Moy park chicken breast €8 for 800g in tesco

rubadub

Good offer at the moment in tesco. Buy 2 400g packs of moy park chicken breasts for €8, so €10 per kilo which is good. Usually €7 each pack. I got 4 breasts in my pack and there was no waste on them (sometimes you have to cut off stringy sinewy bits). There was also no actual "fillet", i.e. the little slip of a thing under the breast with a big breast on top.

I know some people are opposed to supermarket meat so might prefer a branded one, they do not seem "watered down". They were fully indate etc, not a one off day deal. And it looked like a moy park sticker on them so it might be on in other supermarkets too.

Looks like my freezer will become a hen house again. I lay them down flat on a chopping board, press my palm and cut them parallel to the chopping board, now you have 2 thin chicken fillet patties. I put them individually in bags and layer them on top of each other, and freeze in this position out flat. Now I can take them out and fry/grill them directly from frozen, since it is flat it is in good contact with the pan, and since it is thin it defrosts quickly as it cooks.

Macha

I'm guessing it's non-free range? Just can't stomach non-free range anymore

HardyEustace

taconnol wrote: »

I'm guessing it's non-free range? Just can't stomach non-free range anymore

I'm the same.

If you buy free range chicken breast and skin and bone them yourself the price is pretty competitive. You can then use the bones to make chicken stock as well. Plus I feel that the more "intact"/processed the meat is when you buy it, the better it is.

rubadub

Yeah, it is not free-range. Anybody see the Jamie oliver program on last night about chicken? nothing that shocked me but would turn you towards free range alright. It was on for 90mins! and I feel asleep. They were killing chickens infront of the audience, who were members of the public and industry people too, they were sat down at dining tables ready to be served up chicken dishes.

I like free range eggs for taste, most of my chicken is cut finely anb doused in spices and sauce so I cant really tell the difference, so it would be for moral reasons more than taste I would go for them.

Macha

Yeah I've bought a full chicken to roast. Cheapest I've found is €8.99 for a free range chicken in Tesco.

I'm gonna cook it tonight & see how many portions I get out of it. 2 fillets plus 2 legs plus?? Should get about 5/6 portions methinks. So maybe it will work out cheaper - and a bit more interesting than just buying fillets.

Another problem I have with fillets is the packaging - its like they're competing to get the most plastic into one bag

You're right on the taste thing - I only buy free range for moral, not taste reasons. & while I'm pretty sure organic veg has higher nutritional value, I'm not sure about meat..

menoscemo

Hi Guys, try Lidl. They sell 500g that's 4 large fillets for about €4 all the time. Plus they pack them in individual little plastic sachets, which is really handy for freezing as the fillets don't stick together.

rubadub

taconnol wrote: »

Yeah I've bought a full chicken to roast. Cheapest I've found is €8.99 for a free range chicken in Tesco.

I'm gonna cook it tonight & see how many portions I get out of it. 2 fillets plus 2 legs plus?? Should get about 5/6 portions methinks. So maybe it will work out cheaper - and a bit more interesting than just buying fillets.

Another problem I have with fillets is the packaging - its like they're competing to get the most plastic into one bag

You're right on the taste thing - I only buy free range for moral, not taste reasons. & while I'm pretty sure organic veg has higher nutritional value, I'm not sure about meat..

On any chicken I checked I got about 1/2-2/3 of raw cookable lean meat from it by weight, e.g. expect maybe 750g-1kg of meat from a 1.5kg chicken. The bigger you go the closer you get to 2/3.

Too much hassle for me in the end. And no leftovers to deal with, as in skin & bones.

Hi Guys, try Lidl. They sell 500g that's 4 large fillets for about €4 all the time. Plus they pack them in individual little plastic sachets, which is really handy for freezing as the fillets don't stick together.

Cheers, never saw them at that price in mine, will have to look out again. I like those little packs.

J.S. Pill

10 chicken breasts for €10 at the Chicken inn in the English market.

