Buying 'free-range' and 'organic' poultry and dairy products...

I'm still spending the same amount on the same things just like b4.. Though i'm also facing credit crunch like u, but i believe in spending more to boost the economic.. IF everybody is cutting back on spending, the world's economy is gonna take a long time b4 it recovers.. Even the government is doing bailout for companies just because they wanna revive the world's economy crisis.. Thus, all the more, i will spend as much, as the lesser we spend, the gloomy the world economy will be..

Free range chickens are not about being more happy it is more about what they ingest that, long-term, affects our health. Farm raised chickens are fed mostly corn and that is not good for our health. Animals that roam and eat natural foods help to protect our health. If you read up on it, in many articles, you will see the reason why. I prefer free-range chickens and grass-fed cows to those who are corn-fed. Paying more for food is a lot cheaper than paying for a doctor, medicines, surgeries and hospitals.

For me, the problem with what we're eating isn't just that it's more politically correct and humane to eat animals who have not been caged and tortured, it's healthier and tastier. The hormones and anitbiotics that they stuff down poultry and animals cannot be good for us. I bought some beef at the store about 6 months ago that boasted that the cattle had not been given hormones or anitbiotics and it was free range. The cost was about 3 times what one would normally pay for a package of ground beef. But let me tell you...it was a gazillion times better tasting than any beef I've had in 25 years!!! It was awesome. I don't know about in the UK, but here in the US we eat far more than we should. Perhaps if we ate the serving sizes we were supposed to, we could afford to eat these more healthy and better tasting foods. And...if more people insisted on them, perhaps the others would go away?

you know, it seems to me the free range should be cheaper as i understand its cheaper to maintain them. so, just like a lot of other things i dont understand people. i still buy whats cheaper even tho i dont like the way these hens are kept and not cared for. i have to buy cheap

Hi marina321, I awlays buy free range eggs but really it should be cheaper then value eggs, that I don't understand. I let my hubby go shopping and he makes sure I get free range eggs, I find they tase better. Tamara

Hello marina321 Well I would love to buy all my meats, vegetables and fruits organically but they are just way too expensive. They say that the more you buy them and others to buy them the prices will eventually come down and yet in the meantime I am out of pocket!! I do always buy free range eggs from our local market though because they are only £1.40 for a dozen so I am happy with that. I try not to buy the value or economy (rock bottom) chickens and go for the next one up though I don't think they are free range but they have got to be slightly better than the cheapest - haven't they?

My partner and I have a small organic farmlet where we grow fruit and vegetables plus we also have some laying hens. Yes we have a few hens for meat but they are for our own consumption only whereas the rest of our produce is for sale as well as what we use ourselves. Organic produce is more expensive than the mass produced food certainly. However there are reasons why this is the case. For a start we have to be registered as growers of organic products and that costs a bit of money. To be registered, the soil has to be tested and samples are taken from several different areas on the farm. Once the tests come back okay then the farm is "organic in conversion" for 3 years and each year we have to have soil tests which are clear or any herbicides, pesticides or chemicals. If the farm these clear for those years, then the farmers can say they are "organic producers" for as long as the soil tests are clear. The farmer has to pay for these tests to be done every year. At the present time, in total it would costs us about $2500 every year to have our farm registered and the soil tests to be done. Also the organic growers association inspects the entire property, including all sheds to ensure that nothing "illegal" is kept there. If, for example, we had some chemical or even a weed killer in one of the sheds, we would immediately lose the organic certification. The seeds that we buy are much more expensive to buy. We cannot just go down to the local Garden Nursery and buy some tomato seeds for example as they are not organic although they cost less than half what we pay. When the fruit and vegetables are growing, the weeds also come up with the plants but they have to be removed by hand and not sprayed as non-organic farmers can do to get rid of them. For us it means we have to walk down each row with a hoe and remove the weeds, often spending hours bending over to ensure that the entire weed, including the roots, are removed. Then we have to move all the weeds from the rows and in fact put them in an area so they can be remved from the farm. It is a back breaking job and a constant one as well. We plant 4 acres of vegetables over several months plus have the fruit trees as well. We would spend more than 6 months of the year weeding and itis almost non-stop during the growing period. My partner would put in 8 hours a day 6 days a week just weeding and I put in about 12 hours a day 2 days a week plus depending on my other work, I could do it for another 12 hours over a few days. In addition we regularly have to employ people to help keep the weeds under control. The farmer does not make a lot of money from the sale of his produce and is also at the mercy of the elements. Example is that this year we got 2 very hot days just a the seedlings were coming through, and at a time when the weather is not normally extremely hot. The seedlings wilted and rather than take a risk, we had to replant more seeds to ensure we have a crop this year. The consumer wants "perfect" fruit and vegetables so we cannot send to market anything that is odd shaped. The product itself would be perfectly good but we have to supply what the market demands. When we pack our vegetables, they have to be packed in such a way that they are not bruised or marked during transportation to market. All the fruit and vegetables has to be hand picked. Again time consuming and we need to employ additional labour to help us and also to ensure it is off as soon as it is ready. Leaving ripe produce unpicked means it cannot be sold as by the following day, it will be overripe. Remember we are only a small enterprise and so our costs are nowhere as high as say a farmer who had 50 acres of organic crops. So whilst it might seem to be more expensive, organic produce is not cheap to produce and it is also labour intensive. Much of the crops do not actually make it to market because of the customer demands which in fact means the yield is down on what would be expected. No, we do not throw out the produce which is not a perfect shape but instead either use it ourselves some way or donate it to the local nursing home.

