frozen meat/ mince etc

charleybabes

evening all

just wondered what your thoughts were on frozen mince and chicken fillets etc
random question i know but im trying to cut back on food costs and wondered if buying frozen worked out cheaper?
i dont know why but i always feel that frozen meat is not as nice .. just wondered what your thoughts were on it and were you bought it from and if it did work out cheaper than buying it fresh

elsien

I don't like it - aside from anything it doesn't feel right to be able to cook meat straight from frozen. I'm always wondering what they've pumped it full of to be able to do that, and how much water has been put it to bulk it out. And Icelands frozen mince has very little taste and texture - there's a reason it's cheap.
Personally I'd rather loiter in the reduced aisles, stock up on fresh meat near its sellby date, then freeze it to use as needed.

System

I always use frozen mince, i just make sure to get the leaner stuff. I get through a lot of mince so it works out cheaper for me. To be honest with using sauces you can't really tell the difference.

Uphill

I find that frozen mince (which I do buy when money is short) breaks up a lot so you don't have that meaty texture. Also, you have to watch the fat content, the same as you do with fresh mince I suppose. I did buy 800g of fresh minced beef for £2.49 from A**i the other day which I thought was a bargain. Not used it yet though so not sure how good it will be.

Again, I buy frozen chicken fillets when money is short. It might not be perfect like fresh but it goes down just as good. At £3.99 for a kilo, I'm not complaining.

Steve059

I also buy the fresh stuff, especially from the bargain shelves, and then freeze it.

However, frozen mince does have its uses in things where you need a fine texture (ie. Bolognese sauce) or it's going to be chopped up even finer (ie. mulligatawny soup).

Lagoon

I've never found frozen meat that tastes as good as fresh, and it's often very fatty in my experience.

That, and loaded with water. I find it's better to buy fresh meat and freeze it as required, because frozen meats shrink down.

charleybabes

right so atleast i know im not on my own in what i thought about frozen stuff!!

i think i will just stick to what i do now and buy it at reduced price and freeze it myself!

wik

I am not keen on pre frozen mince, what I do is buy the large packs of turkey mince from Mr A... is £3.48 for 800g... only 4 of us here just now so i split in half - use 400g and freeze the other half.

also if lean beef mince is in the woopsie section I do the same, and also go to our local market, you can get super deals on meat there if you buy in bulk, and I bag it up and freeze...

We have a super wholesale butcher nearby, and he sells 5kg of chicken breast for £20..
2 breasts do 4 of us... last pack had 16 in it - so 8 meals so is about 62.5p a portion!!!

wik x

I_luv_cats

charleybabes wrote: »

right so atleast i know im not on my own in what i thought about frozen stuff!!

i think i will just stick to what i do now and buy it at reduced price and freeze it myself!

I often buy two packs of chicken thighs as you save £1 or £2.

Buying extra lean mince packs in 2's or 3's can save a bit.


I separate, bag up and freeze the majority on the day of purchase and defrost in the fridge the day before cooking. (or if forget can leave out or defrost in the micro)

wik

I_luv_cats wrote: »

I often buy two packs of chicken thighs as you save £1 or £2.

Buying extra lean mince packs in 2's or 3's can save a bit.


I separate, bag up and freeze the majority on the day of purchase and defrost in the fridge the day before cooking. (or if forget can leave out or defrost in the micro)

If you forget to get it out as i often do you can also pop it in a bowl of cold water, and then change every half hour until it defrosts... I find microwaves start to cook bits :mad:
wik x

kitschkitty

I do buy frozen chicken breasts but I always check there is no added salt or sugar, as I have found it makes the chicken chewy and horrid.

Not really a fan of frozen mince, I really dislike the texture. I just fairly recently discovered Morrisons butcher (counter) mince beef and now I only buy other mince if it's been heavily reduced, as I love the texture of the Morrisons mince (it cooks so well), and it's so flavoursome it doesn't need a stock cube added to it (as I find most mince does), oh and it's not too fatty either.

I do buy frozen pork loin steaks as you get a 4 pack for £2 in most supermarkets. I always cook them in my pressure cooker, and have found they consistently taste lovely.

Farm Foods (frozen) bacon is fab, both cheap & very, very tasty.

I should mention I always fry the chicken breasts - cut up accordingly for curries & stir-fry etc. and fry mince.

Other than that I tend to stock up my freezer with reduced (fresh not frozen) meat from Morrisons as much as I can, as I like the quality of their meat, I sometimes pick up bargains in other shops too, don't think I buy any other frozen meat.