If anywhere in Ireland can beat that I will be shocked and amazed

Khannie

I'll hijack at this point, since the topic has swayed this way:

Anyone know where I can get free range or (preferably) organic chicken breasts in Dublin city centre? And any idea of cost?

dudara

If you live near Beechwood or Rathmines, then Lawlor's butchers (on the Upper Rathmines Road, or at their counter in Morton's Beechwood) do free range (not sure about organic) chicken breasts. They're pricey though, 4 breasts cost me €18 a week ago.

How Strange

dudara wrote: »

If you live near Beechwood or Rathmines, then Lawlor's butchers (on the Upper Rathmines Road, or at their counter in Morton's Beechwood) do free range (not sure about organic) chicken breasts. They're pricey though, 4 breasts cost me €18 a week ago.

OMG, that's unbelievable! Dunnes, Tescos and Superquinn do free range chicken.

What's the verdict on corn fed chicken? Yes or no?

I'm making a conscious effort to move away from the ordinary chicken but its so bloody expensive.

Full chickens are much better value IMO if you don't mind cutting them up yourself and you can use the bones for stock.

sweetie

J.S. Pill wrote: »

10 chicken breasts for €10 at the Chicken inn in the English market.

If anywhere in Ireland can beat that I will be shocked and amazed

FX Buckleys on north earl st and moore st do the same deal not sure whether they are free range, I presume not.

Khannie wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get free range or (preferably) organic chicken breasts in Dublin city centre? And any idea of cost?

Fallon and Byrnes on wicklow st sell two free range chicken fillets for around a fiver. They have some nice fillet steak as well. 2 for around 8/9 euro which is quite competitive.

dudara

How Strange wrote: »

OMG, that's unbelievable!

I know! The worst thing is I didn't ask for free range. The assistant charged me for it though. Only realised when I got home. The chicken breasts were huge though.

g'em

dudara wrote: »

4 breasts cost me €18 a week ago.

Can't for the life of me remember what the name of it is but there's an organic butchers in Sandycove that charges €5 per chicken breast. Bit too expensive even for my tastes...

MsFifers

I don't really eat meat anymore, but when I did I absolutely never bought those low-end chicken breasts - they are such bad value for money. And why would you want to eat something that had been reared in a few days, unable to walk and sitting in its own s**t the whole time!

Buy a whole (free range!) chicken - you would nearly feed 2 people on one breast if you chopped it into a stir fry or something.

Cut off breasts, legs, wings, then cut carcass in half and freeze for stock & soup - you could at least 5 meals for 2 people out of one chicken - for about the same price as 4 cheap & tiny chicken breasts.

Khannie

sweetie wrote: »

Fallon and Byrnes on wicklow st sell two free range chicken fillets for around a fiver. They have some nice fillet steak as well. 2 for around 8/9 euro which is quite competitive.

That's not bad (on either front, depending on the size of the steak).

I get beef from my local butcher in Skerries (Aidan Byrnes). Competitively priced and delicious stuff. I like supporting the local butcher tbh (christ, supermarket meat is so crap by comparison), but I can't see them stocking free range chicken any time soon.

rubadub

Khannie wrote: »

(christ, supermarket meat is so crap by comparison)

A lot of people dislike buying supermarket meat. Is it tesco/dunnes brand, or would you be opposed to moy park, o'kane etc?

Everybody also seems to trust their butcher too, and some may know them etc, but I would bet it is more likely that stuff labelled free range or organic in a supermarket is more likely to be really free range/organic. It is far too easy butcher to mislabel stuff, while supermarkets would fear being caught, and a supermarket butcher is paid a wage, i.e. not getting a direct profit from sales so would have no real incentive to mislabel stuff.

In saying that, if you have a good butcher his free range is probably better than a supermarkets free range.

€4.50 per fillet is expensive, would have to find a new job to feed my habit!

rubadub

none left today. But they had moy park free range chickens on offer. 1.4kg for just under €8, dunno if that is good, seems OK if people are paying a lot for just fillets, I prefer the taste when cooked on the bone, just prefer the convenience of fillets.

