I have also come to the realization that cheap chicken is not the way to go... here's a link to my experience: http://murphyandhoyle.blogspot.com/2010/09/difference-between-involvement-and.html

Sometimes, it's very difficult to continually find good, ethically raised, meat. It takes planning and preparation. It means- for me at least - eating vegetarian at most restaurants. But, in the end, I'm certain that I'm healthier for it.

I'm very happy to hear that I'm not the only one on a crazy mission in demanding happy, healthy livestock. Hooray!

When I got my first real adult job I made the decision to make an effort towards eating "better" meat. My parents live near an excellent meat market with products I know meet my requirements, so I stock up when I visit home. Other than that I keep an eye open at the grocery store. It's a little pricier, so I have taken to eating fewer meals with meat (which is also good for me and the environment), and my friends and family are all surprised by my commitment. Everything seems better tasting.

I'm there as well. I've been calling myself an *ethical omnivore* for some time, but to be honest, being able to find ethically raised meat is very difficult. I'm the same as Saroja, at restaurants, it's always vegetarian for me.

The problem is, even when the claims are made, it's still not always clear. I've ended up being a vegetarian most of the time. I made an exception over Christmas because we were able to find a local turkey farmer that we trusted.

I don't miss meat, but i do miss the ease of finding filling meals quickly when I'm on the run.

My goal this year is better beef. We get local/sustainable chicken already and got 1/2 a pig this fall for the first (but not the last) time. We don't eat lots of red meat and luckily, have a fair # of producers in our area (Yay, Midwest!) but I still need to 'trial' our potential choices.

Is it just me or is that photo really creepy? When I first saw it, I thought it was a pair of really skinny human arms. (I obviously wasn't looking very closely.)

Avoiding cheap chicken is a great idea for the coming year. My husband and I are eating really healthy now which means he eats a lot more chicken than he used to. So we should find a way to get better quality chicken than the Perdue at the supermarket.

We're raising all our own meat this year...quail, chicken, turkey, ducks, geese, rabbit and pork!

I've stopped eating 'regular' chicken long ago, and learned to make do without a lot of my previous favorite meals. I think that along with thiss decision,one might also consider eggs, since egg-laying hens are treated no better than chicken and ecological eggs are tastier.

This is something that I've been vowing to do as well. I'm a pescatarian and my husband eats meat, but most nights we eat at home and we eat vegetarian. When I do buy meat it's usually the hormone-free and antibiotic free stuff from TJs, but I'm realizing that even this can be problematic.

Especially since my meat consumption is nil, and his is small, I'm going to make the switch to locally raised eggs and meat. Now how to find out how to eat seafood responsibly--only wild caught? Only squid, sardines, and plentiful low on the totem pole seafood? I'm still trying to figure out what will work for us.

Canadian cook, I'm jealous! We raised our own meat chickens for the first time this fall and they were/are fantastic. They're fun to have around, easy to care for, and absolutely delicious. This spring I'll raise quail as well. We live in a very urban area, so that's about as far as I can push the home-grown meat. However, I intend on increasing my hunting skills. The goal is to either raise or obtain all of my meat myself. Add our growing garden to it, and we're on our way to ethical food consumption. At least so we hope.

I'm pretty excited to start this year off with local ethically raised chicken, beef, venison and amazing berkishire pork in the freezer. The only meat I buy from the supermarket these days is sandwich meat, which I just can't seem to give up. It's taken forever to find local pork, and it's soooo yummy.

learp17, Yes, I found the photo to be upsetting and thought-provoking. After many years of avoiding meat for both ethical and health reasons, I reluctantly returned to eating limited amounts of it. (long story)

@learp17 and @ellabee, I took this photo when I brought home a local, pastured chicken from the farmers market. The market caters to Asian clientele, so the chicken came with its head and feet still attached. Butchering it was a thought-provoking, surprisingly emotional experience -- and one of the reasons why I knew I could never go back to cheap chicken.

We stopped buy factory chicken a few years ago as much because it tasted terrible as for ethical reasons. I never would order it in restaurants. Now that we have a few reliable sources a whole chicken makes its way to the table once a week. My toddler loves Chicken Night. We braise thighs once in awhile. I am out of the habit of cooking other parts.

Meat was harder but we can get better quality meat now from Whole Foods regularly and also in LA a few smaller butchers have sprung up. I love Mccalls in Silverlake Los Angeles because they also have wonderful fish choices. We also buy large orders from farmers at the farmer's market. And we stock the freezer with meat, mostly lamb, from Eight O'Clock ranch. Good value for good meat. I find the shipping painful (expensive, air miles) but it is much less expensive than local meat.

Hmm, ya know butchering a whole bird was probably what put me seriously on this path as well. I am VERY lucky to have access to good meat in markets and overwhelmingly restaurants in Seattle. You guys are reminding me how lucky I am to have access.
The commenter that mentioned hunting, I wonder if I could do it. I like venison and would love to find a source, but hadn't seriously considered going out and getting my own if you will.

I find something deeply problematic with the idea that animals lives have value that can be enumerated by monetary cost alone. Even still, that THAT, of all reasons, should be why we avoid eating 'cheap' meat. It's not like some birds have worthwhile lives and others do not. Ethically, the life of a chicken in a factory farm or a pet chicken in someone's loving home is equivalent. The monetary value we place on it, and out treatment and use of it, is independent of its own worth, for itself.
They are not for us, they are for themselves, the fact that we use them should not confuse us into thinking that the sum of their lives can be determined by our fumbling attempts to find an ethical way to do so.