organic chicken or free range, whats the cheapest?

fguihen

I want to move away from the genetically "enhanced" poor chickens that have a terrible and short existance, that we find in tesco and dunnes at the lowest cost.

im aware that organic and free range chickens have better lives and so would rate higher on my register. i got some freerange yesterday in tesco and for 4 breasts it was just under 14 euro! i cant afford that much for 4 chicken breasts but would rather give up chicken than resort to the cheap poorly cared standard tesco chicken.

is there a compromise on cost, that still ensures the chicken are cared for in a better way?

cozmik

Free range/organic chicken is a luxury not something you would eat everyday.

The Sweeper

Free range is cheaper than organic free range.

Additionally, buying whole chickens is more economical than buying chicken breasts, you just need to learn some knife skills and some thrifty recipes for using a whole chicken.

noby

Majd is right. For around the same price as your 4 breasts you would get a good size free range chicken. Two breasts, two thighs, a couple of wings (pop them into the freezer until you've collected enough of them), a carcass for stock.

catho_monster

I buy M&S Oakham chicken as they're raised to RSPCA standards.
I generally can't afford free-range/organic unless on special, and i refuse to eat general supermarket/butcher chicken as the welfare issues disturb me. M&S is my middle ground...

olaola

Free range is cheaper. I can get a decent sized one (for about 4 people) in my local butcher for about €12. I saw an organic bird at the Dun Laoghaire Sunday market for €26!! :eek: Organic doesn't necessarily mean free range!

Samson

Aldi sell free range whole Irish chickens for €6.99 if memory serves.

olaola

Samson wrote: »

Aldi sell free range whole Irish chickens for €6.99 if memory serves.

You're right. I did get one, and it tasted fine - but I found it had a tough texture. My husband noticed it too. I cook chickens all the time, and this one was treated no differently.

jdivision

Don't buy them in Tesco for a start. Tesco pumps up its prices on meat regularly, so that it can then run half price promotions etc.

horsenut

we buy free range as organic is way out on budget. we buy ours in tesco for about €8.00 (whole chicken) but im always on a lookout for them and bulk buy if they are reduced (i am lucky to own a chest freezer, its a godsend).

There's only the two of us so a whole chicken goes a long way: this is what we do with one whole chick:
day 1. roast (normally at the weekend). usually eat the breast only for this meal
day 2. serve the drumsticks and wings with mashed spuds
day 3. strip carcass of all meat and make a chick and brocolli pie. the carcass is then boiled resulting in stock. the stock in turn is divided into two containers for freezing. when defrosted, one stock is turned into a yummy soup and the other is used for risotto.

it works for us!

MoominPapa

olaola wrote: »

Organic doesn't necessarily mean free range!

Yes it does, for example the organic trust standards (see section 5.05.05). There are other standards bodies but I've never heard of free range not being part of the standard for poultry, got anything that says different?

Buying whole and portioning yourself will save you a fortune what ever you choose and it is really easy as this shows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd8ZRMAHZyU

Macha

catho_monster wrote: »

I buy M&S Oakham chicken as they're raised to RSPCA standards.
I generally can't afford free-range/organic unless on special, and i refuse to eat general supermarket/butcher chicken as the welfare issues disturb me. M&S is my middle ground...

I would suggest butchers are capable of providing much better quality and value than the supermarkets, incl m&s (altho they are v good). My local butcher sells large free-range chickens for €12. Out of that I get about 7 meals plus excellent quality stock. Yum!

Seaneh

MoominPapa wrote: »

Yes it does, for example the [

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd8ZRMAHZyU

this is how you'd cut it for classic sauté for use in stuff like coque au vin etc and because you get 10 cuts rather than 6 (if you just portioned wings/legs/breast) its a great way to stretch a whole chicken to feed a big family/group of friends on feck all money.

organicireland

Hi guys

we are launching a new organic website for customers like yourself that are looking to buy quality organic produce across ireland.

http://www.organic.ie

Mr Magnolia

Hi organicireland,

Welcome to boards.ie. Cheers for the link, it's fine. Be careful not to spam that link across the site though, there's some details in the email you recieved when you signed up.

Thanks.

the beer revolu

Alot of people watch programmes about animal welfare and farming practices on British TV and assume that the Irish food industry is the same.
Britain has a population of about 70 million.
Ireland has a population of about 4 million.
Clearly these demographics will produce very different farming practices.

Yes, I believe, organic is best as regards animal welfare and usually as regards quality too. But usually very expensive.

Irish chickens are not reared in the same way as British chickens and I believe our pork rearing is not half as intensive either.

We should be aware of where our meat comes from and inform ourselves properly and make decisions about what we buy based on good information rather than assumptions or hearsay.

Ultimately demand will control supply.

NoshCritic

To declare - have some inside views on this topic.....is that OK Moderator?

The rouguery/profiteering that is behind the publics lack of clear knowledge on this matter is massive:

A couple of tips:

Always make sure that the chicken produce is labelled correctly.The label should tell who the producer is, not a label that is created in-house by the retailer - it is the chicken producer responsibility to provide this, for you the consumer. If this butcher produces a chicken without the label then its source is immediately questionable. Look for signs in their shop that validate a link between the producers label and where they source their product.

To validate that the producer is a registered free range/organic grower you can contact the Dept of Ag - while I appreciate that is not what most people have time to do - if a few consumers looked for this info maybe they'd post the list of registered free range/organic growers and producers on the Dept of Ag site and save people alot of time 'wondering' if the chicken is the real thing.

The mark-up on these products is massive - you can make enquiries from a free range/organic producer to buy some chickens for your freezer if that suits you - appreciate that it will not suit all.

Hope this helps you get value for your hard earned money when purchasing an above average product.

olaola

the beer revolu wrote: »

Irish chickens are not reared in the same way as British chickens and I believe our pork rearing is not half as intensive either.

I think pork here in Ireland is reared on an intensive scale. Generally pigs from the UK are being reared under better standards (I think they are the best in Europe). That is unless you know a butcher who can tell you where and how the pork has been raised.

NoshCritic

Most of the pork sold in Ireland is from Germany and Poland and it is intensively reared. To get really nice pork suggest you try CaherBeg/Rigneys Farm Shop/ or simply slot Free Range Pork or Free Range Pig into Google for Pages from Ireland to see where it can be sourced.

Suprising the number of butchers who still had pork available during the recall period - obviously not Irish pork...........but was it sold as being Irish pork the previous week???? - Makes you wonder...