Sugar Drunk

the lidl ones are great as they package them individually. Free range is such an illusion it means they get to walk about for like 15 minutes a day or something ridiculous like that!

Khannie

rubadub wrote: »

A lot of people dislike buying supermarket meat. Is it tesco/dunnes brand, or would you be opposed to moy park, o'kane etc?

I'm only opposed to buying supermarket meat because euro for euro it's pure muck in comparison. I'll never understand why, but I'll give you two examples (there are more):

We make beef stew quite regularly. I love the stuff. So one day my wife said she'd make it then couldn't get to the butchers before it closed so she went to the local supermarket (a super-valu). She got 1KG of steak pieces at the same price that we'd pay in the butchers and honestly, the stew was ruined. It was just so horrible and fatty. Really not fit for a dog.

Another time, same thing really, time was the issue (supermarket open, butchers not) we got mince. I browned the mince by putting a small amount of water in with it. I could not believe the amount of crap that came out of it. Can't over emphasize that. Horrible.

You are right though: Butchers do have more incentive to label stuff organic etc when it's not. That's not to say that they do, or would. In our butchers case it's not relevant. He doesn't sell organic / free range stuff.

Anyway, the big thing for me is that euro for euro, the quality of stuff at the butchers is far far superior.

edit: I should point out that I buy mostly beef and some pork. Chicken isn't a huge consideration for me and I'd probably buy it from the supermarket without thinking twice if I'm honest.

J.S. Pill

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shoppersface-20pc-chicken-price-rise-1265545.html

I don't like the sound of this!!!

Isn't it amazing how economics works; chicken prices are rising because feed prices are rising because demand for bio-fuel is rising because oil prices are rising because of war on terror, rising demand from asia etc etc etc.

If I fail to gain any weight over the next few months I can always blame American foreign policy :rolleyes:

grellan1

How Strange wrote: »

OMG, that's unbelievable! Dunnes, Tescos and Superquinn do free range chicken.

What's the verdict on corn fed chicken? Yes or no?

I'm making a conscious effort to move away from the ordinary chicken but its so bloody expensive.

Full chickens are much better value IMO if you don't mind cutting them up yourself and you can use the bones for stock.

I bought a corn fed chicken the last time I was in Spain - it had a beautiful flavour and stretched over 3 meals. Cost eur.5.30.
Where can I get one here in the west?? (mayo/galway).

Macha

J.S. Pill wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shoppersface-20pc-chicken-price-rise-1265545.html

I don't like the sound of this!!!

Isn't it amazing how economics works; chicken prices are rising because feed prices are rising because demand for bio-fuel is rising because oil prices are rising because of war on terror, rising demand from asia etc etc etc.

If I fail to gain any weight over the next few months I can always blame American foreign policy :rolleyes:

The EU has a policy that 12% of fuel will come from biofuel by 2020. It´s very easy to blame the US for everything.

What about people who drive everywhere in their cars? Why not blame them? Or people who buy asparagus from Peru, apples from New Zealand and beans from Kenya? Why not blame us?

Food is too cheap today

Khannie

Khannie wrote: »

You are right though: Butchers do have more incentive to label stuff organic etc when it's not. That's not to say that they do, or would. In our butchers case it's not relevant. He doesn't sell organic / free range stuff.

Well....this changed this week. The butcher was getting a lot of requests for free range chickens after the Jamie Oliver etc. shows on Channel 4. My wife happened to be there at the time that they were getting in a delivery of free range chicken. It was wrapped up and labeled free range, so the butcher wasn't just slapping a sticker on it or anything. €10.99 for a large chicken. Reasonable enough IMO.

J.S. Pill

taconnol wrote: »

The EU has a policy that 12% of fuel will come from biofuel by 2020. It´s very easy to blame the US for everything.

What about people who drive everywhere in their cars? Why not blame them? Or people who buy asparagus from Peru, apples from New Zealand and beans from Kenya? Why not blame us?

I believe these variables were covered by my 'etc etc etc' and rolly eyes