Hugh's programme is taking affect

[Polly Fouracre]

I can see,of course,the supermarkets following the next "must have" "we are the first" "how green are we?" path to big profits!!
The price of free-range,organic chickens will double and they will rely on scrupulious people paying the price!
I can only think of people power!!.Refuse to buy factory farmed meat,refuse to pay unfair prices for free-range products and you will soon see prices fall to an acceptable level.
I know from experience that organic meat costs a lot more than"free-range" as organic feed is twice as expensive as ordinary but I am sure that if enough people insisted organic(and were prepared to pay a bit more) that the price would come down a bit,
What say you??!!

[johnty greentoes]

I know from experience that organic meat costs a lot more than"free-range" as organic feed is twice as expensive as ordinary but I am sure that if enough people insisted organic(and were prepared to pay a bit more) that the price would come down a bit,
What say you??!!

I say be pragmatic. Encouraging a change to free range is one bloody big step forward for a lot of people and should be applauded. The next step to organic can come when it does. Hold that as an ideal but be content with the small steps achieved along the journey toward it.

[Snadger]

What worries me is there will be a knee jerk reaction from the two for a fiver chicken suppliers as they won't take it lying down. What next, BOGOF chickens at £2.50?

[HappyMouffe]

What worries me is there will be a knee jerk reaction from the two for a fiver chicken suppliers as they won't take it lying down. What next, BOGOF chickens at £2.50?

That's a problem - unfortunately, the producers just can't turn off the supply of cheap chickens, just as the organic/free range producers can't suddenly produce double the amount of their chickens.

So, law of supply & demand: cheap chicken cheaper, expensive chicken more expensive. Until people forget about the programme and things go back to 'normal'. Hopefully, when it does 'normalise', there will be a few more people buying free range than before.

[Nicos]

Have just got back from Tesco

All free range chicken completely sold out.

I think there may be a problem ahead. How will the supermarkets meet demand in the short term. This could all backfire?

I'm sure it will take a while for the suppliers to adapt, but we still don't have to buy the cheap chicken if the shelves are empty of free range- just change the menu to pork/beef/lamb/fish/veg instead!.

[sewer rat]

We buy our chicken from a local farm. However I went to our local supermarket (Co-op) today and they have NO freerange chicken for sale
It's not sold out, they just do not stock it Three shelves full of intensive chicken (the one with the blue sky / field of barley label) but absolutely no freerange or organic chicken to be had.
Maybe the powers behind the Co-op way down there in Manchester think that TV stops at Perth so they don't think demand up here will be increasing after last weeks Hugh and Jamie assault

[Winged one]

It's obviously been having some effect here too. The ordinary chicks were all half price, and there was a lot of chicken in general on the shelves over the weekend. But the levels of beef, lamb and fish were a lot lower than usual, and I couldn't get pork chops at all (which I really wanted as it happens). So I think that in my area of Dublin at least, people were avoiding chicken altogether this weekend.

One good thing about Hugh's prog for a change, was him showing the added value of a whole chick without being preachy about stock and stuff - the remains of a roast making enough risotto for 6 adults seemed to be a big eye opener for a few of them (and certainly one I'll be trying as OH suddenly announced that "we never have risotto" - cos he usually tells me he doesn't like it when I have it in restaurants so I rarely cook it at home).

[Two_Sheds]

I cooked my 1st roast chook last night (free range, as I want to support the cause: I would ordinarily have done lamb)
It was really tender (says OH, I am veggie). I have this morning stuck my hands in (yuk, so greasy) and pulled it apart. Meat scraps in one tupperware for cassoulet tonight; scraps, skin, bones etc in a pan boiling away for chicken stock for the freezer.
How to recycle whatever remains after that? I can't compost it (foxes, cats, rats), but don't want to add to landfill. (PS. my pets are vegetarian too)

[Two_Sheds]

I am a great believer in letters (not emails, they just get deleted).
Get your Word out, write a letter about wanting to buy free range chicken, why aren't you stocking it / what is your position on intensive production etc and send off to your local supermarket/stockist.
They can deduce certain consumer demands from sales figures, but not the unmet demand - ie. if the chicken isn't on the shelf to be bought, they have no idea how many they COULD have sold ...

[Alison]

How to recycle whatever remains after that? I can't compost it (foxes, cats, rats), but don't want to add to landfill. (PS. my pets are vegetarian too)

Not a lot you can do with the bones but the rest of it can be put in a bokashi bin - we have one under the kitchen sink just for stuff like this. Looks a bit yucky when you open the lid but fortunately it's air tight!

[lozza_9]

well went to morrison and no organic chicken or free range chicken left!!!

Had the £15 chicken last night, it was yummy. We had so much left over, hubby has taken some to work for lunch and I had some for lunch too. Also have enough to make another meal tonight. Hubby is also making chicken stock with the rest.

Loz

[Two_Sheds]

I made 5 portions of stew and a roast dinner out of one small chook, so that's 70p a meal, not bad. Oh, and there's a pint of chicken stock in the freezer too

mind you, my local carrots were £2.20 a kilo! Usually about 75p a kilo aren't they?

[Snadger]

I cooked my 1st roast chook last night (free range, as I want to support the cause: I would ordinarily have done lamb)
It was really tender (says OH, I am veggie). I have this morning stuck my hands in (yuk, so greasy) and pulled it apart. Meat scraps in one tupperware for cassoulet tonight; scraps, skin, bones etc in a pan boiling away for chicken stock for the freezer.
How to recycle whatever remains after that? I can't compost it (foxes, cats, rats), but don't want to add to landfill. (PS. my pets are vegetarian too)

Here's a thought, though I must confess to never having done it myself! Once you've boiled the bones for the stock, dry them off and grind them up in a pestle and mortar. You should be left with sterilised bonemeal which as you know is good for the garden!
Could be used in potting compost or scattered around fruit trees

Failing that, the bones could be buried whole, a spit deep in the garden and a tree planted on top!

[Waffler]

our FR organic chook last night was very nice, though OH said he thought so too, but couldn't necessarily rate it as superior to what we usually have. Personally I thought it was nicer but couldn't necessarily put my finger on how: it certainly wasn't at all dry, but I guess that's mostly in the cooking.
OH is cooking the remains up tonight as some sort of Nigel Slater (meals in 30 mins) curry: it's his bible when he cooks (once a fortnight!) I shall then boil up the remains as stock, which will probably go in to risotto at some stage also.