Best quality supermarket chicken
Discussion
Which supermarket does the best quality of chicken for roasting out of the normal large supermarkets? Forgetting the usual ph supermarket snobbery for this one thread. Is waitrose actually gong to be the best bet? This meal is more about quality than cost. Also is organic actually better in terms of taste than "standard" chickens?
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
Depends on your butcher, your standard high street ones can vary from superb to clueless. Ask them where it it comes from - "the back of the van" being the wrong answer.
Waitrose Sheepdove Farm chickens are really nice. As are the ones from our local butcher. Both taste better than cheapo Supermarket chooks. The butcher's ones are not organic, but am not sure they taste better than the Sheepdrove Organic Free Range to be honest.
Waitrose Sheepdove Farm chickens are really nice. As are the ones from our local butcher. Both taste better than cheapo Supermarket chooks. The butcher's ones are not organic, but am not sure they taste better than the Sheepdrove Organic Free Range to be honest.
Just got back from a mahoosive Tesco, not a regular haunt, and was very very interesting that they had run out of Free Range chickens, and had a sign explaining that post the Ch4 documentary they had a big problem ! A poor chap was putting the ordinary ones out and, and several people asked where the free range were.
The power of telly hits even Tesco.
The power of telly hits even Tesco.
CC
This probably won't help you much wrt supermarkets. We're 2-weeks in to a bit of an experiment in our house... we just hd a local shop open which sources products directly from local farms. We decided to ditch the supermarkets for all our fresh products so we get our meat, eggs, milk, cheese from the local suppliers and get an organic veg box every week.
So far, it's working out about £10 more a week, but wow, the flavour...
I got a chicken last week (good sized), and we had Sunday Roast, 2 days sandwiches each (2 of us in the house), a mahoosive chicken and mushroom pasta sauce and a big meaty soup with the rest of the meat, plus the stock (I flung the carcass in the slowcooker with a load of saved veg peelings and trimmings after I stripped it), pearl barley and winter veg.
The chicken was just short of £12, but it went so far, and tasted fantastic, better than any free range or organic supermarket chicken I've ever bought. The meat was denser than regular supermarket chicken as well so it went much further.
Worth a try if you can find anyone local. Bigbarn.co.uk might help. Or google farmers markets.
This probably won't help you much wrt supermarkets. We're 2-weeks in to a bit of an experiment in our house... we just hd a local shop open which sources products directly from local farms. We decided to ditch the supermarkets for all our fresh products so we get our meat, eggs, milk, cheese from the local suppliers and get an organic veg box every week.
So far, it's working out about £10 more a week, but wow, the flavour...
I got a chicken last week (good sized), and we had Sunday Roast, 2 days sandwiches each (2 of us in the house), a mahoosive chicken and mushroom pasta sauce and a big meaty soup with the rest of the meat, plus the stock (I flung the carcass in the slowcooker with a load of saved veg peelings and trimmings after I stripped it), pearl barley and winter veg.
The chicken was just short of £12, but it went so far, and tasted fantastic, better than any free range or organic supermarket chicken I've ever bought. The meat was denser than regular supermarket chicken as well so it went much further.
Worth a try if you can find anyone local. Bigbarn.co.uk might help. Or google farmers markets.
Noger said:
Just got back from a mahoosive Tesco, not a regular haunt, and was very very interesting that they had run out of Free Range chickens, and had a sign explaining that post the Ch4 documentary they had a big problem ! A poor chap was putting the ordinary ones out and, and several people asked where the free range were.
The power of telly hits even Tesco.
Same with Sainsburys, last couple of times we have been there has only been the 'standard' chicken, no free range at all. Are these big companies supposed to have intelligent ordering, so they know what people are buying so they order the right amount?The power of telly hits even Tesco.
Wadeski said:
like banks, local shops seem to cater only to the unemployed and retired.
So true. They'd do well to stay open till 7pm once a week, in lieu of the fact that they (ours does anyway) close early some days and take afternoons off.Is there a difference between free range and organic chicken?
UKbob said:
Is there a difference between free range and organic chicken?
Yes, Organic is specified by the Soil Association, and has tighter controls over welfare and chemicals that Free Range. Smaller flocks and requirements over being outdoors etc.No guarantee that it tastes better of course.
Noger said:
UKbob said:
Is there a difference between free range and organic chicken?
Yes, Organic is specified by the Soil Association, and has tighter controls over welfare and chemicals that Free Range. Smaller flocks and requirements over being outdoors etc.No guarantee that it tastes better of course.
Wadeski said:
there are butchers and butchers - and lets be honest, I would shop local all the time IF THEY WERE OPEN WHEN I GET HOME FROM WORK!
My butcher has a telephone and a delivery boy. I ring up, tell him what I want and it gets delivered if I'm too busy to get to the shop during working hours. Perhaps you can find one local to yourself that does the same?Noger said:
Just got back from a mahoosive Tesco, not a regular haunt, and was very very interesting that they had run out of Free Range chickens, and had a sign explaining that post the Ch4 documentary they had a big problem ! A poor chap was putting the ordinary ones out and, and several people asked where the free range were.
The power of telly hits even Tesco.
Yes but imagine the effect on the intensive poultry farmer.The power of telly hits even Tesco.
Food costs (by far the biggest input cost) have more than doubled during the summer. The price of a chicken in Tescos hasn't. Then some fool produces a not-entirely-objective documentary and suddenly he can't sell a bird - which he still has to feed. f
ked would be an understatement.Not really anything to do with the OP but just something to think about.
Disclaimer:
This post does not attempt in any way to pass comment on the morals of intensive livestock production, which is another matter entirely - one which I would be happy to discuss on another thread should anyone so wish.
Without question the best quality supermarket chicken is the Sheepdrove Farm chicken from Waitrose. They are expensive (ten quid for a 1.5Kg chicken - 
) but I reckon I can get three meals out of one:
1 - roast and eat
2 - pick off any bits of meat that were missed first time around and use them in stir fry / risotto
3 - boil up the crispy wingtips / parson's nose / carcass for stock, or the basis of a soup.
) but I reckon I can get three meals out of one:1 - roast and eat
2 - pick off any bits of meat that were missed first time around and use them in stir fry / risotto
3 - boil up the crispy wingtips / parson's nose / carcass for stock, or the basis of a soup.
I haven't tried Waitrose, but have compared free range chicken from M&S, Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda. I've found that M&S Oakham chicken is generally my favourite out of all of those. It's far from the most expensive as well, which is good.
However, I would always rather pop to my local farm shop and buy a locally bred chicken
However, I would always rather pop to my local farm shop and buy a locally bred chicken
I get mine from the local butcher or farm shop. If I lived in a city it would probably be excuse for a Saturday morning blatt to the sticks to find a decent chicken. When I was in London I used to get my meat directly from Smithfield market (at 06:00 !) and now occasionally use the Birmingham market if I can't get to the local shops. Its not that difficult to bypass the mass production route and get a better quality product with a bit of effort.
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