usernamesAreTrickyKFC, Nando's, and others ditch [already weak] chicken welfare pledge as demand soars
SaneMartiganSeeing whole chooks at Aldi in Australia for $7 was a huge factor in me going vegetarian. No way can an animal have a good life then be processed and sold for $7.
I still eat free range eggs, I haven’t quite found a decent substitute. Silky tofu scramble is about three times the price near me.
I can’t speak to them personally, but if chickpeas or chickpea flour are cheaper near you, there are various chickpea-based scrambles you can make instead too! Also tofu scrambles can be (and more often are) with firm tofu instead of silken tofu, if for some reason there is a bigger difference in price between those where you are
I should also add that globally, free-range doesn’t mean what most people think it means, unfortunately
Bringing up a Tyson competitor, the farm manager wonders how other poultry companies handle supposedly free-range-raised chickens. The short answer: They don’t, really.
“Those birds don’t go outside — you know that,” the technician replies. “They don’t all go out … Look that up online.”
The manager chimes in: “It’s not like they make it like all of ’em come out and enjoy the sun.”
“That is strictly for commercial [advertising] purposes,” the technician says.
vox.com/…/tyson-chicken-free-range-humanewashing-…
For something more specifically about Australia
Under the current definition, up to 10,000 hens can be kept per hectare — a density almost seven times higher than earlier welfare guidelines recommended. Some smaller farms choose to keep far fewer birds, around 1,500 per hectare. Others operate at the legal maximum.
[…]
The standards also state that hens should have “regular and meaningful” access to the outdoors, but do not specify what that means in practice.
Oh yeah, “free range” is far from ideal in Australia. It usually means they live in a pit rather than cages.
Chickpea scramble sound interesting, I’ll look into that.
Extra firm tofu broken into chunks, toss with black salt (kala namak - very important), garlic, pepper, and creole, then toss again with nutritional yeast. Closest i’ve gotten to scrambled eggs
Silky or soft tofu goes the same. It’s somewhere between 2-3x the price, which is relevant for me. I just got a dozen 600g free range eggs for $3. A block of firm tofu is $2.80, I eat half a block most days already.
Wow that’s crazy high. I figured you meant the premade ‘egg’ style tofu. Have you ever thought about making your own tofu? Dried soy beans should be pretty cheap everywhere I would hope. How are wheat gluten prices for seitan?
I paid about 10/kg for gluten flour. 500g makes me about three dozen small “rashers” of bacon. I have two with an egg on toast.
I’ve looked for that pre made egg tofu but haven’t been able to find it. I live in a pretty Vietnamese area and the shopkeepers know what I’m talking about but say they don’t stock it.
I make a lot of stuff already. I feel that DIY tofu is too much of a time sink for me at the moment.
Could I get your bacon recipe?
Copied from elsewhere :
Dry mix - 500g gluten flour. Onion powder, garlic powder, fennel seeds (cos i’ve got them), bit of msg, smoked salt, sage, vege stock powder, whatever else savoury powders I’ve got to mix in.
Wet mix - ~500ml water, liquid smoke, bit of red food colouring.
Combine the two mixes, I try to aim for a bit less water than needed so all the liquid smoke and red gets absorbed. Then just add little bits of water until it’s all wet.
That’ll make a stringy lump of gluten-ey dough. I chop that up with scissors and run it through my meat grinder.
I make two square packages of the dough, wrapped in baking paper then al foil. Then pop it in the InstantPot for 2 hours sitting on the trivet (stand) and with enough water so the package isn’t actually in the water.
Once it’s cooked it looks a bit like a slab of pork belly. I slice it up into 1-2mm strips and freeze. They can be fried with eggs and served on toast. I add sauerkraut, hummus and caramalised onion. And usually some more smoked salt and white pepper to serve.
Like most vege substitutions, it’s bacon-ey. Close enough for me. I think pigs get some of the worst treatment of commercial farming, but it’s pretty bad for all the animals.
Free range eggs too, but that’s often only mildly better than caged conditions in Australia. “Free range” can mean just a biog open air pit full of chooks rather than some idilyic farm setting with happy chooks scratching about.
I’ve been meaning to try cold smoking the slab at some point but haven’t gotten there yet.
EDIT: I did attempt full vegan making silken tofu eggs with nutritional yeast and kala namak (sulphur/eggy salt) which was okay but cost a bit more. I don’t think I’m there yet, eggs and dairy substitutes don’t quite cut it for me. Plus I hit pathologically low iron that I’m still struggling with.
Mio might help you with your iron. I generally eat a handful of spinach with breakfast too
I’ve been taking iron tablets and syrup. I’ve started adding spinach to my dahl meal prep.
I like Just Egg, but it is expensive. Tofu is a good alternative, and yes the black salt is a key ingredient.
The nutritional yeast flakes give it the extra outer … dunno what to call it. char? no. idk
Ya just egg is expensive and spoils fast af. Good though
MarshezezzAquafaba is legit but I suppose it’s more for a whipped egg white type ingredient. I’ve used it though and it really can get to stiff peaks when whipped
Can’t we all…
Costco sells cooked rotisserie chickens for $5. I don’t even want to think of the corners that are cut for this.
I haven’t eaten meat for several years now, but I didn’t buy them even before.
Workers and chickens damn