Chickens all want to stay in the doorway!

[Cinnamon]

Well, thanks to this thread & all your comments I have taken the plunge & have ordered my first ever veggie box from Riverfords.

 

I am quite excited about it & I am sure the Hens will appreciate the Spinach which is coming

[mountainboarddude]

i often find that farmers markets sell a lot of organic produce that is reasonably priced and you can find out how it is grown/reared, and you can pick what you want. borough market is great , they have lots of butchers and fish and veg stalls. i got a whole hock for 50p last time i went.

[starboyhull]

Ive just had a look on riverfords site and it has redirected me to riverswale.co.uk I think I will give them a try next time I need some more veg.......

[Helly Welly]

I used to plan my meals a week in advance but since having a veg box i find it more interesting to try and use whats in it. Because the produce is seasonal it makes you go back to a more old-fashioned way of cooking which can only be a good thing, considering all the rubbish they put in our food nowadays. The absolute only processed thing i buy now is pasta sauce for when i make lasagne, and i'm very careful about which one i buy.

 

Organic ice cream is expensive, but have you tried Green & Black's vanilla, absolute heaven.

 

River Nene's veg boxes are excellent Lindsay, if there is any veg we don't like, such as celery, then the chickens certainly appreciate it.

 

I jsut wish more people were as concerend about their food as us Omleteers. All the mums at school would never buy organic, don't care whether produce is seasonal or not, would probably not understand the concept of food miles and just buy whats cheapest. One i know buys a whole chicken but only uses the breasts and THROWS the rest away

She doesn't buy portions because then it "doesn't taste like roast chicken". And you cvan guarantee that the chickens were two for £5 from Tesco

[Richard]

Hi

 

Did anybody else watch the Fiona Bruce programme on supermarkets and food miles, carbon footprints etc. the other night?

 

I'm reading a really good book at the moment - Tescopoly. All about the effect on the economy of the big multiples like Tescos (and the other supermarkets, Starbuks, Gap etc.). Its well worth getting out of the library (for the north Norfolk folk I think there are two copies and I have one out; it will be going back to Hunstanton library in a couple of weeks).

 

I've also just finished Travels with my Chicken - I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as Hen and the Art etc. Again, that is going back to Hunstanton library in a week or two.

[Olly]

this is a great thread - apologies to chookiehen, and I think I misunderstood your point; I take it that you were saying that loose produce marked 'organic' isn't necessarily so. I accept that can happen, I've worked in a supermarket myself many years ago, but I don't suppose practices have changed much! I am so fed up with buying over-packaged food, though.

 

I was veggie for years, but then started eating meat again, but I WILL NOT eat chicken unless I know it's free-range. Or duck - I used to love crispy duck and pancakes at chinese restaurants, but I won't eat it now. Organic isn't necessarily best, not if it's flown in from Kenya for example - before I buy anything now, I try and stop to think where it's come from and how it was produced.

 

Makes shopping take a long time

[starboyhull]

Have to agree with you there.....It does take a long longer to do the shopping.......I think once you get into it you will know the products you like, just a bit of re-education, not sure friends and family would be that "bothered" about changing their habits though....

 

One friend wont even buy free range eggs......Really gets to me, I wont eat eggs at their house, they got really offended by it, but I stook to my guns and offered to buy some free range, they told me to do without lol

 

People want everything "cheap" no matter what the consequences.....Us omleteers will change the world

[Lesley]

Slightly off topic here (Me?! )

 

Jake (grandson aged 6) was asked to keep a food diary as his homework last week. He had to record Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner but not to include snacks. They always eat healthy, home made food but are allowed treats ocasionally. On the first day, a Saturday - he went to play with two brothers who live in the same road - their Mother phoned to ask if Jake could stay for lunch.

 

He came home later to write down what he'd eaten - 3 bags of crisps and 6 doughnuts His Mum quickly persuaded him that that had only been a snack and gave him a cheese and salad sandwich and some fruit salad She was mortified - and having to write it into his homework made it even worse These two lads eat junk all day - every day

[starboyhull]

Thats terrible, although my mums fiance's child (who lives with her mother) is exactly the same, she east junk like that for EVERY meal.....It drives my mum crazy when she comes to stay as she will never eat proper food, "im full" but then would eat sweets, crisps and the like......I really dont know what some parents are thinking when they feed their children like this.....

[bronze]

How do they afford to feed their children junk food? I's extremely expensive compared to normal food. I have admit only a few of our items are organic. If we went by Starboys amounts then we would easily add between 50 and 100 to our shopping bill. I am gradually changing products each time to keep track of what we can afford. We do grow some of our own veg, have egss (of course) and get our gallons of milk delivered. Things are changing slowly. Wish DH wasnt a meat man though.

[Charlottechicken]

Things are changing slowly.

 

That's the way I am doing it Bron, and I think a slower change will mean I stick at it.

