WOT KIND OF KIN? CHICKEN (Birds Eye Cracked Pepper Chicken)

Member Name: vichar68

Product:	Birds Eye Cracked Pepper Chicken
Date:	15/06/07 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice taste and very quick

Disadvantages: Not that good for you

I love to make a very quick and easy dinner and I thought I might write a review on it. One of my favorite quick dinners is Birds Eye cracked pepper chicken.

I know I might write reviews concerning my little monsters, this however might give the false impression that I am domesticated. Oh how wrong can you be! If I manage to find something in the supermarket that is quick and easy to make I am willing to knock over old ladies just to get it. Birds Eye Cracked Pepper Chicken fit the bill perfectly for me.

I spotted them about 4 months ago in the frozen section of Asda. The brightly coloured yellow/orange box had the birds Eye logo on and a very appetising picture of two chicken breasts with a nice looking coating on. I decided for once in my life I was not going to buy something just because it looked pretty and I was going to read the box.

The front of the box had a large square on it with the writing ‘Made with 100% chicken breast’ normally that would have been enough for me but I decided to read on. It might have had chicken breast in it but there were a lot of other ingredients added as well.

The list of the ingredients are as follows:
Chicken (73%, water, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, wheat flour, maltodextrin (contains wheat), salt, spices, wheat starch, maize starch, dried red and green peppers, rice flour, skimmed milk powder, sugar, pork gelatine, natural flavourings, yeast extract, tomato powder, onion powder, emulsifier (Soya lecithin), potato starch, herbs, and finally white wine vinegar.

Well what a mouthful and that is even before you have taken a bite. Despite having enough different ingredients added to stock a small shop I decided to still buy it. I thought the price was fairly good at £1.48 for a pack. When I had taken the out of the box they looked nothing like the front of the packet. I put this down to the fact that they were frozen and the appearance would improve on cooking. The instructions are to cook the chicken from frozen for 25 minutes in a pre-heated oven glazed side up at 190C, 375F or gas mark 5. It states fairly clearly on the pack that these are not suitable for the microwave. I had mine in the oven for 30 minutes before I felt it was ready. I would in no way try to under cook this as the box does advise that the chicken does contain raw meats.

After taking my chicken out of the oven, I have to say that the appearance had improved. The bits of red and green pepper flakes were fairly noticeable on the top of the chicken. There was a very pleasant smell of peppers and spices to the chicken and I found myself looking forward to it. Upon cutting it open I noticed that it was very processed looking, unlike the picture on the front of the box. The I have to say the taste was quite pleasant. The peppers on the top were not too strong but still fairly spicy. If you have a smallish appetite then one will do you fine but I would think a man would have to have two. I had mine with a salad and I have to admit I did eat the two of them ( I was hungry, that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it).

At first glance I thought these were good for slimmers as there is only 160kcal per portion, but the fat content seems quite high at 8.9g which is 12% of an adult’s guideline daily amount. People who are slimming are normally advised to have products under 5%. What was more worrying was the amount of salt in the chicken,. 1.17g, (20% of an adults GDA).

My overall conclusion of this product is that it is quick, easy and tasty but you could never mistake it for a proper chicken breast. It is alright to have now and then but due to the high fat and salt content not too often. S it looks like my poor children will have to put up with me cooking from scratch.

Birds Eye also do Thai flavoured chicken in this range.

If you wanted any more information on these Birds Eye have a website at www.birdseye.co.uk or a customer service free phone number 0800 33 22 77.

Thanks for reading my review.

Summary: Quick and easy Birds Eye Chicken