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[Ange1]

Dianne, I hope to teach my girls to be bilingual!

 

Although Sweedish wasn't going to be one of the languages so I'll be able to call it kyckling too!

[Ange1]

Forgot to say yes, I do eat chicken, but don't even have the girls yet... maybe I will feel different, but like others I always go for the organic free range stuff!

[mrsm_jones]

It hasn't changed my eating habits. I eat a lot of chicken, and I only buy free range (pref organic).

 

What has changed is that I now ask in restaurants if the chicken is free range, and I don't order it if it isn't.

 

I agree. Still eating as much chicken as we did before, but we're just a bit more conscious of where our food comes from than before. I always ask if chicken / eggs are free range, and I missed out on a Mc Donald's bacon & egg Mc Muffin cos they couldn't guarantee that the eggs were free range!

[superjules]

We eat chicken, either from our local butcher or from Waitrose, normally free-range at the least and if I'm feeling particularly flush, a Sheepdrove farm organic chicken. We eat it less often than we used to though, probably one chicken a fortnight.

 

I always buy a whole bird - never portions, as at least then I know none of it will go to waste. I always cook it in my slow cooker so it's easy to get all the meat off, which then gets portioned up and added to curry or coq au vin or pasta sauce. A decent sized chicken does 3 meals for 4 of us and the bones get used for stock. Any bits of meat or skin left after I've made the stock get whizzed up to make dog biscuits. When a chicken carcass leaves our house it is a tiny little bag of bones the size of a tennis ball.

[craftyhunnypie]

I can't eat chicken at all any more or anything that doesn't use free range eggs! I just picture my pets if I had to eat chicken. I just can't eat it.

 

 

Emma.x

[Ange1]

Superjules, I'd never thought of cooking a chook in a slow cooker, brilliant idea! Do you put any liquid in with it? How long would you cook one for, I'd like to try it?!

[chickenanne]

Yep, I still eat chicken. I always did only buy free-range /organic meat.

Am totally sick of eggs though.

[superjules]

Superjules, I'd never thought of cooking a chook in a slow cooker, brilliant idea! Do you put any liquid in with it? How long would you cook one for, I'd like to try it?!

 

Just chuck it in the slow cooker, on it's own, no liquid. Put the slow cooker on high, start it at lunchtime and it's ready for dinnertime. The skin doesn't crisp like it would if you did it in the oven, but then that's no good for my hips anyway!! It all falls apart, really tender, moist and absolutely lovely. I'm doing one today, in fact! Once I've got all the meat off it, I chuck everything else (bones, skin, gristley bits) back in the slow cooker with some water (and some veg if I'm feeling posh), put it on low overnight, strain the stock in the morning, pour it into little pots, skim off the fat once it's cooled and freeze. Saves buying oxo cubes!

[Ange1]

Mmmm sounds brilliantly simple,

 

Boyfriend was only complaing the other day that I didn't use the slow cooker enough 'another useless gadget he called it'

 

ha, I'll show him!

 

Thanks Jules!

[BarbaraJ]

Yep we love chickens here ours and the edible kind lol

I only buy free range and love mini snack eggs and they have to be free range eggs.

I have to be honest and do occasionly eat chicken in restaurants but i've yet to come accross anywhere that serves free range, if they did i would go to eat there!

[sheik]

We are committed carnivores and would never give up meat.

Since keeping our own chickens we buy free-range birds where we can, but this isn't practical when chicken is an ingredient rather than being sold just as meat on its own. In those cases we try not to let it worry us.

 

In the same way, we bought free range eggs even before we had our own abundant supply - but we don't actively seek out products that only use free-range eggs as an ingredient - we'd have to miss out on far too many favourite foods for that .

 

When we buy a whole bird I can easily make it provide several meals over a few days (at least four adult dinners and two lunches) and we'll often make stock from the carcass to use with soup, sauces or for boiling rice (Shanghai style!).

 

Speaking of Chinese food, one of my favourite delicacies is steamed chicken feet with black beans and chilli. When I first got chickens it was funny for me to see their feet up close as I'd never seen them attached to the bird before . I still happily eat them, as does my wife. I'd imagine just the very look of the dish would appal most Omlet forumites though...

 

/\dam

[superjules]

Mmmm sounds brilliantly simple,

 

Boyfriend was only complaing the other day that I didn't use the slow cooker enough 'another useless gadget he called it'

 

ha, I'll show him!

 

Thanks Jules!

 

Chuck some herbs on it and a lemon inside it and it smells divine. He'll think you're a right domestic goddess. I use my slow cooker loads, it's one of those gadgets I really couldn't do without, probably because I'm an inherantly lazy cook! There's a good book called "Slow Cooking Properly Explained" which is well worth a read for some inspiration.

