Free Range Chickens

[Munch]

Me and my Hubby watched HFW's Chicken out campaign (a while ago). We totally agreed with his ploy and have since never bought anything but a free range chicken (to the point that my hubby will not accept anything less in his kitchen, he is a head chef) and boycotted Tesco (among other reasons and if you watched it you would understand).

We were pleased (at the time) to see an increase of free range chicken for sale in other supermarkets. HOWEVER....... we have increasingly become aware of a deminished range of free range availabe to the point where we decided that enough is enough today when going to sainsbury to buy a FREE RANGE chicken only to discover only 2 chicken,s completely over priced (£10 for 1.7KG bird). That was it!!! all the rest were cheap as s@*t poor burnt legged chooks. We came home with nowt!

Does anyone else agree with me in the fact that something more should be done....... I know Hugh made his point but somehow ... to me .... it does not seem to have 'follow thorugh'.

Are you completely fed up with the way supermarkets try and decided what we eat?

If this is the wrong place please move me..... sorry slight novice, slightly annoyed!

[Jeanied]

Munch sounds like you need to strike up a relationship with a local butcher / farmer. That seems to be the only way to circumvent the big supermarkets in the absence of a farmer's market.
Either that or go veggie!

[chris]

We buy from local markets (who can trace back to the farm and prove it's organic)... or, before that we bought from riverford farm - we used to live in exeter and they deliver (even to South Wales, funnily enough) - check them out - they may have a local rep who sources their meat. The meat (and veg) boxes are seasonal, so it's quite cool not really knowing what you'll get (unless you go looking like!).

But yes, I agree -and find it a bit of a disgrace that supermarkets (i.e the willow farm BRAND, from Tesco) are allowed to disguise meat as similar to free range, or organic - as in take the willow farm /corn fed (but still kept in cr*p conditions) examples. Bit annoying, if we do buy from supermarkets

ETA: Infact, it bugs me that people frown upon me for buying organic, saying they can't afford it so have to choose value/battery ranges.. Half of the time, a lot of the people are on a lot more money than me - but that's a whole other rant

As Jeanied has said above, I would like to build a relationship with a more local butcher (i.e. one in my town) - but sadly, there's no decent one. I have to go into Cardiff for that.

Other than that, the other option would be to bring your own meat up and slaughter/get it slaughtered for your consumption.. I've recently read about being able to 'buy' a lamb, have input on what its fed, then you get the whole carcass once ready... you're able to view it etc, can't remember where this was, I think it was around £199 - something I'd like to do, but don't have the room to store a whole lamb in the freezer.

[Glutton4...]

With you on that one, Munch! I buy our meat from our local Butcher - yes, we are lucky enough to still have one! I do pay a premium for it, but I know where it comes from, and how it is reared.

Unfortunately, it is down to price. Many many people would rather not know where their bird comes from, or how it is reared. They buy on price. If they didn't, there would be no call for the cheap meat, and it would cease to be produced.

As many of you know, I keep Chickens, and am currently rearing four Fellas for the pot. The rate at which they are eating their Growers' Pellets is astounding. Therefore, I fully expect them to be the most expensive (but probably also the tastiest) Chickens I will ever eat!

No, I'm not going to work out how much...

[Alison]

I've not bought meat from supermarkets for years now and actively avoid supermarkets most of the time (only call in every few months for loo roll and a couple of other bits). We don't eat much meat but what we do eat is more ethical (not always organic but always free range etc), mainly from farmers markets / local butchers who we know and trust. Tend to buy quite a bit when we have the time / it's available and freeze and to be honest it doesn't work out that expensive so long as you buy when you see it rather than when you want it.

With regards to the supermarket stuff, I'm deeply suspicious that a lot of it isn't quite as free range as I'd like anyway, they do seem to put a lot of spin on not a lot if they think they'll get more profit.

[taff]

HOWEVER....... we have increasingly become aware of a deminished range of free range availabe to the point where we decided that enough is enough today when going to sainsbury to buy a FREE RANGE chicken only to discover only 2 chicken,s completely over priced (£10 for 1.7KG bird). That was it!!! all the rest were cheap as s@*t poor burnt legged chooks. We came home with nowt!

fads and fashions...supermarkets will cash in on anything that seems popular at the time, look at what happens when Delia is cooking.

I've got two theories. One, people stopped buying as much so they stopped supplying so much.
Two, they make more money on imported danish meat/bacon for example, so they put that on the shelves instead, and people buy it anyway.

