For the past few years I have purchased my boneless skinless chicken breasts from places like Albertsons, Costco and every once in awhile even Walmart.
The last few times I have come home from Walmart with a package of chicken breasts I got this feeling like something just wasn’t right.
The styrofoam package and the little juice-soaker-upper thingy (I know… real technical) felt almost as heavy as the chicken breasts inside. I had this nagging feeling that I was getting ripped off.
So last week when I brought home another package of chicken from Walmart I decided to go with my gut and actually weigh the chicken and package.
In the store the price said $2.09 per lb. That’s an okay price – I usually get better deals at Zaycon.
Here is the package I brought home.
I paid $10.74 for the package. It says there is 5.14 lbs of chicken inside. At $2.09 per lb the price is correct.
So the first thing I did was to set the whole package on the scale to see if it was 5.14 lbs.
Ummm…nope! It weighs 4.938 lbs. So right there the price is off. I measured a few other items to make sure my scale was accurate first and it was.
I did read on the packaging it says “Contains up to 15% natural chicken broth.” I was assuming that it was injected into the chicken breasts or something, but I noticed a TON of chicken juices in this package. I think that is kind of weasly, don’t you?
Next I decided to take out all the chicken and see how much that weighed by itself.
This is all the chicken in the package. I tared the scale and then put the chicken on the scale.
3.97 lbs.
I knew it. Oh the humanity. I was irritated and annoyed at this point. I should have only paid $7.92 for this package at $2.09 per lb.
Still, I wanted to weigh just the package and juice-soaker-upper thingie.
This weighed almost exactly ONE pound.
So…that $2.09 per pound price is now $2.71 per pound.
Sneaky sneaky packaging.
I feel cheated. Duped. Bamboozled (yeah, I just went there. ) I wanted to run to my computer and share this all right away. But I was nervous. I mean posting online that I was ripped off at Walmart? What if I got the Oprah treatment? (sued)
Well, just in case, I will leave this little disclaimer…this problem may have only been at my local store and not chain wide.
One Week Later
I bought chicken again, this time I happened to be at Winco. The chicken was priced at $2.09 per lb again.
On the package it says it should be 4.04 lbs, but it was actually 4.15 lbs! Way to go Winco…you actually considered the weight of the packaging!
When I weighed the chicken it was spot on at 4.04 lbs. Their styrofoam package was not nearly as heavy as the Wally world one. Sheesh.
So anyways, I was going to say to always avoid these kinds of packages and just go for either the frozen bags at Costco or fresh from a deli. But Winco surprised me that they actually are honest in their policies of weighing the meat. (Big slow clap for Winco!)
As for Walmart – I didn’t call customer service or complain to them in store. We ate the $3.00 lb. chicken and it was tasty. No problems in the quality of the product, the problem I have is the jacking up of the price because of the packaging dishonesty.
I plan on going in again with my scale and see if it happens again. And if it does I will complain.
So watch out for chicken cheats and always try to get what you paid for because if you’re not careful you may end up paying over two dollars for a piece of slimy chicken juice packaging.
I know this is an old post – I just happened to stumble upon it but I have to ask a question. I have been purchasing chicken from Zaycon for a while now and have always been happy with it. However this time is shared a case with another family. As I cleaned it up and packaged it – I was weighing each bag to ensure the other family got half of what we purchased. Once I weighed the “waste/scraps” and added to their total weight I started working on the remaining breasts. I ended up with a lot less chicken in my half then theirs. So out of curiosity I weighed each bag and totaled it up plus the waste. I ended up about 7 lbs short of the 40 lb case. Now granted I should have weighed it before I even opened the bag – but I didn’t even think of it. Was wondering if you ever felt shorted by Zaycon? I think because it’s so much chicken and I usually keep whole case for myself – I never thought to weigh before. However next time I purchase I will be sore to weigh before I begin the cleaning packing process.
I have had a good experience with Zaycon but I think it is always a good idea to weigh it and let them know how you feel.
