Hugh's Chicken Run, etc.

I think the Chicken Out Campaign is excellent.  This is going to sound lame, but although I've been pushing to buy free range eggs for years, it never occurred to me to think about the plight of meat birds.  I prefer to buy organic or free-range choices, but my husband and I have often been at odds over price, considering it a luxury purchase.  No more.  We're both long-time animal nuts, and having seen what we've seen, we agree it's free-range or nothing from here on out.  We eat too much meat in western culture anyway.  There's no excuse for animal cruelty just to produce cheap prices at Tesco (who I don't particulary care for in any case).  So, to those who don't think the show has made any difference, here are two more ordinary working-class converts to the free range cause (Both of us work full-time and bring home under £28,000 between us - pretty middle of the road people, not rich). 

I do pretty much all of these things, but... we must have bigger appetites than your lot!  Or are buying a smaller chicken, perhaps?

It's possible.  Our entire family are classic 'grazers' - we aren't the type who can eat a lot at one sitting, but do eat throughout the day. 

I always hated buffets because they're a waste of money for me, I could never manage more than one plate of food at a sitting.

I saw that show.  I spent the whole time yelling at the TV.  Of course the luxury brand has more fat.  They are supposed to taste better than the regular stuff they are not marketed as healthier, fat/sugar/salt all makes food taste better (to a certain extent of course).

Some of the comparisons were pointless too.  Museli has more fat in 100 grams than sausages.  Well, no kidding, but no one sits and eats 100 grams of Museli.  Unless they are planning to spend some serious time in the bathroom. 

That show really got me riled up. 

Yeah, I turned it off halfway through.

It's all about moderation, not about counting fat grams.

The the hatred of salt.  Too much salt can be a bad thing and if you are sensitive too it you need to be very careful, but the RDA is pretty arbitrary.  You need soem salt and fat to live. 

I didn't watch last night, but if it gave off the message that economy meals are better because they are lower in fat then that is BS.

I read the labels of everything I buy (Dan hates shopping with me because it takes hours and because I have a moral dilemma over everything!).  When trying to lose weight, which we both are at the moment, I always look at the low fat meals, and what really puts me off is that even though they are lower in fat they have so many chemicals and additives and God knows what else that just reading the labels makes me feel sick.  I have pretty much given up shop bought oven pizzas, cakes, pasta sauces, basically anything that I can make myself.  I have also noticed that the luxury brands, while containing more fat, not only taste nicer but have fewer additives.  I know that the cake I baked on Wednesday has vast amounts of butter in it, but I also know that it only had 5 ingredients in it, as opposed to the 35 ingredients of the average tesco sponge cake.  

I may be a bit lardy, but i'd rather that than fill my body full of unidetifiable nasties and E numbers.  And I save money in the process.

Vicky

Did anyone watch "Jamie's Fowl Dinners" last night?

DH and I watched about five minutes of it, until they killed the baby chicks.   It was horrible

Did anyone watch "Jamie's Fowl Dinners" last night?

DH and I watched about five minutes of it, until they killed the baby chicks.   It was horrible

Good thing you didn't keep watching because it got worse. They killed a chicken on the set with the audience by electrocuting it and then while it was passed out drained it of its blood while it was hanging upside down. I actually started crying. And I think it was the first time my husband didn't make fun of me for crying at something on tv. He was quite disturbed by it as well. 

I didn't watch last night, but if it gave off the message that economy meals are better because they are lower in fat then that is BS.

I read the labels of everything I buy (Dan hates shopping with me because it takes hours and because I have a moral dilemma over everything!).  When trying to lose weight, which we both are at the moment, I always look at the low fat meals, and what really puts me off is that even though they are lower in fat they have so many chemicals and additives and God knows what else that just reading the labels makes me feel sick.  I have pretty much given up shop bought oven pizzas, cakes, pasta sauces, basically anything that I can make myself.  I have also noticed that the luxury brands, while containing more fat, not only taste nicer but have fewer additives.  I know that the cake I baked on Wednesday has vast amounts of butter in it, but I also know that it only had 5 ingredients in it, as opposed to the 35 ingredients of the average tesco sponge cake. 

I may be a bit lardy, but i'd rather that than fill my body full of unidetifiable nasties and E numbers.  And I save money in the process.

Vicky

I could not agree more!!! I end up shopping at M&S a lot, even though it's a bit more expensive, but they really do seem to keep the additives out of their food. I'll even buy a few ready meals there every now and then, which I NEVER did in the US.

Did anyone watch "Jamie's Fowl Dinners" last night?

DH and I watched about five minutes of it, until they killed the baby chicks.   It was horrible

Yeah, I taped it as well.  Unfortunately, if you're going to eat chicken, you have to face up to the realities of it all.  At least the baby chicks don't go to waste and aren't made to suffer.  It's just a shame they can't sex the egg before it becomes a full-blown chicken.  Glad I watched, actually, painful though it was.  If you went further into the program there was a lot of useful info.  Like Hellmann's mayo and salad dressings are going to be free-range egg only from February on, and all the brands that are going to be RSPCA chickens in future.   

I missed the show.. I think it conflicted with 'Catch it, Kill it, Eat it'.  What were they doing with the chicks?  Besides just killing them, I mean. 

They were explaining that all male egg chicken chicks, regardless of whether they are free range, intensively farmed, or whatever, are killed after hatching since they are economically a loss.  They were killed by gassing them with carbon dioxide, which wouldn't have been painful in the least and took less than a minute.  The chicks are then used as food for pets, zoo animals, etc.  Still very sad, as it's horrible to see any animal die, but especially when it's a cute peeping fluffy baby chick.   

Darn, I was hoping they had found some way of cooking them.. that would be acceptable in our culture.  I've not been able to eat the 'chicks cooked in shells' that I've been offered.

I never knew that about male chicks, there's one species where being female is a distinct advantage, for about 40 days!

Cattle, ditto.

I guess I never really thought about it, but you never see a herd of bulls grazing, or a shed of cockerels. I wonder about sheep?

Obviously for the dairy cow breeds, there is culling of the males. I don't think that's the case with cows bred for meat but I'm not sure.

I don't *think* sheep have to be culled due to sex but I'm not positive.