Chicken Packaging

[jfmorris]

In the past, a lot of the fresh chicken I would cook would be sourced at Sam's Club. Bone in, skin on, mostly chicken legs, thighs and wings being what I bought most of the time. In the past it was Tyson, and it shifted to Members Mark packaging a number of years ago. It was always the typical styrofoam flat, shrink-wrapped in plastic, with some type of absorbent pad under the meat. Standard stuff.

Recently, I went, and they had totally ditched that stuff and gone to the packaging that I first saw at Costco when I still had a membership there - all the chicken pieces jumbled up and in a "wet pack" of plastic. Kinda like cryovac pouches, but you are are NOT gonna see each piece of chicken laid out to inspect, and they are basically swimming in their own juices, with a lot of liquid to drain when you open these plastic pouches. I despise this packaging, and it was one of the factors that led me to stop buying chicken at Costco, when they started doing their "party wings" this way.

I bought ONE pack of chicken thighs at Sam's like this, and decided I don't want them again. Wet skin that is saturated in liquid, and all the gross liquid to drain that is part of the package weight you pay for. I just don't like it at all.

I am curious how others feel about this style packaging.

Let me know if I am crazy, or if someone else feels like I do about this type of packaging.

[Dan Deter]

Started getting the already frozen chicken breasts at BJs because the refrigerated ones had so much excess liquid that we were paying for and making a mess with, etc. Although if I'm getting them from Harris Teeter they are quite dry, almost like they were air chilled.

[captainlee]

I gave up.on Costco chicken a long time ago.

[Finster]

Re-tweet.
Not a fan at all

[Kevin Fuess]

I always buy the frozen breasts at Sam's. At one time they were individually wrapped and frozen. I liked that, but they seem to have stopped doing it that way.

[dpearce]

I skip Sam's chicken packed this way for the most part. Our local Kroger still flat packs them. And if I don't find what I'm looking for there, I can go down the road to White Feather farms, they're a Gerber direct dealer.

Regardless, they're probably getting a slight rinse, patted dry and vac-sealed. if I'm not vac sealing, I'm probably cooking them that day.

[Richard Chrz]

Thankfully Perdue chicken packages them in the flat still (if not getting a whole bird), my wife puts the packaging in a produce bag before putting in a cart., I do repackage them when they get home, everything about chicken packaging seems gross to me.

[jfmorris]

If at Walmart, I go for the Purdue chicken in the flats as well. My dad was in the poultry industry for 40+ years as an equipment designer and manufacturer, and always thought highly of Purdue chicken.

[Donw]

Strictly Perdue Farms chicken for us here. Founded and headquartered here in Salisbury. Jim Perdue, the Chairman, is a neighbor who lives at the head of our road. Fun fact: he has a PhD in fisheries but runs a chicken empire.

[Richard Chrz]

Donw that is very cool. I cant say for all the chicken, but the brands available in this area, it is the only one we buy as well.

[Jfrosty27]

I’m with you Jim. I quit the Costco chicken a couple years ago for the same reasons. I but from out local grocery store. Flat pack, etc as you describe. A few pennies more, but worth it.

[jfmorris]

Yep. I have one of these "liquid" packs of thighs from Sam's that I bought, in the freezer, because I ended up not cooking them the weekend I bought them. I am sure it will take longer to thaw in the jumble of liquid, but I'll eventually thaw and use them, then swear off Sam's chicken as long as they pack it this way. I'm currently looking for a place on their website to file a complaint!

[Michael_in_TX]

Yes, absolutely agree. And if you're not completely careful the chicken juice gets everywhere, which is just delightful.

[Jfrosty27]

+1 👆

[Carolyn]

Yep, carefully cut it open in a bowl that is in the sink.

[DavidNorcross]

I did just get some wings from Sams. They were great and were not packed that way.

[jfmorris]

Maybe it has not made it to all stores yet. My local Sam's the past 1 to 2 months has not had a single styrofoam tray packed package of fresh chicken, including the whole wings I used to buy there.

[jfmorris]

For me, this is all that comes up now on the Sam's website when I look for fresh wings:

https://www.samsclub.com/ip/Member-s-Mark-Bone-In-Chicken-Wings-priced-per-pound/19500906058?classType=REGULAR&from=/search

[Jerod Broussard]

Is there a vinegar smell to the juice??

There is a Morris and Associates that manufactures poultry processing equipment, any relation??

[jfmorris]

No idea on the juice smell.

Nope. My dad was engineer and manager for a company called Wadeken Industries, making chicken house equipment, with his most notable thing being a reliable egg collection system. He has several patents on chicken house related inventions.

[Jerod Broussard]

jfmorris coolness on the patents; I'm aware of facilities using a vinegar mixture in some bagged products like drumsticks, but I've not observed the product absolutely swimming in the stuff.

[mrteddyprincess]

I'm a huge fan of a grocery chain out of Chicago called Niemann's Harvest Market. They have a store here in Indy and I buy their whole chickens and cut them up myself for family meals.

If I want a lot of a specific type of pieces I go to Meijer or Kroger where the chicken pieces are still packaged in foam flats.

B

[Uncle Bob]

I wanted to check off "Jim is crazy", but I don't want you to go away. Not all crazy is equal...some entertaining, some, not so much. And yeah, goo filled bag packaging is off putting...

[DaveD]

I did not know this when we decided to relocate to southern Delaware, but this part of the country is the home of Big Chicken. Mountaire and Perdue have huge plants in the area. Have not seen chicken packed in a goo bag here, always stryofoam with the pad, covered in shrink. That said, some of the BISO cuts have huge flaps of skin concealed under the pieces... They do sell whole birds cryo-vac'd though, and that seems reasonable.

[Jerod Broussard]

The Delmurva Peninsula has plenty agriculture to feed animals.

[jfmorris]

Yvonne heard of my poll just now ( I told her ) and she wants to vote for the “Jim is crazy” option.

[Ace]

🤣🤣🤣

[Oak Smoke]

Just checked online. I can get the bone in skin on thighs in the flat pack from HEB or Walmart locally. Those wet frozen things are selling you a bunch of water at chicken prices, just as you said.

[jfmorris]

Well, what I am seeing is not frozen, but fresh chicken in vacuum packaging. If you want 6 pounds of chicken thighs, it's a plastic pack with 2 vacuum pouches, each with 3 pounds of thighs just jumbled up and sucked tightly together, swimming in their own juices. If you freeze it, there is a big cubic wad of chicken to thaw - something I face now with one of these double packs in the freezer.