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RSPCA Approved Country Style Roast Chicken now Permanently $7.90 @ Woolworths

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Saw this on buckscoop, where there is a photo. Seems like the $7.9 'special' by woolworths is now also permanent, thanks to coles. Great for consumers, not so great for farmers as the price war continues.

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  • Still $11 (and $13 for 'Free Range') at my local Coles..

    • Seems Vic has definitely lucked out with this markdown. I wonder why :/

      • I can never figure out which day the Lilydale 'Free Range' chickens go down to the 'regular' price either, it seems to sometimes be a Monday?

      • +1

        Vic promotion for $8 chooks starts this Saturday

      • +1

        I just checked Woolworths in VIC and they were definitely 7.90$

    • My local was $13 and $15 for the special Macro/Free Range ones! They were all out of the $8 chooks.

      • +1

        The roast chickens at my local Woolworths are consistently terrible, even if they're discounted to ~$6-7, I still go to Coles (or a chicken shop), despite the price premium. Pretty sure need to replace their oven/renovate that store.

        • My store (Gladstone Park, VIC) is actually quite good. At $7.90 or $8 at Coles (Thanks Coles) its a great deal.

        • It varies near me, I know one Woolies which is good and the other bad, and ditto for Coles. But sometimes when it's late and I'm desperate with no choice you have to take what you can get.

        • The suppliers vary and how more or less they cook them varies quite a lot also. I used to live at Yarrawonga VIC a couple of years back and they were generally pretty good but sometimes falling to bits over cooked.
          I'm now at Hastings VIC and definitely a different supplier (legs tied different and the skin treatment different). They over cook too but mostly good.
          They sometimes do half price run outs late in the day at Hastings. I wonder if that will continue. Several weeks back I got two at $5.50 each. My dog loves breast chicken.

      • Definitely varies then. My local I rate higher than any chicken shops in our area even

    • My local (in Brisbane) had the Lilydale bbq chickens for $8 on Wednesday night. Not sure if it was just a cheaper day or if they had run out of the regular ones?

  • +9

    I love it when Woolies discount their roast chooks

  • +30

    not so great for farmers

    or the chickens

    • +1

      Nor your local chicken shop.

    • +1

      I have chickens, I'd be stoked to sell them for even a dollar, rotten mulch-scratching egg-hiding underfoot little monsters…

    • I remember watching a Jamie Oliver doco on 5pound ($12.50AUD) chicken… how was it financially possible…

      well now we have 3 pound 20 chicken

      (still eat chicken..)

  • +21

    RSPCA-Approved

    I wonder if an RSPCA rep gives the chickens a pat on the back as they are led to the slaughter?

    • RSPCA just give the slaughter blades their blessing =)

      • +1

        I just did some RSPCA YouTube research. Looks lovely. Sounds legit. Especially the part where the birds are 'allowed to flap their wings.' https://youtu.be/mtTLm9LF5Ns

        • It's pretty clear if chicken wings are consistently broken when you're consuming the product. I try to avoid any takeout/delivery store (ribs&wings) where I notice this repeatedly. I really don't want to know the farms they are sourcing their poultry from. :(

        • have you seen that green lawn??
          real free range chickens would have destroy it a long time ago…
          and all those chickens are very young!!! let them live!!

    • +13

      Perhaps RSPCA Approved mean they've paid RSPCA their annual fee?

      • +2

        It's like halal outrage. Are the RSPCA funding terrorists?

        • +11

          "RSPCA" Australia is no longer an animal charity caring for all animals but a private incorporated business since 23 December 1999, using it's arm of charity and the poorly drafted Animal Care and Protection Act with complete self supervision of the said Act per delegation of the States Primary Industries Ministers, as a disguise for its terrorists acts against pet and animal owners calling legitimate licensed breeders and kennel owners puppy farmers/mills boldly supported with RSPCA fabricated evidence, lies, etc.. in harvesting its pet stock, destroying unsaleable healthy animals. Manipulating animal lovers, animal fanatics and the emotive pet owners to its support with generous donations of which less than 15% was spent on the animals.

          https://www.change.org/p/the-state-governments-in-australia-…

        • yeah, what's the difference between RSPCA and those halal accreditation organisations? RSPCA probably channel the funds to the environment terrorists a.k.a hippies a.k.a tree huggers!

