Sunday 25 January 2015

J.D. Gross Ecuador: Dark Chocolate with Orange

A square of orange?

£1.15 for a 125g bar of chocolate.
10 pieces (12.5g per piece)
Nutritional Information per piece: (I did the maths so you don't have to!)
67.6 Calories
0.88 Protein
4.26 Carbohydrates
4.94 Fat
Produced in Germany
Suitable for vegetarians
Looks Vegan but stipulates: May contain traces of milk and nuts.

This is a really nice chocolate.  I have been eating it since last year.  It's not too bitter but satisfying enough to not overindulge. It does smell nicer than it tastes.  A lovely bite to it with small chewy orangey bits (candied peel).

Sunday 18 January 2015

Birchwood British Chicken Thighs

£1.32/kg Weekend Offer

These fresh chicken thighs were part of Lidl's HalfPriceWeekend offer.
Normal price £2.65/kg offer price £1.32.

I don't buy much fresh meat in general but I wanted some raw chicken to make fajitas.
I normally use chicken breast meat for fajitas but thought I'd use the thigh as it was on offer and I don't mind trimming off skin, fat, sinew, tendon and bones.  Thigh meat is more fatty compared to breast meat but is meant to be more flavoursome and tender.

Skin/Bones/Flesh yielded 645g

It took me 35mins to turn 1kg of chicken thighs into 645g of chicken thigh meat.
I did some maths. Lidl chicken breast (£2.65 for 540g = £4.91/kg)
Chicken thigh £1.32 for 645g = £2.05/kg

It would take only 5mins to shred the chicken so I calculate the time of removing skin and bones as 30mins.
I don't want to overcomplicate the maths due the flesh difference of 105g. Is my time worth more than £1.32 per 30mins?

Conclusion:

The packets in the offer were all 1kg but I chose the one with bigger pieces as I equated that to less labour.
I would buy these chicken thighs again but would cook them in the oven on the bone
(rather than make fajitas).  I don't mind trimming the skin, it was taking them off the bones that was the troublesome part.

Chicken Fajita