Chicken breast portions

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lily13189
lily13189 Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What brand of chicken breast does everyone buy? I'm currently buying organic that's packaged into 4oz servings but it's breaking the bank. I've bought big freezer bags of chicken breasts and cutting them up into individual servings but comes out as chuck's rather than filets.
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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    We get ours from the butcher shop in town
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
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    I just buy it from the butcher or the butcher counter at the grocery store. I don't do frozen chicken breasts because freezer space is at a premium and mine is usually filled with batch food that I make and freeze, frozen fruit for smoothies, and dog food.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    What do you mean chucks? I don't know that term.

    We just get whatever is at the store. Store brand? Lol. I know they don't have a bunch of chickens running around out back but there's not usually a company name other than that. The exception is one place in our area that sells a brand from an Amish farming operation somewhat near here.
  • lks802
    lks802 Posts: 65 Member
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    I buy from the butcher and they cut and package to order. I also buy cooked rotisserie chicken and pull it apart for the week.
  • lily13189
    lily13189 Posts: 8 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    What do you mean chucks? I don't know that term.

    We just get whatever is at the store. Store brand? Lol. I know they don't have a bunch of chickens running around out back but there's not usually a company name other than that. The exception is one place in our area that sells a brand from an Amish farming operation somewhat near here.

    Chunks as in cutting up the breast into small pieces rather than 1 filet to accurately weight out 4oz.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
    edited January 2017
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    No brand in particluar but sometimes Foster Farms. Just buy the cheapest I can find. Usually 99 cents/#.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    I just buy the ones in the bag that are frozen individually, thaw, weigh, cook and eat. I enter the portion as whatever I want to eat rather than trying to cut the chicken down to 4oz.
  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
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    sgt1372 wrote: »
    No brand in particluar but sometimes Foster Farms. Just buy the cheapest I can find. Usually 99 cents/#.

    Yep. That's also my strategy. Usually, Tysons Chicken goes on sale at a local grocery when it's nearing the expiration date, so I buy my chicken then.
  • healthkickkath1
    healthkickkath1 Posts: 40 Member
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    If I use chicken breast that is too thick/large, I just butterfly it out, cut it in half so it creates two thinner fillet shapes. Easier to cook so it's not rare in the middle.

    If it's over 4 oz, you cook chop the excess off and cube/slice the removed section for a stir fry or casserole.

    Or you could weigh and bag each thin fillet separately, then write the weight on the bag then freeze.

    Or just eat a larger portion lol
  • lily13189
    lily13189 Posts: 8 Member
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    healthkickkath1 wrote: »
    If I use chicken breast that is too thick/large, I just butterfly it out, cut it in half so it creates two thinner fillet shapes. Easier to cook so it's not rare in the middle.

    If it's over 4 oz, you cook chop the excess off and cube/slice the removed section for a stir fry or casserole.

    Or you could weigh and bag each thin fillet separately, then write the weight on the bag then freeze.

    Or just eat a larger portion lol

    Doesn't it weight differently after its cooked?
  • healthkickkath1
    healthkickkath1 Posts: 40 Member
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    Yes, but you can choose raw chicken breast in the MFP database , use a reliable entry like USDA entries.
    Or if you weigh it after cooking you use a cooked chicken breast entry . Hope that helps :) happy cooking
  • AFGP11
    AFGP11 Posts: 142 Member
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    We have a chest freezer so it's not unusual for me to buy whole birds, break them down by hand and then vacuum-seal them for later. I either weight them as I cut then down or weight them after they defrost. I am on a fairly high protein diet, so 4oz of lean protein at a meal is not nearly enough to cover my needs. I tend to package them in 6-8 oz servings. I think weighing after cooking is a bad idea if you're truly concerned with your macros, because it's unlikely you cooked the chicken in just air, and anything you add to it will throw the measurement off. Raw chicken is gross, but you have to get it on that scale!
  • lily13189
    lily13189 Posts: 8 Member
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    healthkickkath1 wrote: »
    Yes, but you can choose raw chicken breast in the MFP database , use a reliable entry like USDA entries.
    Or if you weigh it after cooking you use a cooked chicken breast entry . Hope that helps :) happy cooking

