Chicken Breast

[chick1014]

Has anyone else found that chicken breast from the supermarket is getting worse? Watery, rubbery, cheap and barely edible?

I'd love to but from the butcher every week but I can't afford it and we need to include protein in our meals.

What ways can I cook a mere chicken breast to stop it from going dry and hopefully retain some flavour / decent texture?

No help, but I'm noticing this too! Finding lots of clots too!

Yes, I only buy from M&S now as part of their 3 for £12 offer. Slightly more expensive but the quality is edible.

So much food seems to be getting shitter. Chicken breast definitely, soft fruits are awful, even apples seem to go mouldy much quicker. I'd leave off breast altogether and eat thigh tbh - cheaper and often tastier.

Marinading overnight may also help if you really need breast.

I've noticed this too, and a lack of quality in general lately, not just with supermarkets, but general customer service. I raised a complaint about something with a call centre and the person huffed loudly down the phone at me and tried to make out the subject in question was my fault. Also, visited a shop expecting to buy some clothes and it was closed with a sign on the door saying "sorry we're closed today, we have no staff".

I stopped buying supermarket meat years ago and use a butcher. Yes it's more expensive, but the quality is worth it. Chicken isn't padded out with water so weight wise you are getting more, plus my butchers chicken breasts are much bigger. The othet products are packed with so much more flavour, so I don't use as much and the sausages are also not padded out with extra ingredients.
I can't stand supermarket meat but chicken is by far the worst. There's also the option of using thigh and leg meat rather than breasts which is a much cheaper cut.

Buy chicken thigh fillets instead, cheap breast meat will always taste cheap but cheap thighs are usually better.

We generally only buy the pricey high welfare stuff on offer but we have had to branch out on occasion now the budget is tight. Thighs definitely better.

I guess this can be area-dependent, but I don't find the butcher more expensive than the supermarket; the opposite, in fact.

I suppose with butcher meat you're (generally) not paying for plastic packaging, the cellophane, the labels, countrywide delivery logistics, all that.

Would love a local butcher. Sadly our local one is either a pay £12.50 ULEZ fee, or spend 40 minutes each way between walking and public transport.

I tend to use Aldi for meat and find their quality is good.

Other things to do is look for cheaper sources of protein. Eggs don't seem too bad at the mo for price (and it's hard for skimpflation to be enacted on an egg! :P). Beans and lentils and other pulses are high in protein. Tinned fish still pretty affordable. Dollop of yoghurt on vegetable dishes? Nuts and seeds cost a bloody fortune unfortunately.

Try thigh meat instead of breast. Or try turkey. We substitute a lot of things with turkey now - it's cheaper, leaner and seems to hold flavour well. We even use turkey mince instead of beef for bolognese and chilli.

If you need to include protein in your meals and can't afford good quality chicken, use a different protein that you can afford?

There are plenty of options, yes some of them are vegetarian but what's wrong with that?

You can have a good quality, mostly vegetarian diet, and you can treat yourself to good quality meat once in a while.

Have noticed this too - fresh food is generally a poorer quality and doesn't seem to last as long as it did a couple of years ago.

I’ve noticed this, particularly sainsburys have gone really downhill. I buy from Lidl now and their meat I find to still be decent.

Thigh fillets or whole legs on the bone are much cheaper than breast fillets and usually have a lot more flavour. Chicken breasts are very low in fat but also lower in flavour and moisture, so thigh/leg might be a better choice if you're finding that breast is dry or flavourless or pumped up with water.

The highest welfare chicken in supermarkets is definitely better quality than the standard range, but it's just eye-wateringly expensive now and I can't afford to spend that every week - but I do need to include plenty of protein in my diet and I couldn't manage that eating vegetarian. My local butcher doesn't sell free range meat at all, so I don't buy from him either! I'm going to have to do a lot of rethinking about where I shop and what I cook, I think.

I disagree, eggs have gone so small lately for some reason! (Although, might be linked to the chicken breast situation..)

There are plenty of options, yes some of them are vegetarian but what's wrong with that?

I eat lots of vegetarian things and was actually completely vegetarian for about 12 years. Yes, there are vegetarian sources of protein, but mostly nowhere near as high in protein as meat. Pulses, tofu etc all contain protein, but not even close to the amount you get from meat. Nuts are high in protein but you would have to eat an awful lot of them to get the same amount that you would from chicken, and they are also very high in fat so not a good choice for anyone who needs to watch their calorie intake (which I do).

That's not to say that a vegetarian diet cannot give the average person enough protein to be broadly healthy - it definitely can if you're careful about it! But if, for whatever reason, someone needs/wants a diet that's high in protein and doesn't involve eating way more calories than they need, that's a huge challenge.

I poach them in stock and finish off on a griddle pan for some colour

Like a PP I find chicken breast from Lidl much better than Sainsburys. I've started buying fruit and veg from our local market (although apples are currently free from my parents orchard as they are having a bumper crop) and its no more expensive and lasts longer. Aldi and Lidl fresh veg is appalling near me. I also try and buy milk from M & S as they are the best for kindness to farmers!

Yes I've noticed this too and considered posting on here, although I'm pregnant so thought I'd just gone off meat for a while! Some chicken (from Waitrose actually so not cheap) I've found has a tough rubbery texture, or just not a nice flavour. I did a whole roast chicken at the weekend and that was much better, really delicious and not dry/rubbery at all. I'm going to stick to whole chickens from now on and buy the organic/free range to see if that's better.

I find that Chicken Breasts from the Supermarkets particular one starting with T are often gone off/stink.

I tend to use chicken thighs for everything now instead of breast or else cut up a full chicken.

Agree with others about chicken thigh but they tend to have bits of fat on them that can be tricky to cut off.

I think I'll do partial butchers shop as I do miss a decent bit of meat.

Also take on board the use of Turkey and Turkey mince - not sure why I usually always give this a swerve.

Might try the poaching in chicken stock as suggested above for the chicken I currently have but any other cooking suggestions are welcome. I usually try to cover in foil whilst cooking but that keeps in some moisture but still doesn't make it taste much better.

Whole chicken as someone mentioned is a good idea and can be cost effective. I'm just lazy in carving it all up.

The Waitrose 2 for 3 offer is good.

I am sure you’re right - they’re trying to keep
costs down.

Try upgrading one level.

Also my in laws, who buy organic chicken breasts from Aldi which is tough as old boots (ex layers I assume) poach it and that really helps.

Oh and when it’s in season game - peasant etc - is often really good value

Butchers chicken is more expensive because you are paying for chicken not chicken plus it's weight again in added water.

I can't remember where I saw it but I saw an experiment somewhere where they got two pieces of chicken that weighed the same uncooked, one butchers one supermarket and did a price comparison.

they then cooked them both the same way and then weighed them again and did the same price comparison. Then supermarket chicken had pretty much halved in weight and had now become more £/k than the butchers one which was only slightly smaller than it had been raw.

so actually you might be getting more meat for your money than your realise buying from a butcher.