Find out what testers had to say about Birds Eye’s frozen chicken.NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

Birds Eye have teamed up with Mumsnet, to find 250 testers for their 20-minute meals. Selected testers were given a Birds Eye pack with a £5 Birds Eye voucher and a £10 supermarket voucher, so that they could cook and taste the 20-minute meals for themselves.

Here’s what Birds Eye have said: ‘Tea time can be a stressful part of the day and coming up with nutritious and tasty meals the kids will enjoy is not easy.

That’s why Birds Eye has teamed up with Toby and Roo, Honest Mum, Not Another Mummy Blog and London Dad to create a series of delicious and wholesome meals for the family to enjoy. And guess what, they genuinely only take 20-minutes to prep, cook and serve!

Birds Eye frozen chicken is always made with 100% chicken breast, barn-reared chickens, and no artificial colours, flavours and preservatives.’

'Enjoyed Birds Eye Chicken? Why not leave us a product review here.'

If you took part in this test please comment on the thread, with your answers to these questions:

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?
2. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?
3. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?
4. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?
5. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

All those who tested and post their feedback on here and the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Mostly, I thought the batter was a bit greasy

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Yes

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

It's certainly better than caged, but still not ideal.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Possibly, if I needed an easy meal.

Thanks IAGTBF. I just wish the labelling was easier to understand.

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes, we've not had Birds Eye chicken for a long time and everybody commented on how tasty it was.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Yes I do, I think it is very reasonably priced for the quality of the product.

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes, knowing this now means I'm more than happy to feed them to my family.

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Yes, it is reassuring to know where the meat is coming from.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Absolutely, the family really enjoyed it Birds Eye will definitely have a place in my freezer from now on.

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes, I was surprised by how versatile it was. We tried all of the dishes and they were very tasty.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Yes, I tried all of the recipes and bought them on one shopping trip. I was suprised by the price. It's not something I have bought before but it was excellent value for money and now something I would keep in my freezer.

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes this makes a big difference to me and influences my purchasing. I would buy again knowing this information.

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Yes, again this is something that influences my purchasing. I try to buy chicken that has been barn reared and it's expensive. This make a difference.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Yes and I will be buying these items again. Thank you for the recipes and this opportunity, we were stuck in a rut with evening meals and with a 2 year old and a newborn it's not always easy to find time to cook or to look up new recipes but this gave us a chance to do both.

1.did we enjoy the taste of birds eye chicken?
Yes I brought two packs of the chargrilled chicken breasts whichever my husband has always been a fan of.they were very succulent and the children enjoyed them too.
2.do you think birds eye chicken is good value?
Yes it is as the chargrilled chicken I brought I ended up buying two packs as they were very reasonably priced and there are two in a pack so you would only need one to go alongside a main meal.
3.does knowing that birds eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast with no additives or preservatives and that's it's packed with protein make you more likely to purchase them in the future?
Yes it would as since having my children my whole lifestyle around food has completely changed as once I had my children I started cooking healthy family meals from scratch making sure my children were getting a balanced diet and also I therefore knew exactly what was in their meals as I had prepared them.knowing I am providing my children with a good diet is a good feeling.
4.does knowing that all birds eye chickens are always barn reared and never caged reassure you?
Yes in a way as I do like to buy free range eggs etc and don't like the thought of caged chickens however sometimes needs must and if I can't afford the free ranged I will go for caged instead.
5.would you feed birds eye chicken to your family again?
Yes definitely as it a very quick and versatile meal solution.
We tried the great Greek chicken pittas which we were not overly keen on and personally I think a better healthier recipe could have been chosen.we found the meal quite dry with not much flavour.the recipe was quite confusing at times such as in the photograph the chicken is shown in the pitta with the salad on top however the recipe suggests the salad is placed into the pitta first and the chicken then goes on top.some of the other recipes we weren't very keen to try.

I forgot to add photos

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes, the whole family thought it was tasty :)

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

I think if you get it on special offer it can be good value and about the same price as supermarket own brands

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes, lately the family has been doing some 'clean' eating, but knowing this would make me happier to use it when I need an easy tea :)

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Its not something I had really thought about before, but yes, I suppose its nice to know :)

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Yes, we would eat Birds eye chicken again, would be good to have in the freezer as a stand by if we need a quick and easy tea one night - we could use one of the recipes out of the book, which I let my husband try out - and thought they were easy to do :)

4. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

No it's an a disingenuous marketing ploy that feeds on the lack of understanding most consumers have about where their food comes from. Since broiler chickens only live to around 39-42 days, they are all barn-reared and not caged (unlike laying hens). This is a minimal industry standard and not the sign of quality the Birdseye marketing team are duping customers to believe. Meat chicken are simply not raised in cages systems so why would Birdseye suggest that are?

It hardly fill you with confidence re: Birdseye's transparency and trustworthiness.

Ha Veterinari I was about to come on and say that, AFAIK only egg hens are ever cages - there's no reason to cage meat hens so they don't - it would be extra expense.