    Thank you! I'll definitely be looking up the update cooked entry!!
  • lily13189
    lily13189 Posts: 8 Member
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    AFGP11 wrote: »
    We have a chest freezer so it's not unusual for me to buy whole birds, break them down by hand and then vacuum-seal them for later. I either weight them as I cut then down or weight them after they defrost. I am on a fairly high protein diet, so 4oz of lean protein at a meal is not nearly enough to cover my needs. I tend to package them in 6-8 oz servings. I think weighing after cooking is a bad idea if you're truly concerned with your macros, because it's unlikely you cooked the chicken in just air, and anything you add to it will throw the measurement off. Raw chicken is gross, but you have to get it on that scale!

    I'm ok with it being raw when it gets cut but I hate it that I don't get whole filets to vacuum seal it's like I cut I chunk off and it's only 2.5 oz then I take a little more and it's 3 then a little more to get 4 and then when I use it and i cook meals for the whole family i loose track of what pieces were my portion...if that makes sense.
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
    edited January 2017
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    I buy the large packs from Costco. Bake the entire pack while it's still fresh. Let cool a bit then slice into smaller pieces. Then throw into freezer on a large tray so they are neatly stacked and won't freeze together for a few hrs. Once frozen I put into a container for future use.

    Then every few days I take some pieces out and unthaw to consume. Way easier to bulk cook them.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
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    healthkickkath1 wrote: »
    Yes, but you can choose raw chicken breast in the MFP database , use a reliable entry like USDA entries.
    Or if you weigh it after cooking you use a cooked chicken breast entry . Hope that helps :) happy cooking

    I don't understand this. Surely it's the same amount of calories - all that gets lost in cooking is water?
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    edited January 2017
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    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    healthkickkath1 wrote: »
    Yes, but you can choose raw chicken breast in the MFP database , use a reliable entry like USDA entries.
    Or if you weigh it after cooking you use a cooked chicken breast entry . Hope that helps :) happy cooking

    I don't understand this. Surely it's the same amount of calories - all that gets lost in cooking is water?

    Yes, what's lot is mostly water (and probably a bit of fat, depending on how the chicken breasts were butchered and prepped prior to cooking). But that water and fat still have weight. So if you weigh the chicken cooked but use the raw database entry, your calorie count will be underestimated.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I mostly get meat (including chicken) from a local farm. Sometimes skinless/boneless breasts (more often turkey for that), but mostly either whole chickens or whole breasts. IMO, they taste better cooked with skin on, bones in, and I like the skin (and am doing slightly higher fat at the moment so it fits my macros well).

    I would not pay more for pre cut chicken if that's the deal. Even with skinless, boneless it will come with a weight, won't it? I got it at the butcher counter before the farm thing, and it always did.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    healthkickkath1 wrote: »
    Yes, but you can choose raw chicken breast in the MFP database , use a reliable entry like USDA entries.
    Or if you weigh it after cooking you use a cooked chicken breast entry . Hope that helps :) happy cooking

    I don't understand this. Surely it's the same amount of calories - all that gets lost in cooking is water?

    To elaborate on CafeRacer's point:

    Raw chicken might be 400 g and after cooking be 300 grams. The chicken doesn't change the number of calories, so as you can see the cooked chicken has more calories per gram ('cause it lost lots of calorie-free water that added weight).

    Raw entries therefore have fewer calories/gram than cooked entries (for meat).

    If you use the cooked weight and a raw entry, you are undercounting the calories by a significant amount (at least over time).
  • shandy82165
    shandy82165 Posts: 184 Member
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    I buy the IQF Chicken Tenders in the 3 pound bag from Trader Joe's. It's about $7-8 per bag, not expensive, but not cheap. I like these because they're very soft and tender, they don't have that dry chewiness that sometimes comes with BL/SL chicken breast. They're about 1.5-2oz each, and I usually eat 2.

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