Chicken

Now, ever since I could buy my own meat and eggs I've opted to go for the free range option. I realise this is probably because I'm soft when it comes to animals, but I can't help but feel that if we are to eat them then they should have a good life.

I have been watching with particular interest the latest TV programme from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and his attempt to get people to eat free range hens, and I watched with horror at the conditions they are kept in when intensively farmed. For an animal to never see daylight, and to eat for 23 hours a day just seems massively wrong to me. The thing I also didn't know was how these birds are culled if they don't make the grade, or aren't as big as they should be within their 39 days of life; and that 45 million birds are killed this way before ever reaching the dinner table - with 97% of them being intensively farmed.

All of this has made me more determined to carry on with my buying practises, I'd rather spend that pound more than contribute to that.