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.

Doesn’t bother me much either. I buy both

Everything I’ve ever read suggests it prolongs the shelf life considerably, in what way is it degrading the product?

It ruins the texture, @Honeyhonayboo, making it mushy and woolly, and makes it taste less good too, imo.

What do you call too expensive?
An animal has been reared, housed, feed, till death. What price would be acceptable to you?
I say this as a life quality meat eater

There are no butchers local to me, but the actual closest one sells mince, and it is 3 times the price of supermarket.
If you are on a low income, that is a lot of money.

This is completely subjective.

Supermarket prices are acceptable to me. Asda, Lidl, Aldi and I'll try Morrisons now that Ive found out they sell it in the trays

We cant afford Waitrose or M+S or Sainsburys. Tescos is sometimes ok pricewise.

Don’t you choose foodstuffs that you actually like, @Honeyhonayboo? This thread shows that I’m not the only person who thinks vacuum packing ruins the texture of the meat, and I’m not going to spend money on substandard food.

If something you had previously enjoyed was changed in a way that drastically lowered the standard of the product in your (subjective) opinion, would you still carry on buying it?

If you can't afford to pay a decent price for an animal that have had a good life, and cost more, perhaps, don"t eat meat? Cheap meat lowers standards and people's perceptions of what a life costs

No it doesn’t. The texture is better and it absorbs flavours better. I hate the worms the other mince is like.

I find Ocado mince is really good and the vacuum packed goes further despite less meat. I felt mince was really going down in quality and taste and was going off it but I now like it again. Maybe I’m odd.

@TamTam5 I’m with you. Agree it holds the flavour better and less water in it.

Depends what you are using it for.
Chili con - mushy is no good.
Making burgers or meatballs - fine

Mushy is excellent for chilli.

Not for me.

No, there's nothing excellent about oozing out a brick of oddly coloured mince mush with a sulphy odour.

I used a pack of the Sainsbury’s mince yesterday, my arm is still aching today after having to chop it with the spatula for what felt like 6389 times. Definitely will be avoiding Sainsbury’s mince going forward, I’d forgot how annoying it is!

No me neither, this is what I made tonight

That doesn’t represent what I buy. It’s the same product!

I'd rather have no mince at all than vacuum packed...I just don't like it.

I know it's really lame that I'm interested but I'd actually be curious to see the impact on sales of the change-over. Threads on here indicate most don't like it...would love to know if that's replicated IRL or if its just a mumsnet thing.

What are you doing with it. I just pop it in the pan and stir it round. It breaks down v quickly by itself.

We shop at Sainsury's but I stopped buying their mince a while ago I can't bear the solid lump of mush. They seriously need to look at a better packaging option which is environmentally friendly but doesn't reduce the product quality. We get it from the butchers now which is ok if you use it straight away but it doesn't last. I've got some M&S mince in the fridge this week which looks nice, in a proper tray.

It's not the same product. The process of vacuum packing the mince changes the product. The lack of oxygen means that the gasses given off by the mince, including natural lactic acid, have nowhere to go and gives it that odd smell when you open it and the odd colour is caused by the myoglobin protein that changes colour depending on the amount of oxygen it is exposed to. As for the texture 🤮

I go to my local butcher and ask him to cut some fresh mince from steak. It tastes unbelievably good. I’d far rather buy that slightly less frequently and support a local business.

So, you’re green as anything on the mince packaging @TamTam5but clearly don’t mind AI’s massive environmental impact.

I agree with OP, I hate mince packed in this way too.