Healthy Food Ideas

Posted By admin on June 8, 2009

I save money on chicken by buying whole chickens and cooking them in the crock pot. I freeze the excess and so can make several meals from one chicken.  My cat particularly likes this, frequently begging. So I was pretty pleased when I went to Sams Club  and saw that whole chickens were only 89 cents a pound. Since I often pay $1.39 for whole chickens on sale, this was a pretty good deal, or so I thought. I purchased a bi-pack of 2 whole chickens without the organs for about $6 and change.

When I got home I got ready to prepare the birds as I always do but this time I was pretty amazed at what I saw. The chicken smelled strange and slightly bleachy. I assume that meant that the chickens were disinfected with chemicals (and maybe left out too long when they were processed – bleach just does not take that smell away.) I usually remove the skin to see how much fat is on the chicken; these chickens were really fatty.

The other thing that astonished me was the amount of blood in the breast and thigh meat and bruising in the leg area. Upon further inspection I saw that the chicken’s leg had been badly broken and had hemorrhaged, meaning that the chicken had been alive after the injury. Proper slaughtering should leave no blood in the meat, or broken bones for that matter.

As an experiment I went ahead and cooked the chicken anyway. When it was done I wasn’t particularly surprised to see my cat back away from the chicken that I put down for him and leave it completely untouched.

I was absolutely discusted with the choice that I made to go with the cheaper chicken. Times are tough, but I saving a few dollars had become a bad choice in this instance, without knowing it I’d made a choice to support animal factory production and cruelty to animals. Of course I did not know this when I purchased the chickens but it was pretty evident once I took off the wrapper. I took those chickens back to Sams Club and got my money back. I hope I’ll never be fooled by the lure of that kind of deal again. You get what you pay for.

We visited a Organic Farm a couple of weeks ago where they treat the livestock and poultry humanely. The animals roam free and  act more like happy pets than animals raised for food. We took a picture of the chicks that were raised from eggs and were scheduled to be released outside in 2 weeks after they were big enough. Notice how clean and well cared for the chicks are.

Baby Chicks at The Organic Farm

The free range cows were also very happy at the organic farm. They came up to me in a curious manner as if to check me out as I took pictures of them in the field. I quickly found that they each have their own personalities and curiosities.

Free Range Cows at an Organic Farm

If you have the chance to visit an organic farm I highly recommend the experience, and it’s a much better place to buy chicken, too!

Categories: Consumer Alerts, Healthy Tips
Tags: baby chicks, chicken, cows, factory farming, free range, organic farm, Poultry Farming, whole chickens