AIBU to start to believe in the magical Mumsnet chicken?

[HootOwl]

Maybe it is actually real?! 🐔😆

I roasted an (admittedly huge) chicken and also this was all only to feed me and two small children so not huge portions but from one chicken we had:

Roast dinner
Chicken fricassee
Chicken risotto
Chicken pasta bake
Paprika chicken
Chicken soup
Crispy chicken skin (snack)

Will make the effort to roast a whole one more often! I swear it only had two breasts, two legs and two wings...

@ComtesseDeSpair

I could make a chicken last last four dinners pretty easily. I choose not to, because I like chicken, eat a Keri diet, and I’d rather eat half of one in one meal. But it’s great that all the people who couldn’t possibly manage more than 130g of chicken for dinner are effectively balancing out my consumption. It’s this level of cooperation which makes the world go round.

I like the cut of your jib

On the Toby Carvery question: loads of people don't go to carveries because the meat portions are stingy. I like vegetables very much, but I'm not paying to fill up on boiled carrots and overcooked cauliflower cheese when I can roast a chicken at home and serve us all a decent portion - of better food - for a fraction of the cost.

MN chicken threads are a guilty pleasure for me, though. I LOVE the competitive undereating. It's fascinating (and I don't believe a word of it).

MN chicken threads are a guilty pleasure for me, though. I LOVE the competitive undereating. It's fascinating (and I don't believe a word of it). how is it competitive under eating to not eat 700g of meat at a time?

It’s no wonder that we have so many problems with obesity and obesity related illness in this country when people feel the need to sneer at those who eat normal sized portions because they over-eat.

To be honest this reminds me of having Sunday dinner with my grandparents.

Meat was very much seen as a luxury commodity and whilst dinners were plentiful and delicious (my GM was an amazing cook) I think today the portions of meat she would serve would be perceived as "thrifty" by todays standards.

The leftover meat from a Sunday dinner was absolutely expected to last several days for the whole family and every scrap was used, bones and all for stock, fat/skin saved for frying bubble and squeak the next day etc.

As meat production has become more efficient cruel and thus cheaper I think our expectations of what a meat portion is has increased dramatically.

I serve the same (plentiful) amount of food as my GM but the meat to veg ratio is very different (much higher) and frankly that's something I'm trying to address.

We eat far too much meat than is sustainable and aren't that good at using it wisely.

One (very) large chicken is a much better buy than two smaller ones, both economically and environmentally, especially if used thoughtfully.

I really think many of us need to re-think our attitude to meat and Sunday dinner is a great place to start in the sense that with all the lovely veggie side dishes you can have with lashings of gravy, stuffing and Yorkshire puddings you really don't need the massive quantities of meat some posters seem to think you do to have a great meal.

We've simply got used to meat being the star of the show and main focus of the plate rather than being part of an all star cast.

@AlternativePerspective

@ HootOwl maybe they’re all on the Atkins diet, so they don’t have anything with it, just a slab or two of meat.

Seems like it! 🤷🏻‍♀️😆

@AlternativePerspective

MN chicken threads are a guilty pleasure for me, though. I LOVE the competitive undereating. It's fascinating (and I don't believe a word of it). how is it competitive under eating to not eat 700g of meat at a time?

It’s no wonder that we have so many problems with obesity and obesity related illness in this country when people feel the need to sneer at those who eat normal sized portions because they over-eat.

Basing a diet on protein is far less likely to lead to obesity than having one which features regular meals like pie, risotto and roast dinners overly bulked out with high calorie but low nutrition filler like roast potatoes, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding.

@BreadInCaptivity

To be honest this reminds me of having Sunday dinner with my grandparents.

Meat was very much seen as a luxury commodity and whilst dinners were plentiful and delicious (my GM was an amazing cook) I think today the portions of meat she would serve would be perceived as "thrifty" by todays standards.

The leftover meat from a Sunday dinner was absolutely expected to last several days for the whole family and every scrap was used, bones and all for stock, fat/skin saved for frying bubble and squeak the next day etc.

As meat production has become more efficient cruel and thus cheaper I think our expectations of what a meat portion is has increased dramatically.

I serve the same (plentiful) amount of food as my GM but the meat to veg ratio is very different (much higher) and frankly that's something I'm trying to address.

We eat far too much meat than is sustainable and aren't that good at using it wisely.

One (very) large chicken is a much better buy than two smaller ones, both economically and environmentally, especially if used thoughtfully.