There's some info here on the practice:

www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/farm/meatchickens/farming/-/articleName/FAD_AllAboutAnimalsMeatChickensFarming

The laser allows for about 19 2kg birds per square metre in a building holding usually about 25,000 birds. Does that still make you feel all warm and fuzzy about their short lives?

Law not laser.

1. Did you enjoy the taste

Yes we all did, DH and I thought the chicken tasted nice and both DCs loved them.

2.Was it good value
Yes very affordable I thought and I also notice there were offers on some of the products too, which was great.

3.100 percent breast, more likely to purchase?
I don't mind which bit of the bird the meat comes from personally, as long as it isn't reclaimed from other bits of carcass. However knowing the meat is from quality cuts and so doesn't need additional additives to make it look and taste like breast meat is great.

1. Reassured about barn reared birds?

Yes although I would like to know that they have the required space and enrichment required for high standards of barn rearing. Bog standard barn rearing probably is fairly minimum welfare standards now isn't it?

1. Would I feed again

Yes definitely! We tried two varieties of the chicken and two recipes. Whilst I did modify them a little to my families taste they were both a great success and easy to make during the working week. It also made me realise how versatile frozen chicken can be.

And again notice that while they say "raised by farmers we know and trust" which I think is a euphemism for compliance with EU traceability law, they don't mention where those farms are - which probably means Thailand. On the other hand, according to the RSPCA Thai chicken normally has higher welfare standards than lowest common denominator UK birds, so it sounds like a good choice by Birdseye if they're going to optimise the welfare/price equation.

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

The taste, yes. The texture, not so much. As with another poster I didn't realise it was reconstituted chicken, I thought it was an actual chicken breast with coating - and the soft/soggy texture really put me off. I had the chargrills with pittas and I used the voucher to buy a bag of dippers too which the DCs can have if we're stuck for ideas. I got a second box of chargrills but I don't think I'll be using them. I didn't find it very pleasant.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Yes, I suppose you get what you pay for.

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

No... it's good to know the chicken ingredient is made of real chicken, but it's the other ingredients that bother me. I assumed a reputable family brand like Birds Eye would use decent quality chicken meat anyway.

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

It does, actually. Even if it's a minimum standard as a PP said, I hadn't thought about it before, assuming Birds Eye were fairly reputable anyway, but I'm glad to know this.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Probably the dippers which are crunchy enough to mask the texture. Not the chargrills, too soggy for us. It went down 50/50 (as I expected) with the kids - DS doesn't like chicken anyway, and DD ate it all!

Thanks for the meal ideas btw.

1. Yes, really enjoyed it
2. Reasonable value for money. Good quality for the price and cheaper than buying fresh
3. Absolutely. Connotations associated with frozen produce tends to be that it's lesser quality and not as healthy so this was reassuring to know
4. Yes, is reassuring to know.
5. Definitely - really handy to have in the freezer and can make a quick healthy meal with it.

I've been buying my kids the odd bag of nuggets on the basis of % of meat so now I am confused. Can anyone tell me the best ones since DD eats a lot of them when she's that way out please?

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

I didn't eat it, I'm a vegetarian, but the children (12 and 14) liked it. The recipe was poorly written though (Greek pitta one) - ingredients listed eg. butter which wasn't mentioned in the method. Recipe said cook chicken as per box - and then never mentioned again in the method. Ludicrous amount of dressing (100ml of olive oil! Just needed a drizzle) One chargrill between 2 halved pittas would have meant a miniscule amount of chicken per half pitta. Only 6 olives - so one and a half per pitta, but a whole cucumber) Spelling mistakes ('Stressfull')

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

OK for processed food

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Not particularly, as all meat is made of meat and is protein rich

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Not particularly, as chickens reared for meat are not caged anyway. If I'm buying chicken for the family I usually look for free range

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

I would maybe keep some in the freezer for standby

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Delicious, wholesome and filling!

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

I would normally only buy Birds Eye when it's on offer but after trying these recipes, I would be willing to pay full price!

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes! It's entirely reassuring. Myself and my partner would've probably eaten it anyway but now that we've Pippa to feed, the nutritional value of everything we consume is much more carefully considered!

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Of course, I think animal welfare is vitally important and it's so reassuring to know that a company like Birds Eye are aware and compliant.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Most definitely. I'm looking forward to creating some of my own recipes now that I've discovered these!

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes it was delicious.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

yes very reasonable price

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

I buy Bird's Eye chicken anyway but it definitely informs my choice

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Yes, it's great that the chickens are barn reared. I would prefer it if they were free range

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

100%

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes, it tasted very nice.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Well, on offer I got 24 nuggets and 4 crispy chicken breasts for less than £5 so it's ok value I'd say. I'd lean towards buying the own brand alternatives though.

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Less likely. I prefer dark meat (thighs/wings) as do the rest of the family. No additives is great. But packed with protein is obvious/silly - it's chicken!

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

No. I always buy free range chicken at home, I wouldn't buy birds eye for this reason alone.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

I would, but I wouldn't buy it again unless it changed to free range.

