Sainsbury's (edit: and now Lidl) vacuum packed beef mince ... What do people think ?

sarah1972

Nelliegrace said:

Does vacuum packing mince mean it can be older when it is bought? Or does it mean that it won’t smell bad immediately. I feel wary of mince since the latest scandal, where bad meat was mixed in with fresh meat to disguise it. 

Vac packing stops oxygen getting in so it doesn’t go brown, slows the growth of  some bacteria and stays juicy and lasts a LOT longer in the fridge and freezer. 

That’s one of the reasons I vac pac most food 

Mnoee

I've used it with no issues, both the 5% in a chilli and a mix of both 5% and 20% in burgers (cheaper than buying a 12.5%-ish mince!). My partner said he hasn't noticed anything different on eating. From the cooking perspective it does take a bit more agitation in the pan to break it up, but nothing a silicone spatula couldn't handle.

born_again

Does not look as good on shelf, or feel as good moving to trolly.
But tastes just the same when cooked.

dealyboy

500g British & Irish beef mince
prices against % fat

£4.60          3%
£3.20          5%
£3.25         12%
£2.49         20%

£4.50          5%  TTD (taste the difference)
£3.50         12% TTD

... from their website, current prices (variable).

KxMx

Such a big reduction in plastic is fantastic, however there is a but in my opinion. 
For the traditional package the film lid you can throw away, or you can wipe, dry and take to a recycling point, wash out the tray and recycle at the doorstop. Rigid plastics are very very easy to recycle.

This package you'd have to rinse, wipe, dry and take to a recycle point, as few areas accept soft plastics at the doorstep. 

Mnoee

KxMx said:

For the traditional package the film lid you can throw away, or you can wipe, dry and take to a recycling point, wash out the tray and recycle at the doorstop. Rigid plastics are very very easy to recycle.

This package you'd have to rinse, wipe, dry and take to a recycle point, as few areas accept soft plastics at the doorstep. 

That's just false. Aside from getting into how much plastic put into the recycling bins actually gets recycled, not all councils will even accept food trays for recycling (Manchester was mentioned elsewhere online, and a quick Google confirms they only accept plastic bottles, not food trays). The mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle is ordered. It's better to reduce the plastic used, especially by such a significant amount. 

KxMx

Not false, my opinion, coincidentally one an anti plastic group agrees with:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65202523

I realise recycling rules vary from area to area, but within my local authority it certainly is vastly easier to recycle rigid plastics. 

Mnoee

KxMx said:

Not false, my opinion, coincidentally one an anti plastic group agrees with:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65202523

I realise recycling rules vary from area to area, but within my local authority it certainly is vastly easier to recycle rigid plastics. 

For me, it's simple maths. 36% of plastic trays are currently recycled in the UK. So 64% are just binned at the moment. For easy maths, let's pretend all the trays used in the UK weigh 100g total, instead of hundreds of tonnes. If 36% are recycled you've binned 64g and recycled 36g. If they're reduced to 45g total, binning that 45g is 19g less plastic in the bin, and 36g of plastic not being recycled which will use resources. It's still better. 

I'm afraid one sentence out of context doesn't change that. 

arnoldy

dealyboy said:

500g British & Irish beef mince
prices against % fat

£4.60          3%
£3.20          5%
£3.25         12%
£2.49         20%

£4.50          5%  TTD (taste the difference)
£3.50         12% TTD

... from their website, current prices (variable).

Really good info. Could never understand why people buy the expensive low fat mince when its pretty easy to fry the mince and drain excess fat off.

The plastic film packaging is great; fry and breakup the mince as you cook. Not as good as a block wrapped in greaseproof paper though. But I think that's a step too far for the food industry.

molerat

Mnoee said:

KxMx said:

For the traditional package the film lid you can throw away, or you can wipe, dry and take to a recycling point, wash out the tray and recycle at the doorstop. Rigid plastics are very very easy to recycle.

This package you'd have to rinse, wipe, dry and take to a recycle point, as few areas accept soft plastics at the doorstep. 

That's just false. Aside from getting into how much plastic put into the recycling bins actually gets recycled, not all councils will even accept food trays for recycling (Manchester was mentioned elsewhere online, and a quick Google confirms they only accept plastic bottles, not food trays). The mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle is ordered. It's better to reduce the plastic used, especially by such a significant amount. 

I have found a use for those charity bags.  All my soft plastic goes into one and deposited at Tesco every 3 or so weeks, it is quite a revelation how much is now not going directly into landfill.  Not a very big bag if you squeeze it down and tie it in a knot. You could do it weekly if you wish so not a hassle really.  Luckily or council takes food trays of all colours.