Mushy vacuum packed mince

[likelysuspect]

Im not having a lot of luck with vacuum packed products lately

Ive never bought it in the new packaging until this week.

I was in Lidl and didnt have time to go elsewhere so bought it as it was, that squished up stuff in the vacuum pack

Its all mushy when raw and it doesnt have the same texture once cooked as normal packed mince

Im disappointed.

I heat a pan until it's searing hot, then chuck it in and whisk it until it's browned, then chuck it in with whatever I'm actually cooking it with. This dramatically improved the texture and flavour.

Tesco packs are slightly inflated they’re better than the slab of mince in vacuum packs, (looking at you Sainsbury’s) M&S use the original rigid plastic trays.

YANBU, it is gross. I now buy frozen mince as it has a marginally better texture. I resent it hugely, though. It's just another example of making stuff worse for no obvious reason (other than their profits).

You can go to the butchers and ask them
to mince fresh meat for you there and then.

I prefer it but I know thats a very unpopular opinion.

I’ve found it cooks better from a bit frozen whack it in the pan on hot with onions, garlic and seasoning and as the outer layer browns , flip it, scrape off browned meat with a spatula and repeat until it’s all broken down.

I do all of my shopping at Sainsbury's but I refuse to buy their mince. I've tried potato mashers, pre chopping it, searing it on a stupidly hot heat, nothing works. We don't have a butchers locally so I just get it from m&s.

I hate it too. We usually shop at Sainsbury’s but I have to go to Tesco for mince now.

The reason is to cut down on plastic packaging.Plastic packaging causes global warming by driving climate change at every stage of its lifecycle. The process is highly carbon-intensive, releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases from the initial extraction and refinement of fossil fuels to the manufacturing, transport, and final disposal of the products.

But hey you having mince the texture you like is so much more important. Maybe ponder on it a bit next week when we’re back in a heat wave.

You just have to break it up while cooking.
It’s raw minced meat, it was already gross.

I hate it too. Horrible texture.
I don't get the argument about the plastic packaging, as it is still in plastic packaging. The soft plastic type it is in is not taken kerbside, unlike the trays.

Vacuum-packed mince is better for the environment primarily because it uses significantly less plastic and actively prevents food waste. This method of packaging extends product shelf life and optimizes logistics, dramatically reducing the overall carbon footprint of your groceries.
Key environmental benefits include:
Less Plastic Use: Vacuum-sealed packs use up to 63% less plastic than traditional rigid plastic trays with film lids. This significantly reduces the volume of plastic produced and ultimately discarded.
Reduced Food Waste: By removing oxygen, the packaging inhibits bacterial growth, which increases the shelf life of the mince by 50% to 100%. This extended timeframe means less meat spoils in supermarkets and in your fridge at home.
Lower Transportation Emissions: The smaller, tightly wrapped packages are highly size-efficient. This allows significantly more packs to fit onto a single delivery truck, which reduces the total number of delivery trips required and lowers transport-related emissions

The only place we have found decent packaged mince is Morrisons, @likelysuspect. We stopped using the Sainsbury’s vacuum packed mince ages ago because it was so much and woolly - we did complain, and I think others did too, but they don’t care.

The hypocrisy of using AI for your reply 😆

morrisons still sell it in proper trays (or did when I last bought it).
I don’t even see how it really saves plastic, the vacuum packed stuff isn’t really recyclable (or at least I’m not washing it out and storing it) whereas the trays are.

I use the tray for other things (they make great propagators if you grow plants)

No because they care about the environment more.

But using the vacuum packing degrades the quality of the product, @TamTam5 - a product which has taken resources to produce, and which should be treated with reasonable respect so it reaches the consumer in good condition. Spoiling a foodstuff in the name of the environment makes zero sense to me.

I can't abide the vacuum packed mince. It's gross.

I dont buy it fresh now its vacuum packed, I buy frozen.

Its far too expensive.

Morrisons, @likelysuspect - lovely mince.

Not buying Sainsbury's mince till they change it. I wonder if anyone buys it

I buy it. Can't say the vac pack bothers me.

I read that they used to do the vacuum stuff and then changed it back due to customer feedback.