We enjoyed the meals, and it made a nice change - I'd make them again (we did two different meals) but would use free range chicken, probably boneless thighs, instead.

Photo's that I couldn't post yesterday.

1. Ye, they tasted fine. The children certainly devoured it.

1. Value wise it worked out pretty well, especially when it was on offer.

1. I can't say I am that fussed about it needing to be all breast. As others have said, some of the legs and wings are perfevtly nice. The key point is it's not messed about with.

1. I would far prefer free range. I think this sort of labelling can be confusing when there are clearly better options about

1. Probably

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

We all enjoyed the meal

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Probably too expensive for a weekly meal but useful to have in the freezer as a standby

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes I think it would make me more likely to buy it in the future.

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

I would prefer if it was free range. I noted that the chicken was imported and I would hope the welfare conditions are as good as the UK. Would prefer British chicken.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Yes it's a good standby for the freezer.

Kicking Katsu Don with Birds Eye Chicken Dippers
Our version tasted lovely and our three and five year old loved it too.
Thinking this would be a simple recipe we tried it Sunday night and hadn’t read the method through properly before- if we had, we would have skipped it.
The only place we could find Dashi in a shop is Waitrose and we weren’t traveling all the way there just for that. The Chicken stock suggestion as an alternative gives no mention of quantity or type. This is where our problems and frustrations began as it had been a long day and we thought it would have been a quick and easy recipe. We didn’t think about the fact that there is no indication as to what type of sachet of Dashi is used by London_Dad. Is it:
• a Dried Powder Dashi that he uses (and if so does he mix it with water like normal or use it dry)?
• a sachet of concentrate Dashi Stock Liquid (used straight or diluted like normal)?
• a sachet of ready to use Liquid Dashi Stock?
The alternative suggested is Chicken Stock, implying a liquid hence why this got confusing. We don’t know if this is done with either a choice of Dashi Powder/Chicken Stock CUBE or Dashi Stock/Chicken Stock. After faffing about with trying to find this out and at the same time trying to sort out our two children we decided just to make a standard Katsu curry with the onion, pepper and carrot like normal and using a Yutaka katsu curry stock block that we boil in water.
We oven cooked the Bird’s Eye Chicken Dippers, put them in a large frying pan and poured in the egg so it came out like a Bird’s Eye Chicken Dipper omelette. We kept the rice simple and just boiled up some Basmati with Star Anise and Kaffir Lime Leaf.
As you can see in the picture we served the meal keeping the three components separate on the plates as our children have never had Bird’s Eye Chicken Dippers before and we were unsure whether they would like them. Serving it up like this made it easier for people to eat the bits they did enjoy- as it was, everybody liked everything.
Conclusion: either the ingredients or the method needs to be clearer regarding the Dashi/Chicken Stock type used and also a bit more on plating the meal up – the picture doesn’t give enough of a clue and we couldn’t find this particular London_Dad recipe.
Comparing the ingredient list to the method: we ended up having one sad lonely egg sat on our work surface wondering what on earth it had done wrong. We have tried to reassure the egg that it is not its fault but the recipe’s though we don’t think the egg believes us. Over the next 24 hours the egg showed no signs of improvement in its mood so we have put it back with its siblings. It is still early but we believe the mood of egg is slowly improving – if it doesn’t, then we shall just have to put it out of its misery and scramble its mind with a butter, milk, salt and pepper mind scrambling ray in the saucepan of doom. We vow NEVER to take an egg out of its box again, tearing it away, kicking and screaming, from its siblings if we are not certain it will be used.

1 Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken? My kids enjoyed more then us adults.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value? Not really, prefer shop brought or make our own.
2. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future? No because it is mushed chicken basically
3. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product? Yes that is a positive
4. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again? Dealt it

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes, it was soft and juicy and the batter coating was lovely and crispy. My husband says he'd rather eat that than roast chicken, and my 18 month old was happy to eat it rather than throw it on the floor!

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

It's reasonably priced, I think if it was on a store offer I'd definitely get a pack for the freezer.

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

I think the taste and general quality of a product is as important to me as knowing what's in it, however it's a product I am happy to feed to my family as I know it's good stuff and not junk.

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

I didn't know that before hand, and it certainly endears me to the brand as well as the product.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Most definitely, I already have a 2nd packet of chicken in the freezer and as it has my husband's seal of approval I can see it being a regular in our household from now on.

1. Did you enjoy the taste of Birds Eye chicken?

Yes. The different fillet favours were appealing to the whole family. We did wraps and the taco boats.

1. Do you think Birds Eye chicken is good value?

Yes especially one as large as ours!

1. Does knowing that Birds Eye chicken is made with 100% chicken breast, with no additives or preservatives - and that it’s packed with protein - make you more likely to purchase them in future?

Yes it's reassuring to know this and gives me confidence in the products.

1. Does knowing that all Birds Eye chickens are always barn-reared and never caged reassure you about the product?

Yes I wasn't aware of this before the trial.

1. Would you feed Birds Eye chicken to your family again?

Yes probably once a week or once every 10 days.