Sadly, large grocers like HEB and Kroger are padding their chicken packages by soaking the gel packs to the max. Buyers beware.
Less known grocers in the Houston areas like Seller’s Bros are more honest. Their pads are tiny and barely moist.
I only had to read the first couple paragraphs, but I have a BIG surprise for you. Ordered Zaycon’s “Chicken Breast Tenderloins” in July. Just picked them up yesterday, 10/6/17. FROZEN “Pilgrim” chicken; 3-pounds in a bag = 10 bags = 30 pounds. Never got chicken like this before – did a Google search – SAME CHICKEN BEING SOLD AT WALMART. So Zaycon feels this is “farm fresh” chicken? BTW, WalMart’s price is LOWER than Zaycon’s sale price on this. So question- why would I pay 90 days in advance, drive 40 miles [one way] through congested Toledo traffic, to be there on a specific day, within a half hour no less, to get chicken I can walk in and buy at Wal Mart? Same exact brand. The rip off is Zaycon.
I do not buy meat from walmart or produce for that matter. Walmarts produce is very pretty and always looks tasty but the food is picked unripened and allowed to ripen in the truck during delivery. The fruit rarely tastes good. Their meat unless they are packaged as you found in a chemical broth Flavor enhancers like MSG and other “spices” they are like the beef packaged in gas as soon as oxygen hits it it begins to turn brown which makes me wonder how old the meat is. If any meat is packaged with that gas I will not buy it and usually will not buy anything from that stores meat dept. I go to a butcher usually the prices are better and the meat is always fresher.
Walmart is horrible! I have been in there once in 2 years and we have a bunch, they are convenient but I hate their practices. After a higher up in management told me they get 2nds in order to get the prices they will pay I as put off and then started checking everything I bought there. Noticed the yoplait I was buying that 3 out of 4 containers were not actually sealed. SO grossed out. Haven’t bought food there since. Also, read the info that is out there about how they buy life insurance on their employees.
She felt cheated by the packaging? Euh…she should feel cheated by the fact that a chicken shouldn´t cost that cheap. She should feel cheated by the fact that she eats industrialized meat that has been stuffed with medicine, antibiotics and GMO-food. She should feel cheated by the fact that this meat has in fact no nutritional value at all.
“I have come home…”or “I came home…” but it’s NEVER “I have came home…..”! Proper English has completely left our culture! Ugh…
This fall’s under the weight & measure department in your county. Report and ask for the follow up.
One day right after Christmas I wanted Some hamburger. I walked over to pick up the same
product I usually buy and it was $1 Dollar more than before the holiday. so was a small tub of Raspberries AND Blackberries. the grocery stores keep jacking the food prices up and up and up and they KNOW people will pay it period ! but talk about being ripped off. no wonder people cant make ends meet any longer. we keep getting screwed. when I was 18-ish ( 150 years ago) a minimum wage job could, sorta kinda, if you searched around hard enough, get you into an apartment and could buy food and pay for bills etc…and buy gas for your shitbox A to B transportation vehicle. in 2015, you barely do that if your making DOUBLE the minimum wage. $2560 gross a month, average net is $2040 minus the averages of bills : rent, elec, cell, food, gas for the car, cable, leaves approx $200 for the month. / 4 is $50 bucks left for the week. all that for 16 bucks an hour. NO WAY can a single person live on min wage unless he/she was homeless or sleeping in the car. which you (might) be able to do if it was a Van. or a small camper but you lose ALL of your ” Creature comforts”
Walmart’s fresh Boston butts and frozen fish fillets suck. Please read ingredients before you buy! these items should not have ingredients.
SCREWED SCREWED SCREWED 15% of something added to food will ruin your recipe. I defrosted 5 whiting fillets and measured 3/4 cup liquid. Try pan searing this fish.
Awesome post.