[ChrisP]

I feel a bit silly now for making such a big deal that I didn't want to cause offence to anyone

 

Only, friends and family are absolutely shocked (some are almost disgusted ) that i still eat chicken, despite having four running around, but then their next question is "so, are you going to eat your own?" which is a definate no for me.

 

The only thing that makes me go funny is if I have to handle a whole raw chicken, it has to be in portions for me, but other people in the house can do what they like

[Mrs Frugal]

No offence taken at all.

 

We still buy chicken but it's always free range, usually from a local farm so we know that the bird has had a good life out in the fresh air. We don't eat chicken as often as we used to though but make a whole free range bird last 3 days if we can so we're far more frugal and don't waste a s"Ooops, word censored!".

[Hen Watch]

Still eat chicken, same as before the girls arrived. Will only buy from Waitrose though (as they've only ever sold higher welfare birds even before all that TV stuff). Would love to say I buy free range now, but I don't.

 

But since having the girls I've turned into an "egg bully" and am disgusted with any of my friends who don't buy free range eggs. I mostly bought free range eggs before I had the girls with the occasional barn egg if they were on offer. Now I can't beleive I ever bought barn eggs.

[*mummy_hen*]

We aren't vegetarian but must admit since having the girls, we are using quorn as an alternative for most things.

 

Not saying i will NEVER eat chicken again but since having them, can't quite look at it in the same way!

[mayflower]

Since having our hens, chicken eating has been reduced from weekly to monthly and free range. I have been buying free range eggs for years, but have'nt bought an egg since having our girls!

[Guest]

yes, we still eat chicken but we buy ours from a butcher and they get their chicken from here http://www.sjfrederick.co.uk/

 

so I know they've been well looked after before they get to my plate.

[Abbey Road Girl]

My chicken-eating has been reduced to almost zero since I got my hens two months ago. Just can't seem to put it into the shopping trolley.

 

Probably a good thing if it's true that chicken is pumped full of anti-biotics and growth hormones.

 

Lamb seems to be the ethical choice for meat eaters for a number of reasons. More natural life, for example.

 

Omlets are lovely!

[Guest]

My chicken-eating has been reduced to almost zero since I got my hens two months ago. Just can't seem to put it into the shopping trolley.

 

Probably a good thing if it's true that chicken is pumped full of anti-biotics and growth hormones.

 

Lamb seems to be the ethical choice for meat eaters for a number of reasons. More natural life, for example.

 

Omlets are lovely!

 

the chicken we get is 'label anglais' and their web site says;

 

Label Anglais

 

A special slow-growing breed

Fully free range from five weeks old

Grown to full maturity

Fed a high cereal diet, including 20% maize

Fed no antibiotics

No artificial additive or colourings.

 

 

http://www.sjfrederick.co.uk/html/labelanglais.htm

[Couperman]

I love chicken it is my favourite roast.

 

Keeping hens as pets has made me respect the chicken we eat and not waste anything. It also made me look at where our food comes from and as a direct result we now have an allotment and are growing our own veg.

We get three or four meals out of a free range chicken and then make stock with whats left and freeze it in ice cube trays.

 

Before we had our girls I bought cheap chicken and didn't give a hoot where it came from or what kind of life it had, it was just 'meat' and if we didn't eat it all, 'so what' it was only a couple of quid.

 

I saw this in someones signature somewhere and it is so right,

 

'If you are not going to eat it, don't kill it'

 

This doesn't apply to flies of course. they don't taste too good anyhow.

 

Kev.

[Abbey Road Girl]

 

the chicken we get is 'label anglais' and their web site says;

 

Label Anglais

 

A special slow-growing breed

Fully free range from five weeks old

Grown to full maturity

Fed a high cereal diet, including 20% maize

Fed no antibiotics

No artificial additive or colourings.

 

 

http://www.sjfrederick.co.uk/html/labelanglais.htm

 

Sounds really good, Poet, but how do you buy it? Years ago, I bought meat from the Real Meat Company in the Co-op--nice just to choose it and put it into your trolley.

 

Am not that confident about getting meat through the post. Perhaps you or others can reassure?

[Guest]

I buy it from my local butcher http://www.thescotchbeefshop.co.uk they're a 5 minute car journey from us

[Guest]

p.s. Sue, try www.freerangereview.com that's how I found my butcher

[Abbey Road Girl]

I buy it from my local butcher http://www.thescotchbeefshop.co.uk they're a 5 minute car journey from us

 

Thanks, Poet, I'll have to do some research. The best turkey I ever ate was Christmas 1987. A free range bird that was so much tastier than any I'd ever eaten before (or since).

 

I mean, if we're going to eat any sort of meat, the meal should have something to commend it. Sort of like the "Slow Food" philosophy.