What did you cook/eat today (May 2017)?

[Cinisajoy]

I'm curious....did you choose to live there? If so, what was the attraction?

Family lives here. In late 1989, I had no choice but to come back here. In late 1990, I met a guy with a steady job so moving was out of the question.
Both of us vowed then and there, that we would hopefully never go hungry again. He had lost literally all but an old truck when the oilfield crashed in 1988.
That is why I am still here plus the fact that if we moved to dang near anywhere our cost of living would go up at least 25% with no increase in pay.
The area I live in has some of the lowest grocery costs in the country.
That doesn't mean we get bad food. That cheap chicken I bought the other day would have cost twice as much in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Pretty much in the rest of the country, you are at poverty level at $20. We make half of that.
And because I didn't get knocked up every year, we don't qualify for help.
It is a choice of live here or go hungry.

Have you ever been without food? I have. You will get skinny. Then it will take your body years to recover.

Now off to the food prices thread, just because I learned something else food price related.

 

[Morning Glory]

There was a big sale on seafood today, so my wife made steamed lobster tails, littleneck clams in a white wine/garlic/red pepper flake broth, and steamed corn on the cob. And we shared a baguette for dipping in the clam broth.

This is big LIKE from me!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

That sounds like baking bread to me, Cin! It's also how I do it...


Honey, we're far away from everything. Or at least that's how it seems! Seriously, though, I have no idea where the nearest chicken processing plant is. Hmm, we have a half-acre lot. Maybe I should grow my own. *shudder* If we did, all I'd be able to eat would be the girls' eggs...

you will find that there are 3 types of birds. Meat (aka broiler), Egg and both.

• The first (broiler) are slaughtered around 6 months old if you grow then yourselves. 60 days in the meat industry and you need meat specific birds. Don't expect eggs from them. You won't get (m)any. They are not engineered to produce masses of eggs, they are engineered to put weight on fast for slaughter which happens at a very early age.
• Next comes the Egg category and the main backyard breeds. They don't start laying until they are +20 weeks old typically, though some breeds start earlier at 16 weeks and if you are approaching winter then they won't start laying until later as they approach maturity. So two of my girls have yet to start laying despite being plenty old enough because we are at the start of winter here in the southern hemisphere. These girls typically lay between 100-250 eggs a year depending on the breed. If you go with the heritage breeds they will live longer, have less health problems but typically lay fewer eggs per year (though over the course of their natural lifespan will actually lay more eggs). Heritage breeds are the norm outside of the egg industry and can live to be 12 years old. Industry commercial eggs layers typically live for 3 years or so and only lay for roughly 18 months before their poor bodies are burnt out. They typcically die of cancers. Also hens do not lay all year round, so you will get a glut in the summer and a famine in the winter... Most hens can't moult and egg lay at the same time. And it is not cheaper than either the egg industry eggs or meat from the meat industry hens. It is simply a case you know what has happened to them before you eat their eggs (or cull them for meat).
• The 'both' category means that you will get some eggs and less meat from the same bird. It won't be the meat you expect from the supermarket, but tougher because it is older and they won't lay anywhere near the number or size of eggs you expect from even heritage egg breeds...

 

[Morning Glory]

you will find that there are 3 types of birds. Meat (aka broiler), Egg and both.

• The first (broiler) are slaughtered around 6 months old if you grow then yourselves. 60 days in the meat industry and you need meat specific birds. Don't expect eggs from them. You won't get (m)any. They are not engineered to produce masses of eggs, they are engineered to put weight on fast for slaughter which happens at a very early age.
• Next comes the Egg category and the main backyard breeds. They don't start laying until they are +20 weeks old typically, though some breeds start earlier at 16 weeks and if you are approaching winter then they won't start laying until later as they approach maturity. So two of my girls have yet to start laying despite being plenty old enough because we are at the start of winter here in the southern hemisphere. These girls typically lay between 100-250 eggs a year depending on the breed. If you go with the heritage breeds they will live longer, have less health problems but typically lay fewer eggs per year (though over the course of their natural lifespan will actually lay more eggs). Heritage breeds are the norm outside of the egg industry and can live to be 12 years old. Industry commercial eggs layers typically live for 3 years or so and only lay for roughly 18 months before their poor bodies are burnt out. They typcically die of cancers. Also hens do not lay all year round, so you will get a glut in the summer and a famine in the winter... Most hens can't moult and egg lay at the same time. And it is not cheaper than either the egg industry eggs or meat from the meat industry hens. It is simply a case you know what has happened to them before you eat their eggs (or cull them for meat).
• The 'both' category means that you will get some eggs and less meat from the same bird. It won't be the meat you expect from the supermarket, but tougher because it is older and they won't lay anywhere near the number or size of eggs you expect from even heritage egg breeds...

