---
title: Why organic chicken?
date: 2008-12-06T15:12:53Z
modified: 2008-12-06T15:12:53Z
permalink: "https://elizabethyarnell.com/why-organic-chicken/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 518
categories:
  - Living Naturally
  - Natural Health Questions
  - Nutrition in the News
  - Recommended Products
tags:
  - co-op
  - frozen chicken
  - frozen food co-op
  - organic
  - organic chicken
  - Redbird
  - Town and Country Foods
author: Elizabeth
---

Reader question: _Just wanted to ask with regard to the “Frozen Dinner in a Flash” recipe if it is necessary to have cleaned the frozen chicken breasts first? Would also love to know which brand of chicken you prefer?_

If I purchase the chicken raw, then I clean it and trim it before freezing individually. The chicken we get already frozen has already been trimmed, etc, before being vacuum sealed. Those pieces I usually just toss in after unwrapping.

At our house, we try to only eat organic chicken for several reasons — antibiotics, non-vegetarian feed, and inhumane conditions among them. Ideally, we’d only eat chickens raised as described in The Omnivore’s Dilemma: on a grass-rotation farm where the hens play a role in the rejuvenation of the soil and eat their natural diet of grubs and worms. Since we don’t live near that kind of farm, we belong to a wonderful [frozen food co-op ](http://elizabethyarnell.com/effortlesseating/2008/01/frozen-food-co-op/ "frozen food co op")that loads our freezer full of natural meats and poultry every six months or so.

When I must purchase chicken, my first choice is from Whole Foods or another natural grocery store. If it must be from the regular grocery store, I look for Redbird brand as _Consumer Reports_ found the lowest levels of salmonella contamination in Redbird poultry products.