Dear reader,
Day three of not going out (except for the dog walk yesterday). The day has started off with continual snow. The birds have been fed. Jingles has been eating, judging by the tail marks in the snow!
The cars have remained on the drive, the food we have in the house will have to be enough.
The heating is on, the coal and logs are ready for the stove tonight.
I don't mind the snow, it's just the hassle I don't like. The cars skidding, the panic buying at the shops, the wet shoes and the sludge aftermath when it goes all brown and dirty.
I have been doing some calculations while I have been indoors, using a mortgage calculator. There are loads of them online. You put in your mortgage amount and the interest rate and then how much you could overpay each month. It then calculates how many months you could reduce the mortgage by and the interest you would save by overpaying. Very, very interesting! Even an overpayment of £50 a month is a substantial saving. It's a real motivational tool.
I am running the food down in the house. I thought I had a sack of potatoes but when I actually looked there were three manky, little ones left. I have lots of mixes, sauces, stir fry packets but lack the base ingredient which is usually chicken in this house. I am quite happy with vegetables but big man likes his protein. I am concerned with whats in the cheap stuff. You hear how the meat is injected and pumped with antibiotics, not to mention the welfare issues of which there have been many reports of late in the press. It always really upsets me.
I have also read about lots of cases of the food just not being what it says on the packaging from meat and fish to pesto and some very well known retailers being fined large amounts. It appears a fast buck is worth the fine and deceiving your customers.
I had a look at Smithfield market which is a wholesale, meat market in central London. It supplies restaurants and butcher shops at wholesale prices but is also open to the public. It opens at 3am so I may go up there one morning and see if I can buy some organic chicken there and freeze it.
I looked online for organic chicken but they are charging £9.68 for two breasts which we just can't afford.
www.smithfieldmarket.com
Today we are eating, omelette with left over gammon and cheese with toast and tonight we will have sausage casserole with Yorkshire pudding and vegetables.
What do you think reader about cheap meat and do you trust what it says on the label?
Sarah x
We eat free range and preferably organic meat here - especially if bought from a supermarket
ReplyDeletebut on the whole we buy from our local butcher ( award winning, only free range local meat supplied) or more often direct from the producer - I am going to eat some sausages for lunch today made from pigs I could see in the field a mile away :-)
I accept I am very lucky to have the option to do this because we have lots of local suppliers of such stuff. But it is possible even shopping in supermarkets.
To be honest if I couldn't eat ethically reared eggs, meat, dairy (our dairy is Soil Ass. certified organic) then I would not eat them at all.
And we just eat a bit less of them, to make up for any cost premium.
That's what we do , anyway :-)
Stay safe in this snowy weather
Hi Compost woman, ( your name always makes me imagine you outdoors digging, I'm sure you're not!)
DeleteI have problems finding organic meat in the shops here but we do have a food butcher here in the village but he does close quite early.i must make the effort to get organised and go up there on my days off. I buy my eggs from the local farm, although I have never seen or heard a chicken there which makes me think......
I will definately try to eat less and small amounts of quality meat. Thanks for sharing your advice.
Sarah. X
I am, most of the time! But too much snow here to dig at the moment.
DeleteHave you got a local meat box scheme? like veggies, but with meat? They are gettting more common now.
I try and buy british meat so I can see where it comes from. Also preferably from our local butcher who tells us which farm its from. Some stuff is a lot more local than I thought. I agree with Compost woman, quality over quantity. Its better to have something smaller/healthier/tastier than a big pile of junk ! I had yesterday buthcers own made pork and leek sausages and they were delish !
ReplyDeleteHi Miss P B,
DeleteDefinately going to try the quality over quantity in future. I did buy big man a piece of organic steak the other day and it was lovely and tender. The sceptic in me worries that they lie though and really it's the same old meat they sell cheap as well. It was probably my fantastic cooking skills that made it taste so good. That's what I told himself anyway!
Going to try the local butcher in future. Thanks for commenting and popping in.
Sarah. X
Well, the organic label people could be lying about the provenence I guess - but Organic (UK) meat has even more of a certification and audit trail than non organic UK meat...so I suspect is more reliable.
DeleteIf you can find a reliable local source of ethically reared meat I would not worry so much about the organicness - if you can see the chickens, pigs etc and are happy with how they are kept you are probably ok.
But if you are also concerned about stuff in feed antibiotic residues, GM feedstuffs etc), organic is the way to go.
But any move away from factory farmed meat, eggs etc is a good move :-) and is to be applauded :-)
Dear Compost woman,
DeleteThanks for replying, am trying to find some good local producers near to me but proving difficult. Will keep trying, thank you for your reply and assistance.
Sarah x
I think we may try our local butcher too.
ReplyDeleteSft x
Hi SFT,
DeleteMe too, I like compost woman's outlook. Am trying to find a decent butcher here and going for organic I think. I will just cut down on my meat as I like veg anyway.
Sarah. X