Its different across the world. In the UK battery hens no longer exist as its against EU policy. Our chickens for eating are raised in sheds and have freedom of movement (although it is crowded). Our 'caged' egg producing chickens have replaced battery hens and have a bit more space, a perch and scratching area compared with the previous battery hens. All supermarkets here offer free range eggs and McDonald's here also use free range eggs.

 

[Yorky]

I have been down at the snooker all afternoon (AKA on t'pish) so it will be khow phat gai (chicken fried rice) carry out from the fat lady's restaurant in the village this evening.

It was almost dark.

[That plate full was Bht 30.00 plus an extra Bht 7.00 if I wanted an egg on top. I didn't because they always overcook the egg]

 

[Yorky]

A smoothie to eat! I'm curious to know how you eat pomegranate sliced that way...

When we were kids we always cut the pomegranate that way then ate each seed using a pin. Now, I cut it into quarters and bend each to open up the seeds.

 

[Cinisajoy]

When we were kids we always cut the pomegranate that way then ate each seed using a pin. Now, I cut it into quarters and bend each to open up the seeds.

We just broke them open with our hands.

 

[Morning Glory]

When we were kids we always cut the pomegranate that way then ate each seed using a pin. Now, I cut it into quarters and bend each to open up the seeds.

It wasn't anything I had as a kid. In fact, I cant recall seeing them until fairly recently. How come you did @Yorky? I mean - its an exotic fruit not grown in Yorkshire.

 

[Cinisajoy]

It wasn't anything I had as a kid. In fact, I cant recall seeing them until fairly recently. How come you did @Yorky? I mean - its an exotic fruit not grown in Yorkshire.

We had a neighbor with a pomegranate tree.

 

[Morning Glory]

Made for my friend and I - hake steaks with fennel, potato (Jersey Royals) and chilli:

 

[Yorky]

It wasn't anything I had as a kid. In fact, I cant recall seeing them until fairly recently. How come you did @Yorky? I mean - its an exotic fruit not grown in Yorkshire.

Anything not from Yorkshire is exotic

My mum used to get them - from where I know not.

 

[Lynne Guinne]

you will find that there are 3 types of birds. Meat (aka broiler), Egg and both....

No, no, no, not planning on raising birds. However, I AM planning on moving back home. We'll then be near our daughter who, along with her guy friend (can't call him a "boy"friend when he's pushing 50!), have a nice coop at his place along with six layers. I wasn't used to them having The Girls when we visited at Christmas and made the mistake of buying store eggs. I won't make THAT mistake again!

 

[Lynne Guinne]

Too busy of a day (and too pooped of a cook and her non-cooking hubby) to do much for supper. I pulled a package of egg rolls and box of Aranici balls from the freezer and heated them. Tossed in a small tray of raw almonds for roasting, too. While waiting on the oven, I got out some fresh fruits, dried figs, crackers, and a selection of cheeses. We sat and nibbled and talked. Nice and relaxing, which means it was nothing like a typical supper.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Its different across the world. In the UK battery hens no longer exist as its against EU policy. Our chickens for eating are raised in sheds and have freedom of movement (although it is crowded). Our 'caged' egg producing chickens have replaced battery hens and have a bit more space, a perch and scratching area compared with the previous battery hens. All supermarkets here offer free range eggs and McDonald's here also use free range eggs.

yes - I know. Its only 12 months since I left the UK

Even in the UK Egg producing chickens are exactly that. They are never used for meat in the meat industry. Similarly meat birds are not used for eggs. It is no different in Australia, America or Europe in that sense. In the UK & Australia barn raised hens - often called Free Range still have very similar conditions and only have to have something like 6 hours a day access to soil (not grass) but soil to scratch around in. Nothing more.
All I was talking about is the breed type. Even in the UK the normal hen for eggs is an ISA Brown in the egg industry because the French created a breed that laid so much and so hard that it lays around 250 eggs a year for 2 seasons. Once it is done, that's it. It is culled. Not for meat for humans because there is simply not enough flesh left on the poor thing. It is engineered to lay eggs at the expense of its own life. Meat birds are engineered by breed selection etc to put on weight very fast and are culled at around 60 days of age when they have gained the most weight they can. Free range birds gain weight less fast than barn raised birds (this is nothing to do with egg laying they are not old enough to actually lay eggs at this stage) and are generally culled at 90 days old. In a backyard (i.e. someone's home) they put weight on less fast and generally reach mximum weight at around 6 months of age - that is the meat breeds.

The breeds are the same throughout the world, though some do better in warmer climates than other, but the ones I have here are the same breeds as the UK. Ones for colder climates but can stand the occasional very hot day.

 

[Yorky]

Pork chop.