Frozen Chicken – the Nation's Favourite

It’s always good to have a frozen chicken or two in the freezer – you never know when you may need to entertain! In this section we’ll talk you through you some fabulous recipes, some great time saving tips and some useful approaches to nutritious cooking that will save you money too!

Chicken – when other meats fell fowl

In 1950 the British people ate, on average, a little less than a kilo of chicken per year. Chicken is so popular and affordable now that this has increased from just one kilo to 23 kg per year! In the ‘50s chicken made up only 1% of all the meat we ate – 25% of the meat we now eat is chicken! Whole chickens can now be roasted from frozen – in fact, roasting has become so easy that the nation no longer waits until Sunday to do it!

Chicken – a national favourite

The chickens we all enjoy eating are called broilers – these are the chickens that are bred for their meat as opposed to the chickens that are for egg laying. 850 million chickens are now eaten in the UK every year². From Roast to Coronation and from Tikka to Kiev – the chicken that was once an expensive luxury is now the peoples’ food of choice for every day.

Chicken – a paltry industry no longer

Chicken farming in the UK has really taken off. Long gone are the days when roast chicken was an expensive treat reserved for Easter Sunday! The cost of chicken has reduced and, at the same time, EU standards for chicken farming continually improve their quality of life. And so, thanks to this and recent public demand (and the likes of Jamie Oliver), chickens are on the up!

“The poultry industry is one of the most regulated industries in UK agriculture and is subject to public hygiene and animal welfare codes which govern the way birds are housed, fed and transported” ¹

However, thanks to the standards introduced to ensure a better quality of life, there are now many categories in the shops. We thought we would try to make the choice clearer for you:

'Barn reared’ chicken

Barn reared chickens are kept inside. There is a limit of 15 chickens per square metre of space. Barn reared chickens are slaughtered after 56 days. 'Free range' chicken Free range birds are a little better off! They are given more room to move around – 13 birds per square metre is the limit and the chickens can be outside during day light hours and the outdoor space must allow for one bird per square metre.

'Traditional free range' chicken

Traditional free range birds have their lives improved further still – 12 birds for every square metre and each barn must not have more than 4,000 birds in them. They are allowed to run around outside in a space of 2 metres square per bird in their adult life. The birds are allowed to live for longer (81 days) and this means that the meat is firmer and more flavoursome because of the exercise their muscles get from running around freely.

'Total freedom free range’ chicken

These birds are essentially ‘Traditional free-range’ chickens but the added improvement to their lives is that their outdoor space is not so limited and they have even more room.

'Organic' chicken

Organic chickens are similar to ‘traditional free-range’ (in that their indoor space is improved, they live for longer) but additionally they are fed organic grain. Added to this the ground must be free from man-made fertilizer and their bodies free from antibiotics.

Chickened out

There is so much choice when it comes to buying frozen chicken – and this is a good thing! It means that you, the consumer, is in control of what you and your family eats! Always make sure that the packaging is undamaged and that the frozen chicken has no ice crystals on it. If there are signs of ice the frozen chicken may have been thawed and refrozen accidentally – this is a chicken that should be avoided.

A Little Chicken – goes a long way

A whole frozen chicken can cost less than a few individually packaged pieces (wings, legs, breasts etc) because you are not paying for the preparation involved. So, make a saving and buy frozen! And, after you and your family have eaten the chicken – you can make a stock for a soup. And all this for what you would have spent on a couple of chicken breasts!

Roasting Chicken

• Click here to see our recipe: Mediterranean Roast Chicken
• Click here to see our many other recipes from frozen foods

^{1 Poultry Production in England A Farm Business Survey by the University of Reading. This report is one of a series being produced based on the results of the Farm Business Survey (FBS) for England. The annual Farm Business Survey is the most comprehensive and independent survey of farm incomes and provides a definitive data source on the economic and physical performance of farm businesses in England. It is conducted by a Consortium comprising the Universities of Cambridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham and Reading, and Askham Bryan, Duchy and Imperial Colleges. The Consortium is lead by the University of Nottingham and its members work in partnership, using uniform and standard practices in reporting on their findings to ensure consistent data quality, accuracy and validity.}

^{2 Democratizing luxury and the contentious ‘invention of the technological chicken’ in Britain by Andrew Godley. Henley Business School, University of Reading. 2007}