[Hilary B]

Our ONLY supermarket (for now) is Waitrose. They have the reputation for quality (including farm animal welfare), so we buy free range chicken occasionally.
I just hope that when the new Tesco is opened (before Easter they say) they don't cream off enough of the trade to put Waitrose ut of business, because if they do, I will have a 10 mile drive to a supermarket I am prepared to visit. If I can't have the Waitrose quality, I'll go for the REAL economy version and use ASDA!

[winstonwobble]

i fully agree with what you are saying but i am currently raising 6 turkeys for christmas when i offerd one to a cople of people and told them i wanted about 40 quid for one they are then not interested too dear ! it dosent even cover the cost of the feed so try to get to know someone who raises there own and then you can go and see the meat you are going to eat and bu+++r the supermarkets

[petal]

I agree with alison, I too am deeply suspicious about the 'freerange' label on supermarket meat. Freerange as opposed to what? We have been raising our own chickens for eggs and meat the past year and would never, ever, buy from the supermarket again. We can source lamb, beef and pork locally and are raising 2 turkeys for our own consumption. i know not everyone is as lucky as we are to have a big garden and the know how but many more people could follow in our footsteps if they really wanted?

[Munch]

We are going to grow our own next year..... slightly worried about the slaughter bit

I just wish everyone had the same opinions as us *keeps dreaming*. I forgot to mention that one of the chickens that Sainsbury had in there "higher welfare" range had bright red burnt legs and hocks.... mmmmm higher welfare my a**e.

We are lucky in the fact the hubby being as chef has good contacts with good butchers, but that doesnt help the spur of the moment 'lets have a roast tonight dear' on a Sunday when we did not expect to be at home!

I know people say they cant afford free range but I bet they dont think twice about buying expensive prepared veg.... for example trimmed beans...... something else the supermarkets feel they need to do for us!

Sorry off on another rant...... we get all our veg from the farm shop.... the ones we dont grow that is!

[OverWyreGrower]

i fully agree with what you are saying but i am currently raising 6 turkeys for christmas when i offerd one to a cople of people and told them i wanted about 40 quid for one they are then not interested too dear !

We're selling ours between £40 and £55, based on slaughtered weight (and a couple may be above that), and not one person has said no because of the price. We've picked up leaflets from local butchers and supermarkets, and we seem to have priced ourselves in the middle of their prices.

[Hilary B]

It's 12 years since I did turkeys for sale at Christmas (we moved), and back then I was getting a little over £1 per lb deadweight (plucked but otherwise untouched). We sold in the annual Christmas Poultry auction at the local livestock mart, and anything reasonably good was getting that sort of price, from bantam cockerels up to massive turkeys. Geese and ducks were a bit more per lb, but anything not fully plucked went cheaper.

[chris]

We (family wise) would normally spend £60 on a turkey, so I don't think £40 is expensive personally, not for a free range, happy turkey.

Recently though we've only been buying crowns. This year, we're (as in 'my' family (wife, daughter)) are having xmas at home.. quite fancy something different (maybe goose?) but it's impossible to find locally, of decent quality.. hopefully I've not left it too late in Cardiff!

[SlugLobber]

Even free range isn't enough for me. The requirments for 'free-range' is 2500 chickens per hectare. That's 2500 chickens on Trafalgar Square (I couldn't visualise a hectare, so googled it!).

Even Organic chickens only 'require' 2 square feet per chicken (which is more than free range). So, I don't eat less than organic and normally only from Waitrose/farm delivery. The local butcher doesn't do organic and was quite rude when I asked if they had any organic chicken!

Probably explains why I eat very little meat! I agree, the sale of organic or free range poultry is appalling in some supermarkets. Pees me off no end, as I refuse to buy 'Value' meat. I might save in money, but I pay with my conscience!

[womble]

The biggest problem is that people are so used to buying cheap meat. Meat should not be that cheap!
£10 for a chicken isn't over the top. Not that long ago chicken was an expensive meat that people couldn't afford to eat that often, then came along factory/large scale farming and the standards got lower and lower, the meat got cheaper and cheaper, till we are now too used to meat that is ridiculously cheap.
If you reared a few birds yourself, you'd really find out how much it costs to rear a decent bird. And then you wouldn't mind paying decent money for a decent one.

(Says the man whose OH bought a cooked, reduced end of day chicken from Asda for £1.30 last week ) But I have also reared my own.