Free range chicken

For the last 20 years or so I have only ever purchased free range eggs, unless absolutely desperate for eggs and there weren't any free range at the store, which only happened a couple of times.  In the last few years we have had our own free range chickens so have not had to purchase many eggs (we only have 3 chickens, 1 is retired, and of the other 2 usually one is laying while the other is not).

But

I didn't expand this moral compass towards chicken meat itself.  I can only think that this reason was because I put it in the 'it is just too hard to find' basket.

However, something finally triggered in my head the other day and I decided to make the effort to find free range chicken meat.  I did a quick google search, and then remembered that Countdown supermarkets now have free range chicken.

So, I got brave, and made a change of supermarket shopping venue, and we bought free range chicken (boned thighs, and a whole chicken), and I feel so much better about myself.  We had the whole chicken roasted last night, and while I think it might be a bit smaller than a battery farm raised hen, it was still fabulous!  The only chicken that I could not find in the supermarket, that was free range, was frozen chicken pieces.  Admittedly I didn't look that hard, but I did have a quick look.  I DIDN'T buy the other frozen chicken pieces though, as I do plan to see if I can find any internet shops from where I can buy it from.   They have to be out there somewhere, right?!

So yes, I am feeling pretty good about myself in this respect now.  I have always proclaimed to be an animal lover.  I don't like animals to be caged, hence the free range eggs buying.  And we raise our own beef, and pork.  And lamb/sheep in New Zealand are all paddock raised, so I had no animal welfare concerns in regarding these foods.  Chickens however, have a terrible life, and I really don't know why it has taken me this long to get my moral compass right on this one.

But hey, better late than never ah!