      • -1

        RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) actually gives you approval to kill chickens if you pay them yearly membership fee. hmmm…

    • No, every consumer gives the RSPCA a pat on the back when they pay for their approval, and everyone else in the supply chain for their bringing into existence a life only to torture and kill them.

    • I understand 'RSPCA-Approved' pretty much means jack shits these days but c'mon, it's 2016 and the majority of humans eat chicken, and will continue to eat chicken for as long as we're on this earth.

      • Western consumption of chickens is whimsical. The average Australian today eats ten times as much chicken flesh as they did in 1950. Main reason: chickens are increasingly cheaper to bring into existence, get to a saleable weight and kill. For that to happen chickens suffer ever decreasing welfare and suffer greatly.

        There is no reason anyone needs to eat chicken. Over 50billion are now tortured and killed every year worldwide. They are surely amongst the most abused species ever to have existed in our time.

        • Chicken is the cheapest meat, so there's a perfectly good reason people need to eat chicken.

          Look how expensive beef is these days, and pork is getting there too.

          Steak comparison:
          - Chicken (Breast): $8 / kg
          - Pork (Belly): $17 / kg
          - Beef (Scotch): $34 / kg
          - Lamb (Cutlet): $34 / kg

          Slow cook/roast/whatever comparison:
          - Chicken (Wing): $2 / kg
          - Pork (Shoulder): $9 / kg
          - Beef (Chuck): $13 / kg
          - Lamb (Shoulder): ??? not sure

          So without chicken, what's going to happen to meat eater's budgets?
          We're not going to become vegetarian…

        • @jkim: You don't NEED to eat chicken. I didn't eat chicken for 7 years and I was fine.

          We're not going to become vegetarian…

          There's nothing whatsoever stopping you.

        • @MrMcHairyHead: Mate, you're not getting it.
          Normal people are not going to become vegetarian.
          There are specific triggers that turn some people vegetarian (cultural, religious, health, etc).

          However, given the rising price of beef, pork and lamb, budget constraints means average people NEED to eat chicken.
          of course, rich people don't need to eat chicken…

          There's nothing whatsoever stopping you.

          There might be nothing stopping YOU.
          There's a very big one that stops ME.
          Pure vegetarian meals are boring and tasteless and become ridiculously repetitive very quickly.
          Don't get me wrong.
          I got nothing against veg, but veg just isn't the centre piece of the meal. Meat is.
          Veg is an accompaniment to complement and make meat even tastier.

          And given the rising price of meat despite widespread availability, it seems most people are like me.

  • +2

    yay price war!

  • +1

    Isn't this in response to Coles $8 chooks? Good old woolworths always late to the party

  • +2

    As long as they are selling chickens and not sparrows, i'll be buying.

  • +3

    I saw all the signs for these just now at my local, but there were no chickens in sight, shelves were bare like something out of soviet Russia.

    • Same look at local Coles yesterday - not a chook in sight. Seems everyone wanted a $8 hot chook. Asked how long until ready - 5 minutes, did quick shopping & back to find a steady stream of people leaving with their chooks. They'd saved me 1. Sometimes need to be quick or lucky.

  • +3

    Great for consumers, not so great for farmers as the price war continues.

    what's to suggest that farmers are getting less? maybe woolworths/coles are cutting into their profit margins

    • +21

      hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha….gasp….hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
      Actually, you are probably right. They will wear the cut until the next round of supplier negotiations. But I can't imagine the farmers will be immune from downward price pressure.

      • +2

        i imagine that with the soaring prices of red meat, many people will be switching to cheaper white meats for their nutrition

      • Most likely taking a hit with these and scoring off the extras people are buying with their chooks. Bread, Salad, Sauce so on.

  • -3

    Is RSPCA Approved the same and Halal Certified?

  • This is interesting.

  • +1

    Got the $8 one for lunch from Coles today. Literally walked up and they were pulling them out of the oven. My god I'm drooling still so good!

  • +4

    If these are "country style", how do the city people cook them?

    • +4

      In the microwave

    • +3

      I get a feeling there is a secret book that the marketeers can buy - "101 Meaningless Phrases that Sound Good". Things like "Home Style", "Cutting Edge", and "Pro".

      In general you just reverse the meaning of the phrase to get something closer to an accurate description of product. So "country style" = "mass manufactured in industrial machinery".

  • I highly rate Woolworths roast chicken, but Auburn Woolworths has the worst roast chicken in Sydney.

