Price/Welfare/Organic

I caught a bit of Countryfile on Sunday and they were talking about the above. They said that the majority of people consider Welfare and Price above Organic.

From what I can remember, Organic was very "fashionable" a few years ago but why have people put it lower down on their priorities? Having said that, I never really got into the Organic scene, although did try and buy organic for Sam when he was a baby, because that is what was "the done thing".

I used to be VERY welfare conscious and I still am, to a certain extent but as the cost of food has risen, I do sometimes slip and price becomes the main priority. However, we don't buy eggs, very rarely buy chicken, as we eat our own, although I buy Aldi's free range chicken when I do. Pork is the meat I buy the most because it's cheap and that is where the price becomes my main priority than welfare. I can buy a pork joint for £7 and that will give me 3+ meals and when you are on a tight budget, like we are, it makes economic sense.

We do eat a lot of pheasant in the season, which I believe is a very humane meat and a bit like eating one of our chickens who have had a totally free range life.

So, what are your thoughts when it comes to buying food? Price, Organic or Welfare?

Helen

Price for me, although I do try and factor in the 'welfare' part whenever possible. I do buy my meat from a local butcher (mainly chicken/turkey, but occasionally beef or lamb as a treat)
I'm not so bothered at all by organic.

Having only just started back at work, on a very small wage, with a disabled OH, we have a small income, so every penny counts!

I am lucky enough to be able to say that price is NOT the first consideration when buying food.

I DO consider welfare a high priority. After all, if I profess to be an animal lover (when it suits) I cannot then dismiss questions of welfare when it concerns the source of my meat.

Thus I NEVER buy meat that is not British and I buy free range where possible.

I would rather eat meat/eggs/fish/dairy products only 2/3 times a week knowing that it is ethically sourced than every day because it is cheap.

Nobody NEEDS to eat animal products daily in any case, it is just custom and practice in the UK.

Numerous studies have failed to produce a convincing case for organic in most products and for me in THIS case, the product does not justify the price.

I believe that if you are on a tight budget you can chooe NOT to eat meat and have the same if not better level of nutrition.

When price WAS the governing factor in my buying habits, I ate little meat.

Of course I cannot always guarantee that my dog food is sourced from totally ethical sources but I try.

I will not eat meat that is not free range at the least, organic at best. Welfare is top of my list of priorities, particularly with pork/bacon/ sausages.
I only eat organic carrots as research has shown that they really do pull in the 'bad' stuff.
My OH will happily eat less ethical meat and does, my son eats mainly the same as me but he likes a takeaway...
The dogs meat is not as ethically sourced as I would like it to be.

I would ( and do) go veggie if faced with unethically sourced meat and veggie meals.
We all however do what we can with what we have. A lot of veggie food raises issues over rainforests etc. Eating totally ethically is almost impossible.


I saw the thing on Countryfile... It basically said people hadn't fully understood that organic meat/ eggs came from
Animals with highet welfare standards.

Welfare is my main consideration when buying meat for the most part. Unfortunately I have slipped into buying the value chicken wings from Tesco for the dogs, but haven't found any other choices at the mo.

We have plenty of lamb (as hubby is a shepherd ) but that isn't really my favourite meat. We are also fortunate in that my FIL was a farmer and he has connections to a small, humanely run abbattoir near where he lives and he buys all our beef from there and delivers it up to us a few times a year (he is a diamond ).

The only meat I really buy from the supermarket is bacon and sausage.

I have nothing against Organic, and have bought organic lamb and pork chops in the past, but they are more expensive.

Hubby is a real meat eater, but I would be quite happy to eat less meat. I agree with SB that I would prefer to eat less meat than buy cheap meat all the time, and that is what I did when I lived alone and was on a much tighter budget than I am now.

Well, we are mainly veggie. Simply because I could not afford to eat organic meat every day.

On the days that we have meat, it is nearly always organic, and always FR. That will be a huge piece of beef, or a whole chook, and that will be stretched out as far as possible. I will only buy Organic Milk and Eggs, and will not eat farmed fish or Tuna either

People in the UK eat far too much meat (I sit on a Tesco C/O so I see the sheer volume of meats that most buy) Even if I go out/have a takeaway, I will only eat the veggie version.

TBH the best place to find good meat is online. I buy lamb boxes online for around £80 (Whole lamb, chopped to my order) 1/2 gos pork for around £100 ish, organic f/r chooks for around £14 each. Far better quality than anything you will find in Tesco!

BTW if people want a good veggie book, then River Cottage Veg is brill brill brill!

Very interesting comments. I tend to buy a joint a week and then will sometimes just add a bit of bacon to meals.

Hopefully, this year we will get a couple of lambs, mainly to help graze the paddock, but hopefully, use for meat - just need to find out whether I can actually do it at the end of the year! We have talked about rearing pigs which we haven't totally ruled out, so maybe once I can manage the lamb thing, that will be next on the agenda, so we can start to become self sufficient in the meat department.

Interesting to hear everyone's thoughts about it.

Helen

Agreed totally

Dave got this for Christmas, he's done a couple of meals from it and I'm looking forward to him doing a few more!

We're both vegetarian. We do buy meat for Max but I only buy him free range, organic or game.

Yes, it is a lot more expensive but, particularly having had the pleasure of many ex battery hens living with us, I couldn't buy intensively reared anything. I don't tend to buy chicken for Max although his Burns moist food mixed pouch boxes contain organic chicken.

Eating out for Dave and I is a bit of a nightmare . Chinese food is very much a no no for us because even if you can get a decent selection of vegetarian food, on asking them, most Chinese restaurant / take aways (round here at least) use eggs from battery hens so not even the vegetarian option is ethical. We did use to have a lovely Chinese who would always do our mushroom fried rice without egg and would offer a lot of vegetarian choices but sadly they closed.

Although I would not touch food that had battery eggs in, either as a main ingredient or a hidden ingredient, I have drunk tea and coffee with milk in which may or not be organic both in restaurants and at friend's houses. And yet I always buy organic milk at home. It is very hard to be ethical all of the time sadly.

Cafe Paradiso cookbooks by Dennis Cotter for veggie dishes.

Incomparable!

ooh...will look for that one SB.

We do also eat farmed and wild Venison, game birds, and rabbit.