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?

I found beat ones are in halal butchers tbh.

I'd switch to other protein sources. Cheap meat isn't good for consumers, farmers or animal welfare. Eat better meat less often.

Thigh meat and / or recipes that eke out the meat, so one portion now serves 1.5 / 2.

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

Slow roast it. Really slow; 3+ hours at a lowish temp. (Or pressure cook it if you've got one.) Falls off the bone, no carving required. A bit like pulled pork. You do need a good quality chicken for this though, don't bother taking all that time over a supermarket bird, it'll just taste slippery and weird.

That made me laugh! Eat peasants!

Boneless, skinless chicken breast is almost the only meat I eat due to food intolerances. I find coating in bread crumbs then fry a bit on each side then baking in a parchment lined baking dish, uncovered, probed with a meat thermometer set to the chicken setting cooks it perfectly and doesn't dry out. You can season the bread crumbs, if you like. You could also top with any sauce and or cheese.

Buy thighs instead

Yes I find the only ones that are actually good are from M&S. There's just 2 large supermarkets near me. The other is Waitrose and their stuff is disgusting. This is the 3rd Waitrose I've tried too. Meat is always smelly, slimy after a day or 2, fruit always rotten quickly, and not very family friendly meals. I much, much prefer M&S.

^ Exactly this.
Plus it doesn’t have clots 🤢🤷🏼‍♀️you can get protein from other things besides animals.

Supermarket chicken is hideous .
I only buy from the butcher.
If funds are tight OP buy better quality less often and protein up with other foods

Where are all these butchers you speak of? Nothing in my area like that at all. Just a corner shop or Aldi which is a 40 minute walk.

Season well and microwave for 4-5 minutes in a loose lidded container. Juicy every time.

WTAF

Brexit has lowered food standards in this country. It will get worse unfortunately.

I noticed this a couple of years ago, even the expensive ones were rubbery.
Like other posters I changed to thighs and it was a revelation much tastier and half the price.

ive noticed the same with some kebab shops and Indians - the meat is spongy and I started having prawns instead from the Indian.

With beef 20% fat mince is cheaper than the leaner ones by the way. I prefer fatty meat, more nutritious and filling as well.

I use kitchen scissors for meat trimming but Aldi skinless/ boneless thighs don't need extra trimming I find.

That will be because chicken doubled+ in price so they went for cheper supplier or frozen. It's hell for small businesses like for people. Either it costs a ton or is bit shite

We import over 80,000 tons of chicken from Thailand every year. I can't imagine the quality would be great.

We only buy breasts from the butcher. Otherwise we use thighs. Thighs are much tastier in curried etc anyway.

I’m not rich, not buy a very long chalk, I’m peasantry on here, but I buy pretty much all my meat from the butchers, although I’m lucky enough to live over the road from a good butcher. The meat costs more pound for pound, but you eat all you buy because it’s not pumped full of water, so it stretches much further, and it’s a pleasure to cook and eat.

I use thigh fillets because they’re cheaper and just as nice, if not nicer. If I’m making a curry for example, I’ll fry them off before hand, but even then I only get a sheen of fat on the bottom of the pan, rather than the half a gallon of water I get out of supermarket chicken.

if I buy a pound of mints and make a chili or a Bolognese, I’ll easily get five good sized portions.

I also try to buy all my fruit and veg from the green grocer. Tastes nicer, lasts longer, and is generally of much higher quality.

I buy a lot of my every day stuff from Lidl, and I agree with the PP who posted a thread the other day, the fruit and veg is generally pretty grim. Unless I’m eating it the same day or the next day I won’t buy it.

Muscle Food is worth a try.

Their chicken isn’t pumped full of water like supermarket chicken breasts, so they don’t shrink as much when cooked.

And I barely have to trim any fat off them.

They do come vacuum packed though so there is a bit of a smell initially, but it goes away quickly - I just portion them up into packs of 2 and stick them in the freezer.