    • +1

      The deputy mayor has been at them…

  • +3

    Why is this bad for farmers?
    Lower retail means higher demand, which raises the wholesale price in a free market.
    OK, its not quite so free with the Coles/Woolworths duopoly. Woolworths will attempt to negotiate down the unit price while increasing volume.
    Still, more demand has to help farmers who have the ability to increase production.

    • +3

      Unfortunately economic supply and demand theory theory doesn't work in the real world. As anyone paying for petrol in Australia will realise.

      And trying to pretend that the market is a living entity with it's own "freedoms" doesn't map onto reality very well either.

      • Unfortunately economic supply and demand theory theory doesn't work in the real world. As anyone paying for petrol in Australia will realise.

        The more informed Aussie petrol buyers will know that crude oil prices have plummeted in the last couple of years, due to increased supply.
        As for retail, the oil cartel can set the retail price, or the quantity sold, but not both. Lucky for them, demand for oil is inelastic to price, ie drops slowly as price rises.

        Sure, woolworths can squeeze suppliers in the short-run, but if they pay too little, supply will not meet demand. Farmers can and do shift to other products as price and demand changes.

        • +1

          The 'short run' may very well be 20 years - the amount of time it will take for a farmer to 'recoup' the cost of land, building, and equipment they have purchased which is suitable for farming birds.

          The 'market' of farmers will shift away from chicken farming, but those already in it cannot just decide to start raising cattle instead.

          The economics 101 theories you are describing are so divorced from reality that they are harmful. These are not faceless units in a system, these are peoples lives.

        • +2

          20 years? No business can assume unchanging conditions for that long. Not even 5 years. You must think our farmers very stupid. An don't ignore that demand is actually rising - this makes a big difference.

          If you want to get angry, read about conditions for US chicken farmers:
          http://www.salon.com/2015/06/02/how_john_olivers_poultry_ran…

          (Though Oliver is far from balanced, as usual, he is not wrong.)

          And the supermarkets will pay the poultry suppliers as little as they can, regardless of retail price.

        • +2

          @manic:
          Chicken farmers will usually sign a contract for several years where a company like Ingham supplies as many chicks as they can take, and agrees to buy back their entire production.

          Farmers are not stupid, they operate at maximum efficiency from day 1.

          There are many instances where farmers dump product or even destroy their own product as the market cannot sell it all. There is little benefit to be gained from increased demand by individual farmers (in this industry), unless they invest more money and expand.

          In a free market an increased demand will cause a shortage of chicken in the open market and prices will rise

          In a duopoly the retailer sets the price, the farmer can accept the lower margin, sell their production so someone else (difficult) or claim bankruptcy.

          I agree that supermarkets will always pay as little as possible, and there will always be companies producing chicken, but the distribution of wealth will not be equitable

  • +11

    I usually buy the Woolworths chickens when they are on clearance at the end of the day. I've been buying these long enough to know what to expect. Since the $7.90 price drop the chickens are smaller. By quite a bit. It's not a price war or true discount, they are simply buying smaller size chickens. It's what IGA also do when their roast chickens go on special in their catalogue. Trust me, this is all hot air and false advertising. You are not getting the same for less, you are simply getting less for less.

    • +4

      Massive roast chicken at Costco are $6.90. They are really good value. Good if you live near Costco. Normally just get the Woollies, I live too far from Costco.

      • +1

        +1 for Costco roast chicken.

    • I picked one of these up in Gawler last night; noticeably smaller,despite being labelled as "XL".

      Also had a huge amount of water in the bag after getting it home, probably indicating that the raw meat has been bulked up by saline injection.

      • The roast chickens are "seasoned and marinated", so yes water is added. People like it that way.
        If you prefer crispy-skin style chicken, you need to buy elsewhere or cook your own.
        When buying whole chooks at the supermarket, check the label, as they sell both plain and "marinated" styles.

        If you eat them quickly enough, there should not be lots of water in the bag.

      • So they've gone from filling the cavity with water (in the 80s) - which was made illegal - to injecting the flesh with liquid? How is that not illegal? Such bs. Marinating is soaking, not injecting.

  • +1

    I remember where I was in the great chook price war of 2016

    • +4

      Yes, i was a soldier at the front line, we called it the trenches. I remember the horrific sounds of cash registers ringing and the bodies of shoppers piling up at the checkout. So much money spent. