked beans. eggs and pasta in various guises are our saviours. And always brown bread 'cos its cheaper than white in our local supermarket. Not wholemeal just plain brown, which is probably dye...! Porridge for brekkie, 96p for a nice big bag of rolled oats from Tesco. Does anyone know of a good, cheap but nutritious foodie type site?

[teag1rl]

I've no idea whether they are banning it or not, but I wanted to correct what appears to be a common misconception on here. BATTERY farming is not what Hugh was showing. The battery farming method is for LAYING HENS. They keep the hens in horrendous conditions while they are laying eggs. When the hens come to the end of their useful laying life (not long in these conditions!) they're used for dog food or really really cheap nasty stuff for human consumption. The standard chicken is farmed in a 'broiler house' this was what he was showing-the intesive rearing of chickens. This link will describe difference better than me: http://www.politics.co.uk/issue-briefs/domesti c-policy/animal-welfare/battery-hens-and-broil er-chickens/battery-hens-and-broiler-chickens- $366585.htm

[leelapops]

Lindylou I know just how you feel. I use mainly fresh ingredients, as they are cheaper than the prepacked stuff, and try to do the best on what we have! We don't struggle, and we eat well, but it's rarely organic, or free-range, or hand-reared etc!

I think you have to be very creative when you eat this way. Not sure of any useful websites, but would be interested to know what you cook. I do a mean sausage roast-chopped up sausage, halved new potatoes, diced peppers, diced onion, diced parsnips, diced carrots, all in a casserole, oven on medium for an hour. A great winter warmer!

mccfluff, I did plan to watch it, but I was at work 'til late. It seems to have generated a lot of discussion, and opened some eyes. I have not long started working 16 hours a week, which makes quite a difference to our income, so I am trying to buy better, as it were. Isn't life expensive though?! x

[mccfluff]

its not easy, i have to admit, as i'm on my own buying a whole chicken just isn't practical and i checked out the price of free range chicken breast in sains yest and it ws �4.00 odd for two, so i think chicken will now become a luxury for me and i'm going to stick to fish and veg as a staple. at least eggs (free range) are cheap enough i can quite happily live off omlettes. the one thing i'm going to miss is my chinese takeaway! i asked them yesterday if they would consider putting a free range option on their menu and they basically laughed me out of the place.

the one jamie oliver is doing tonight is supposed to be an eye opener!

[indianwells]

Here you go Lindylou!!

http://www.studentrecipes.com/category.php?ing =pasta

Just Google cheap eating and there are a few more.

[Lindylou]

Thank you Indianwells! Will spend a lot of time browsing this site.