Topic: Cost of chicken for your curries

[Peripatetic Phil]

Is it the texture or the flavour of the skin that you dislike, Little Badger ?  I quite like both, so if I cook thighs I leave the skin on.

** Phil.

[littlebadger]

Is it the texture or the flavour of the skin that you dislike, Little Badger ?  I quite like both, so if I cook thighs I leave the skin on.

** Phil.

Hi Phil,
I'm a bodybuilder and so remove the skin to kep the fat content of the meal down.
My mother used to leave the skin on when she cooked. Sometimes I would eat it and sometimes I would take it off.

[Peripatetic Phil]

OK, understood.  I'm afraid my belly is the only part of my body that I build, so chicken skin isn't a problem for me
** Phil.

[harley]

I use the chicken breast from Farm Foods - 3 x 1kg bags for a tenner (?3.33 per kilo)! The chicken has added water content and tastes very slightly salty, so they must be processing it in a brine solution. It's perfectly fine for curry. I tried the Morrisons' cheap equivalent to this a while back and it was rank by comparison.

The morrisons near me is pretty rank for chicken, also looks and feels a little harder as if its been stood in open air longer, kind of a plasticy feel.

Aldi I've found is best of the supermarkets for chicken.

Also Morrisons, Tesco, Asda are a bit pricey on too many things. I would urge people check out Aldi or look for some asian shops. Even stuff like chillies or flour has a huge mark up at these three stores. more bemusing is many poor people go to these shops.

packs of bird eye chillies are getting pricey and you get less in a pack that I don't even by these at the main stores on a whim anymore. I can get the equilavnt of 4x 1 quid packets worth for 30-40p at the asian store.

Since I do a lot of curries a week I always get 20KG bags of rice. I save over a tenner plus its much better rice. With the cost of chillies and many other things it runs into hundreds of pounds saved a year.

[littlebadger]

I can agree with the above comment.
The main Asian Grocer in Bristol is Sweet Mart and they do all their fresh produce very cheap. A massive bag of chillies, garlic and ginger is just ?1 each.
Two large bunches of coriander is ?1.
But then for birds eye chillies, prawns I would recommend the Asian (Chinese) store Wai Yee Hong.

http://www.waiyeehong.com/

[Invisible Mike]

Keep your eyes open for farmers markets and food festivals in your area and get to know your local smallholders selling at them. You can get very good quality meats often for less than you would pay at the butchers or supermarket. They tend to specialise in proper breeds aswell. Even my local prison rears/grows top notch produce that it sells through its farm shop. Food for thought maybe...

Much as I like farmers' markets for the atmosphere and the "step back in time" experience, I have yet to encountered one where the meat is not over-priced w.r.t. the local butchers.  Perhaps there are places in the country where it is more economical to sell from a stall than a shop, but here in deepest Kent that would appear not to be the case.

** Phil.

Sometimes they are expensive but I do find them to be considerably cheaper at times also. It all depends on the vendor. Usually what they sell is quality and you'll have a better idea of its origins. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for...