Foremost, I must admit that I'm quite new with the 'free-range' word because this isn't locally used. Call it stupidity, but I just want to be honest. But based on experience, I don't choose whether the products belong to a specific brand or producer; just as long as they're reasonably priced and not harmful to health. If given four or five choices among similar products differing in price ranges; I usually pick the cheapest, just like you did. My spouse, on the other hand, is a speedy buyer of goods. He tends to pick the first or second product he sees in the grocery or market without consulting other similar products which are less expensive. I guess everyone has his or her own choices but with the global economic crisis looming over our horizon at the moment, I personally am searching for feasible ways to cut costs and eventually save. We really need this now, because I'm afraid that I might be displaced from my current job by next year. The company I'm working with for the past four years is in the process of dissolution. In fact, the first batch of employees of about 20 people have been retrenched last September of this year. I couldn't possibly let this happen without taking steps to at least have savings for me and my own family, until I could find another job. My spouse has a daytime job but it's also a stable one. Aside from this, our daughter is about to start schooling by next year and we're planning on relocating to the province because cost of living is much cheaper over there; not to mention that the air is fresher. Happy holidays!

Well, you know the organic costs more as the up keep is less. But you also get less as well. I get the eggs that are cheaper and bleached when they try for they hey these eggare oganic just because there brown not. As more of your eggs are white anyway. Can you tell I grew up on a farm for part of my life and have farmers still in the family. I really don't like organic beef. Please give mine a shot or two. I had some last year and I remembered why I only ate hammberger. I didn't like it. Now see more people would be veg. if they had to taste what it all was all about from the begining. slauther the chickens. Or as my great grandma said come on girls time to behead the chickens. I don't eat alot of meat. Your friend onlydia. sorry got a little off base there. Have a good day

I know what you mean about prices. I also know what animals including chickens are fed if they are kept caged, but the best is organic, these have had no hormones or medications, which can be passed on to the eggs and certainly the meat. When I can afford it that is what I buy.

I always buy free range eggs, I just sort of promised myself I would and the price is not that different. Around here some people also sell their own home-produced eggs and they are cheaper. I try to buy meat from animals raised in good conditions where possible but it isn't always available, but if there is a choice between, for example, UK-produced bacon and imported bacon I will choose the UK stuff because animal welfare standards are higher (and I want to support UK farmers). One can't complain about the conditions under which farm animals are kept and then refuse to pay for the better conditions. I also often (when available) buy organic milk, not because organic food is any better but because under this system the cows cannot be continually pumped full of hormones and so get a bit of a rest and a better life.