Which cheap and nasty food item do you choose over more expensive and better quality alternatives?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

For me it’s chicken kievs. I love the crispy outside and the mushy chicken inside. I know they’re not the best, I actually work in a chicken factory so I know exactly what goes into it! But it still doesn’t put me off 🤣 Clearly my standards are on the floor…

What’s your cheap and nasty favourite?

Cheap own brand crisps are often a lot more flavoursome then brand names

Agree, they tend to have more salt and grease, which is essential.

@AintNobodyHereButUsChickensare they really so bad? I don’t eat much meat but they look like a chicken breast covered in crumbs? Is it actually all mushed up muck 🤮

Dp' s contribution is cheap lemon squash. The paint stripper type. He says you can keep your Robinson's, he wants the toxic stuff.

Ooooh now I REALLY need a chicken Kiev and the shops will shut in 20mins… 😂😂

findus crispy pancake or own brand equivalent. The more shockingly orange the better.

I love a chicken Kiev. I do buy the best version though, so a whole chicken breast not a reconstituted one made of the bits that fell on the floor.
Gravy granules.
I prefer the basics "Greek Style" cheese to proper feta.

Fried bread has to be the cheap white sliced for me. Nothing else has that golden crispiness.

Own-brand instant coffee (Lidl). The Aldi 'gold' one is excellent.

Cheap white bread, for some purposes (peanut butter sandwiches) it is the best option. I also prefer it for toast.

I will take a KitKat over any amount of exquisite, high-quality Italian chocolate.

Paxo stuffing. I don’t like posh or fresh stuffings - paxo is the only one for me, its nostalgic as I was brought up on it as part of our Sunday dinner every week.

Well, there’s no innards, they’re sent off with the waste like heads, feathers etc. Once the birds are dead, they’re hung on shackles and travel around the factory to have everything removed. In my department they have their wings removed, then the body is sliced off leaving only the legs on the shackles which are then removed and packed.

The bodies travel along a conveyor belt and are put onto cones, where they have the breast meat sliced off. The empty carcass then carries on along a different belt where they go into a big mincer and are ground up into cheap pie/nugget/hotdog filling.

So there’s very little actual meat. It’s mostly bone!

Aldi or Lidl nut chocolate
Aldi baked beans
Aldi crisps
Lidl bread (not nasty, but cheap)
Aldi dried herbs and spices

I used to work at DEFRA in the Meat Hygiene inspectorate. The reality of what mechanically recovered meat is would shock most people I think.

I’m vegetarian and near-vegan (and grew up on a farm killing chickens) but suspect you may have done more to put others off cheap Chicken Kiev than any animal ethics billboard.

Sorry, nope. I still want one.

I prefer cheap Greek style yoghurt to real Greek yoghurt. 10% fat, the fat free stuff is too sour.

Lidl crisps, the luxe ones, Aberdeen Angus beef and Suffolk ale 😋. Out of stock yesterday in Catford! Their vegetable crisps are a nice replacement. Their own brand ginger nuts and Aldi gianni almond mono lollies are nice too. Lidl hummus and guacamole just same as Sainsbury’s or Waitrose. Lidl crackers (roasted black pepper or sea salt) are nice too.

Same!

This reminds me that I need to go to the Polish supermarket that has a butcher counter. They sell chicken gizzards. Love them, especially the hearts.

Well that's Monday's dinner sorted out!!!

Tesco cornetto dupes are much better than the branded ones and £1.65 for four - absolute bargain.

For chicken Kiev you can make your own with chicken breasts, bread crumbs (either from bread or the bought ones) and Boursin. Slit breast, loaf with herb and garlic Boursin, cover with breadcrumbs, plain flour and eggs. Wrap in foil and bake in oven, cc 180c for 25-30 mins. I don’t bother searing before but you can do. If you chop tarragon and add lemon zest it’s nice too.

Nah that sounds like too much like good quality 🤣

Aldi do a no-chicken Kiev that's absolutely delicious; we have them with roast veggies.

I am not averse to a bit of cheap chocolate.