I really think many of us need to re-think our attitude to meat and Sunday dinner is a great place to start in the sense that with all the lovely veggie side dishes you can have with lashings of gravy, stuffing and Yorkshire puddings you really don't need the massive quantities of meat some posters seem to think you do to have a great meal.

We've simply got used to meat being the star of the show and main focus of the plate rather than being part of an all star cast.

This makes a lot of sense. I mean, I love a backn sandwich and very occassionally I might order a steak in a restaurant or something, so will have some very meat-heavy meals, sometimes. But in normal meals it's just one ingredient and certainly not the majority of the food on the plate! And that's not a habit I'd be teaching my children for health reasons as well as the sustainability side.

I don't really get the "if there's not meat it's not a meal" crowd (I love meat but also love vegetarian food!) and I guess it is that mentality feeding through into meat also needing to be 50% of what's on the plate? Or even more perhaps?!

The poster who was talking about 700g portions of chicken per person, do they have 700g of vegetables, too? So they eat 1.4kg of food for one meal?  That seems unbelievable. I can't picture what that plate of food would look like. And even then at 50% meat and 50% veg it would be waaaay to heavy on protein to be a "normal" healthy meal. Or do they just not have much veg at all? I am genuinely intrigued how that works.

Not the point of the thread, which was a bit of a joke, a bit of pride about my revelation and some good recipe sharing. But I must admit that now people have described meals like that I'm fascinated. If meat meant to be 1/3 max of a plate of food then a 700g portion of chicken means that ONE portion of dinner is over 2kg of food? 

I consider an adult portion to be around 180g, which would be a chicken breast so it depends on the size of the bird. An average chicken in our house serves two adults and two children one meal.

@merrymelodies

I consider an adult portion to be around 180g, which would be a chicken breast so it depends on the size of the bird. An average chicken in our house serves two adults and two children one meal.

But even then, with meat meant to be 1/4 to 1/3 max of a meal, that means one adult sized portion of the whole meal would be 540g - 720g. That seems nuts. Even if you exclude breakfast, it can't be a good idea for an adult to be consuming 1.1kg - 1.5kg of food per day?

@merrymelodies

I consider an adult portion to be around 180g, which would be a chicken breast so it depends on the size of the bird. An average chicken in our house serves two adults and two children one meal.

And, this was about a 2kg chicken to probably 1.4-1.5kg meat. So 180g per portion would mean 7-8 portions, not 4!

You'd have to have a pretty big chicken to do all that, Hoot. A capon maybe.

I used to buy three free range chickens for £10 at a local supermarket, some years ago. Obviously I'd freeze a couple. They weren't very big but were lovely roasted with all the trimmings and beautiful gravy made from the juices and some wine. There wasn't much left after dinner though. I'd cut up what there was and we'd sometimes have it with mashed potato and pickle plus some other cold meat, eg ham. Sometimes I did a pasta dish and included the leftovers and occasionally a risotto but there really wasn't much chicken meat.

Having written all that and completely forgotten what I was originally going to say, I am now sitting here at stupid o'clock, fancying a roast chicken dinner! I don't cook much since husband died. He used to love my roasts. Ah well, life goes on.

I'm interested to know about the 'Mumsnet chicken' that is so versatile and lasts so long, even though I won't be buying one as I am on my own.

@blyn72

You'd have to have a pretty big chicken to do all that, Hoot. A capon maybe.

I used to buy three free range chickens for £10 at a local supermarket, some years ago. Obviously I'd freeze a couple. They weren't very big but were lovely roasted with all the trimmings and beautiful gravy made from the juices and some wine. There wasn't much left after dinner though. I'd cut up what there was and we'd sometimes have it with mashed potato and pickle plus some other cold meat, eg ham. Sometimes I did a pasta dish and included the leftovers and occasionally a risotto but there really wasn't much chicken meat.

Having written all that and completely forgotten what I was originally going to say, I am now sitting here at stupid o'clock, fancying a roast chicken dinner! I don't cook much since husband died. He used to love my roasts. Ah well, life goes on.

I'm interested to know about the 'Mumsnet chicken' that is so versatile and lasts so long, even though I won't be buying one as I am on my own.

I'm so sorry to hear that @blyn72.

I am sure he'd want you to still do that for yourself, even if you then eat it across many days?

It was a very big chicken, yes!

@AlternativePerspective

@ HootOwl maybe they’re all on the Atkins diet, so they don’t have anything with it, just a slab or two of meat.

🤣🤣

@sadpapercourtesan I mean, a carvery isn't exactly great food but my point was it's possible to 'fill up' on a wide variety of other things in a roast that aren't meat.

