Jenna Firth's SHOPPING IN A FREE RANGE WORLD: 

Research conducted by www.GoldenRiverFarms.co.uk has found that a whopping 32% of parents with children aged between 5 and 8 will only allow them to eat organic or free range meat.

A view that many will find a little over the top maybe, but one that I am totally in favour of - I only wish that number was a little higher. There is nothing that upsets me more than to see a child eating fish fingers or chicken nuggets and frozen chips or Smash for tea. All too often you see parents go to the aisles in Asda or Iceland to stock up on their ‘freezer foods’, and why? All I ever have in my freezer is meat from the butcher and some frozen peas!

Although this recent research suggests that things may be on the up for the free-range and organic meat market, it seems convenience still dominates.

Yesterday someone told me I should get myself down to Lidl, as they have started to stock thinly sliced potatoes with onions in a vacuum packed bag which you can just open up and put in the oven for half an hour. ‘Amazing’ was how they were described.

Personally, I’d rather peel and chop a few potatoes, add a bit of onion and pop it in the oven myself. At least I would know what I was eating. But when I mentioned this, my comments were met with a face of ‘yeah right, when you have your baby you tell me you’ll be hand-making all your own food’ face. A face I often get when I talk about what choices I hope to make in early motherhood.

I have come to the gloomy conclusion that some people choose to use their children as an excuse not to cook proper meals, along with the price factor of organic and free range meat. It always seems to be ‘I’m too busy’ instead of ‘I make time’. Others, it appears, just jump on the ‘trendy free-range bandwagon’.

The report issued by www.GoldenRiverFarms.co.uk stated that 86% of the 32% of parents mentioned above said the health aspects were their main concern when choosing to only allow their children to eat organic or free range meat. But sadly 10% admitted they opted for free range or organic as they view it as ‘fashionable’ and wanted to keep up with the latest playground trend.

When Jamie Oliver is no longer ‘cool’, will these numbers keep rising? When he is slightly aged and grey with a pot-belly and his cheeky chappy ambience no longer works, will we look back and think ‘what a waste of time?’.

Now I don’t know, maybe in the years to come people will really take to buying meat that is reared as it should be – outside in the fresh air – and not just because a celebrity chef tells us to. Maybe I am in for a reality check and maybe I will join the ranks of those who feeds their children processed food that has preservatives-and-goodness-knows-what-else galore, but I sure hope not.

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