Good value turkey

[shirlthegirl43]

Lidl are selling frozen turkeys for £7.49 or thereabouts at the moment.

I decided to cook one last weekend (belated Thanksgiving sort of thing) to see if they were any good.

I am glad to report that it was a lovely bird. Plenty eating and a good flavour. Not dry either as some cheaper birds can be.

I will be buying a few of these to put in the freezer for standby roasts - with the boys growing so fast I am finding it a challenge to get a roast that feeds us more than just Sunday. The turkey was enjoyed hot on Sunday with most Christmas trimmings (good practice for the big day), cold with chips on monday and then the best of the remaining flesh was chopped up and thrown in the slow cooker with all the leftover veggies and the gravy (I always make loads of gravy for just this reason) and stuffing and left on low all day Tuesday. The whole house smelled of Christmas dinner when we came in and we ate it with yorkshire puds - yummy!! There was enough of the casserole to feed us twice too and tomorrow I will make stock and soup with the carcass.

[ardroil]

ok im of to lidls tomorrow, cheers for that shirley

[SMS6]

I bet they're not free range turkeys though, they'll probably have been reared in the same way as the cheap chickens - what sort of a life is that.

[Flummery]

They won't be free range SMS6, you're quire right. We have ordered a free range from a local farm (6 miles away).

[shirlthegirl43]

Our Christmas day bird will be a locally free-range reared turkey. However, it will cost £60 and I can't afford that (thanks Dad - he buys our turkey every year as our present). I just thought since I had tried the inexpensive one I would recommend it for those on a budget.

There are those of us who cannot afford to be too rigid on how ethically our meat has been produced. I cannot follow a veggie diet due to nut allergies and I sure as heck can't afford organic, free-range meat all the time though I do my best.

To be honest, it had nearly as much flavour as some free-range frozen birds I have tried over the years.

[SarzWix]

Dad always bought us our turkey in the past, but stopped when my Mom got sick (understandably had other things on his mind). Since then we've just had the biggest chicken we could afford, but even a large free range/organic chicken is beyond our budget this year As for SIXTY POUNDS for a turkey How can it be justified?! That's 2 weeks of school dinners for my 3 kids!

So, I must admit to being very tempted by these Lidl turkeys, very tempted!

[shirlthegirl43]

SIXTY POUNDS for a turkey How can it be justified?! That's 2 weeks of school dinners for my 3 kids!

So, I must admit to being very tempted by these Lidl turkeys, very tempted!

Ridiculous isn't it - I told dad off when he said how much it was going to be this year but he told me to shut up and be a good daughter for a change

Lidl turkeys will be in our freezer for special treat dinners when we want to invite friends round.

[Alison]

£60 is a lot for a turkey, we've bought ours direct from the farmer for the past few years and it's been less than half that and most certainly free range. From last year's bird, assuming that the price was rounded up to £30 we had 7 for Christmas Day, sandwiches for the same number that night plus about another 20+ meals off it and soup. Remember it working out at less than £1 per sitting which is pretty good. I know that some poeple still can't afford it (and I thank my lucky stars that I can) but personally I'd rather not eat turkey if all I could afford was one which had been inhumanly raised, roast parsnips, potatoes, sprouts stir fried with some smokey bacon would be accompanied by something chick pea or other pulse related on Christmas day. Christmas is good will to everybody to me, not just humans and I'd not feel comfortable either eating a bird (or any other meat) myself that I wasn't happy with or offering it to friends either.

[shirlthegirl43]

Perhaps I should now point out that our bird for the big day is at least 20lb and the ones from Lidl are around 7lb birds.

I am sure that last year dad paid closer to 30 quid for a similar size bird, but there have been reports that turkeys were going to cost more this year for some reason.

*wonder how much a turkey eats compared to a chook since a bag of chook feed lasts me over 6 weeks for 5 hens.

[SMS6]

£60 is a lot for a turkey, we've bought ours direct from the farmer for the past few years and it's been less than half that and most certainly free range. From last year's bird, assuming that the price was rounded up to £30 we had 7 for Christmas Day, sandwiches for the same number that night plus about another 20+ meals off it and soup. Remember it working out at less than £1 per sitting which is pretty good. I know that some poeple still can't afford it (and I thank my lucky stars that I can) but personally I'd rather not eat turkey if all I could afford was one which had been inhumanly raised, roast parsnips, potatoes, sprouts stir fried with some smokey bacon would be accompanied by something chick pea or other pulse related on Christmas day. Christmas is good will to everybody to me, not just humans and I'd not feel comfortable either eating a bird (or any other meat) myself that I wasn't happy with or offering it to friends either.

I wanted to say that but I didn't want to upset anyone. My partner and I have switched completely to free range meat and poultrysince watching Hugh F-W Chicken Out. To tell you the truth the meat is such better quality, cooks better, goes further as we waste nothing and we haven't found ourselves any worse off financially.

I've even started making my own sausages etc so I can control what is in them plus this week having a go at curing bacon

[BrideXIII]

Our Christmas day bird will be a locally free-range reared turkey. However, it will cost £60 and I can't afford that (thanks Dad - he buys our turkey every year as our present). I just thought since I had tried the inexpensive one I would recommend it for those on a budget.

There are those of us who cannot afford to be too rigid on how ethically our meat has been produced. I cannot follow a veggie diet due to nut allergies and I sure as heck can't afford organic, free-range meat all the time though I do my best.

To be honest, it had nearly as much flavour as some free-range frozen birds I have tried over the years.

well don't feel guitly about eating what you can afford, principles are all very well but they dont always put a filling meal on the table. Bring down the price of free range and organic and we could all afford to have them.

i buy free range when i can afford it, and if i can't then i have no intention of letting my kids go hungry

wish we had a lidls nearer, i would be off there tomorrow.


edit: i would like to mention also, that the vast majority of these turkeys, be they intensive, free range or organic, are still only reared at all for a commercial holiday that happens once a year! thats why we have CHICKEN.

[Jay Bee]

I picked up a goose and a duck from Lidl yesterday.

They have lobster too for £4.99. I would love to have a go at lobster bisque think I need a friendly restuarant that I can ask nicely for their shells

[johnty greentoes]

Maybe it's time for a thread about alternatives to turkey for Christmas dinner.