 

A while ago I was over at a friend's house and she offered me a drink. I chose a small glass of orange juice, which tasted just like syrup and turned out to be bloomin' Sunny D It was so sweet it made my teeth hurt! She is a single parent, and it would have been cheaper for her to buy the cheap bog standard orange juice I currently buy, and better for her daughter, who is a little madam! No wonder!

[buffie]

Went to the farmers market today, stocked up on good meat and veg. The veg box chap asked me about BHWT, so I have email him next week

 

Had an ostrich burger, really nice. We try to buy as much local, especially welfare friendly meat, as we can and organic if necessary. We don't really eat out etc so we spend on good food and wine Found out all the organic onions in waitrose are from new zealand and egypt, not in season, so we bought large spring onions, local, to use in cooking

 

BBx

 

Nice thread

[Helly Welly]

seasonal, local food is more important than organic, although all that crop spraying ruins the soil.

 

Seasonal, local AND organic, now that would be nice.

 

My daughter is also only fed unhealthy snacks very occasionally, its actually OH who is my biggest problem as he will happily buy her pizza nad then let her eat the leftover slices for breakfast If i'm there i can stop him, and he does know better, i think he jsut gives in to whats easy. Its not even like she nags us for junk food, she's always been really good about what she should and shouldn't eat.

[Lesley]

orange juice, which tasted just like syrup and turned out to be bloomin' Sunny D It was so sweet it made my teeth hurt! She is a single parent, and it would have been cheaper for her to buy the cheap bog standard orange juice I currently buy, and better for her daughter, who is a little madam! No wonder!

 

As Lauren announced loudly from the trolley in Tesco's (when she was a lot younger) just as a lady put some in her own trolley..............

 

"That's rubbish, that is - isn't it Grandma?" - out of the mouths of babes

[Charlottechicken]

Wonderful Lesley, I wish I had been there

 

I wonder if Sunny D is a chav drink?

[Rhapsody]

I've reversed my thinking somewhat on the organic/non debate.....instead of saying "My goodness that's expensive"(organic) I say "My goodness that's cheap, how was it produced and how much profit did the farmer make?"

I simply buy less food nowadays so that I can budget for organic, it's that simple, and it means there is no junk food in the house.

Off to polish my halo!

[theherd123]

I wonder if Sunny D is a chav drink?

 

It cant be or Lesley would have shares in the company!

[Richard]

Organic is great, and we try to buy organic stuff when we can. However I'm not sure that I fully understand what it means - I know it's not quite as straightforward as it sounds. Some sprays are allowed whereas others aren't as far as I can gather.

 

The stuff from my garden has no sprays at all, so at least I know what has happened to that! Mind you, its been a funny year so far. My potatoes are great (Rocket earlies have given a fantastic crop). Leeks, parsnips etc are doing OK, as are the broad beans. The french beans are rubbish plants - gone all yellow, and my courgettes aren't doing their usual rampant thing. Still, the salad crops are OK.

Edited July 1, 2007 by Guest

[Lesley]

We need some sun Richard - and less slugs

 

I agree about the chemicals which growers are allowed to use - I think in practise that most of them don't use them and even so, I assume there will be less than on non organic produce - or perhaps that's wishful thinking?

[Richard]

Talking of slugs - I thought chickens were suppose to like eating slugs. Mine have never eaten a slug - they run away when I present them with a nice fat juicy slug that I have caught sneaking up on my peppers or aubergines in the greenhouse!

[Olly]

Talking of slugs - I thought chickens were suppose to like eating slugs.

 

Yeah, that was one of the myths that I fell for! I pick slugs out and poke them into the run, and they ignore them ... last night there was one SITTING on the Grub and they took no notice!

 

Going back to revolting orange drinks, a friend told me that Sunny D is kept in the chiller cabinet, not because it needs to be chilled - it's so full of junk that it couldn't go off - but because people associate 'fridge' with 'fresh orange juice' and therefore assume it's got natural products in! Don't know if this is true, but I suspect it is.

[Couperman]

No-one would eat Quorn if they knew what it was!

 

Kev.

[Egluntyne]

No-one would eat Quorn if they knew what it was!

 

Kev.

 

 

Quorn makes me so ill!

 

I'll not describe the symptoms on a family forum, and particularly not at breakfast time, but I think the stuff is positively toxic.....and I'm sure I read that some of the products contain eggs which are from battery hens.

 

It makes a friend of mine similarly ill so I rest my case!

[Nicola H]

It has the same effect on me Egluntine and as you say the symptoms are not suitable for a family forum.............It is vile stuff.....

[Tina C]

I have just sent a question to Quorn asking about free-range eggs.

 

We eat it (in small quantities) with no ill effects.

 

BTW - for those interested in 'meat alternatives' don't go OTT on soya products as they can have similar side effects to those (not) described by some of you!