Unfortunately if this product was packaged at a USDA facility, you have no recourse. The Feds say all of the liquids ..including the broth that is injected into it (up to 15%) is part of the product and you are charged for it. If you buy the product thawed (like most of us do) all of this liquid has leaked out. But it is not in the container, no it is in the special gel pack underneath the meat (these packs can hold up to 50 times their weight in liquids). All of that special broth you pay extra for is now trapped in this pad and there is no way to get it out. You just paid $1-$4 for this liquid, and the feds say this is a legal practice. So consider this the next time you buy USDA packaged poultry for a low low price.
I bought a flat of chicken last week at Sam’s Club (for about $1 / lb). The tag said it was 6.3 lbs. I weighed on two scales at home and found the chicken by itself weighed 4.6 lbs. I’m contemplating what I should do about this.
Also, when buying food at walmart, they make up the money lost by raising the prices on the other side of the store.
I run into this very same problem MOST of the time I purchase meat. Esp. the boneless, skinless chicken boobs! It is infuriating, isn’t it?! I am very wary of any meat bought at my walmartian. I have had to return one of the two pkgs because it was Foul fowl! The burger meat was just fatty and watery. ugh.
I have not bought chicken from Walmart for months simply because just walking by the chicken there was a HORRID smell!! but now that I have read this article I probably will never buy it again because as you said the package does weight almost as same as the chicken!!! I used to buy all the time cause there chicken was s cheap!! now I know im just getting ripped off and prices are about the same as other stores. maybe I will buy it again and turn them in if the weight isn’t correct!!! this really pisses me off!! every week we would buy a package or so of chicken from Walmart! ugh!! thank you so much for sharing your story!!
I know that I will never purchase ground beef from Wal-Mart again! I bought some that looked pretty good but the price was considerably higher than I would have expected it to be. The problem in my case was not the weight (I didn’t weight it so not sure if cheated there) but the taste…I used the ground beef in Hamburger Helper and I ended up throwing away all of it because it tasted so bad. It wasn’t spoiled…it just tasted awful and had so much gristle in it…along with a few bone chips.
My wife just made this similar purchase (2/2/14) and we really didn’t weigh it. It was 1.99/lb. We cater (our hobby) and everyone knows our cooking so this was a real bummer when we cooked it. It was sliced very thin (thats how we like it) and marinaded our usual way.
Well…let me tell you something…it had texture of fish before the flakes break apart…maybe somewhat rubberier, mind you we love fish too. But in the chickens texture, it never flaked and was chewy like rubber, and didn’t have the usual chicken flavor. Another reason to dislike Walmart.
She’s returning it for her money back. Poopoo to Wallymart.
wow. every time I think of reviving my old food blog, I just have to read a page of comments, realize who the readers really are, and then I can feel GREAT about spending time watching my garden grow while staying the hell away from blog-authoring. BRAVO to anyone who blogs under these conditions. ((((slow clap))))) I really hope you are making a living at this happymoneysaver. Thanks for the chicken info. I don’t buy meat at Walmart ever, and I’d rather eat less meat in general than meat of questionable origin/quality, anyway. But I’m giving you props for coming out with your discovery. Good job.
I refuse to buy “fresh” meat at WalMart anymore. The past two times that I have, I have become ill with food poisoning immediately afterwards. Their meat prices always seem too high, and the meat too “pink” (in terms of beef). I have purchased ground beef there that looked fresh and found that it was brown/gray on the inside (so there was a dye or something used to make it look fresher than it was). Obviously, that package was thrown out and not eaten.
I live in a small town where the nearest WalMart is in the next town over, and the nearest other big chain store is over 15 miles away. Whenever I need to buy a large amount of groceries, I drive the 15 miles rather than shop at WalMart. We are anxiously anticipating the arrival of a Meijer supercenter in the next town (opening this summer) to give WalMart a run for their money.
Buy local grown chickens.
Sorry to burst your bubble on WINCO but it happened to us exactly the same thing chicken did not weight near what label said and it was name brand chicken WINCO blamed it on TYSON saying they packaged the chicken and labeled it with weight & price.