If you go to a carvery, fill your plate, go back for seconds, and still need a mcdonalds shortly afterwards, you probably have worms rather than the lack of meat being the problem

Meat has become so cheap to the detriment of animal welfare and people have become unimaginative and lazy. They also need far less protein than they pretend think most of the time. I'm an avid meat eater but there's an air of greed and entitlement that portion sizes are 'stingy' if they don't take up half the plate

I'm doing this next week!

[quote TibetanTerrah]@Thethreecs genuine question - what would happen if you took your family to say a Toby Carvery? Because the meat is 'rationed', everyone gets the same and you can eat as much of everything else as you like. Nobody leaves a carvery hungry.

And don't say, 'we wouldn't go because there wouldn't be enough meat' purely hypothetical, what would they do?[/quote]
What's a Toby carvery?

We have pubs here that do carverys, we haven't been in over 2 years due to lock downs here, restrictions on pubs and restaurants, they're only really open recently. Also due to the age of my kids we don't go to pub lunches anymore as they're not interested or working or school, college.

When we did go to carverys here, they didn't eat half a cow. They'd get meat and veg, it's usually about 4 slices of meat, 4 veg stuffing gravy. That's standard for a carvery here. You can get chicken breast at some carverys, they don't serve the leg as most don't buy it, there's other types of foods like curries etc they don't half a chicken breast between customers, you get a whole one to yourself. It's fairly common to be served a whole chicken breast when eating out here.

@HootOwl

Maybe it is actually real?! 🐔😆

I roasted an (admittedly huge) chicken and also this was all only to feed me and two small children so not huge portions but from one chicken we had:

Roast dinner
Chicken fricassee
Chicken risotto
Chicken pasta bake
Paprika chicken
Chicken soup
Crispy chicken skin (snack)

Will make the effort to roast a whole one more often! I swear it only had two breasts, two legs and two wings...

You didn't make faggots with the offal?? Wasteful!

@HootOwl

Freezer use? Well, it takes up very little space and my freezer is always full anyway!

Also freezers are actually more energy efficient when full so you save money there also!

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I really did mean to add that

MN chicken threads are a guilty pleasure for me, though. I LOVE the competitive undereating. It's fascinating (and I don't believe a word of it).

It’s not competitive undereating to abide by recommended portion sizes. If anything we’ve had competitive overeating on this thread!

I do the same OP! Only two of us and chicken feeds us for a few days.
However you have to make foods with chicken as an ‘ingredient’ rather than the main course. I’ve also mastered the art of butchering my own chicken ;) into 22 pieces

Many people though only buy chicken pieces, or have them as the centrepiece with some sort of carbs and salad. Of course your chicken won’t last as long if you do that.

You can always pad meals out with veggies and lentils (I do it not to save money but it’s healthier and I feel much better with more veggies anyway)

@PattyPan

MN chicken threads are a guilty pleasure for me, though. I LOVE the competitive undereating. It's fascinating (and I don't believe a word of it).

It’s not competitive undereating to abide by recommended portion sizes. If anything we’ve had competitive overeating on this thread!

Considering all the other shit the NHS recommends about “healthy eating”, I’m not sure it’s “recommended portion sizes” and types of food best to eat are something I’m going to put much stock in any time soon tbh. And I’m definitely not going to replace my 500g of chicken or meat portion with some of the junk eaten on this thread to replace it.

@ComtesseDeSpair what junk have people said they are eating?

@ComtesseDeSpair so you consider anything non-meat junk?

Eating the amount of meat you describe is unsustainable and involves animals raised in horrific conditions. Unless you’re rich enough to buy lots of well raised meat. Even then the U.K. won’t be able to produce enough.

[quote HootOwl]@ComtesseDeSpair what junk have people said they are eating? [/quote]
“Have just a tiny amount of roast chicken with your Sunday dinner - replace it with things which are basically a mixture of refined white flour, oils and salt.”

“Know how you can make a chicken last ages? Stuff yourself with pasta and sauce instead and you barely need any protein at all!”

Everyone is welcome to do as they please, but those lecturing about obesity and bad diets and suggesting replacing a lean protein with lots of Yorkshire pudding and stuffing really aren’t the beacons of nutritional advice they think they are.

Ah fair enough - I thought you were referring to generic protein.
A roast dinner is one of those things where meat is the centrepiece, fair enough as it’s a treat.

Making meat lasts longer involves extra effort, and s combination of things not just loads of carbs…

Wholemeal pasta is not junk. And eating 500g of meat at each serving is going to give you kidney stones.