Is Sainsbury's chicken breasts getting tougher or is it my imagination?

[wellOkayIsh]

It feels very chewy over the last 6 months especially the bigger 1.6 kg packs where the breasts are really large.
Have they changed supplier?

Is any other supermarket better?
I might give Waitrose a go even though it's slightly more expensive £7.30 a kg Vs £6.49 a kg at Sainsbury's.

I’ve occasionally found that chicken breasts have almost been woody, I can feel it when cutting and the wording parts are chewy when cooked. It’s really put me off chicken breasts.

Yes there is definitely something amiss with the Sainsbury ones now. Ocado & M&S have been fine and haven’t tried others.

Yes I had some sainsburys ones yesterday. They were ginormous, but odd texture.

Tesco and Aldi were like this for me quite frequently, almost have a muscly lined texture to the meat? Horrible to eat. I've not had it yet with Sainsbury’s but I've not had a lot of chicken breast recently, I find they cook better in stews but it's a lost cause for things cooked on the stove like fajitas.

Hooray! It's not just me, then?

Chicken breast has become just awful over the past year or so. I don't buy it for ages, then get a pack for batch cooking, taste it and it's horrible. Chewy, stringy, nasty.

Asda's can be like this too. Especially if they've been frozen. If I have to freeze half a pack now I always make a dish with them where they can be slow cooked rather than pan fried, as they're often inedible otherwise - almost crunchy 🤢.

I don't tend to buy breaststroke as I get thighs. But it's getting harder and harder to not buy chicken pumped full of water. It's nasty. I'd rather have 500g of untampered stuff than a kg of watery rubbery stuff.

Buy the corn fed or organic range and it's much better, less watery, stringy and the breasts come with the mini fillets attached.

It's due to a muscle condition called 'woody breast syndrome' cause by fast growth of the birds your eating.

With Brexit comes slackening of animal husbandry laws.

Fast grown and quickly slaughtered gives you tough chewy meat.

I've had problems for years with Sainsbury's chicken breasts, they feel kind of rubbery? Every time I got rubbery ones in the packet I'd complain about them and get a refund.

Tesco ones have been less problematic, although I've had the odd rubbery one. I tend to buy boneless thighs these days.

I stopped buying chicken breasts for this reason, it's vile. I try and buy organic or free range at least which is better. M and S breasts always been fine but every other supermarket (and a couple of takeaway meals) have had this problem.

Urgh, God it's this.

I got a large pack of breasts from Waitrose today. Cut them up for a curry. Went to cut one of them and it was tough as old boots. The texture made me feel sick so I threw the whole breast away.

I used to buy guinea fowl from Sainsburys and it was decent. Don't know if they still sell it, but if they do, I'm going back to it.

Poor birds

The amount of water that comes out when I'm cooking the chicken is really off-putting.

I've noticed this across a few different supermarkets and have now got a bit of a talent for picking out which packs contain them in order to avoid.

They're usually more pink, shorter in length, very pointy at the smaller end and very round. Almost pumped up looking. They also never have the tender attached to the back of the breast.

Lidl have always been like that so I guess Sains have gone cheaper - so I’d try Ocado / Waitrose / M and S or a meat box

Saying that the steamed pre cooked ones are alright

I noticed this a year or 2 ago- we don't eat much chicken breast now but I have switched to M&S higher welfare - they are a bit pricey but the taste/texture is far better. I buy whole chickens from M&S and Ocado own brand and they are fine.

What do you normally use breasts for? As I find chicken breast generally is tough, unless using it for something like hunters chicken I think all the sauce it cooks in changes the texture? A whole chicken and strip all the meat off or thighs is the way to go.

Everything is getting tougher in England.

Yes M& S are lovely but expensive

Waitrose aren't too bad

I know exactly what you mean OP

I know exactly what you mean OP and it's really put me off chicken. We buy in Aldi mainly so there's obviously have the same problem.

I buy direct from a farm, it’s more expensive so we eat less of it but I’ve never in my life experienced Woody chicken breasts. The major supermarkets all use the same supplier for their standard ranges.

The average UK supermarket chicken is harvested at 8 weeks old. Getting an animal to grow that much, in such a short length of time, is going to give some odd results.

One of the Van Tullikens is currently doing a radio series about the UK chicken industry, it’s well worth a listen.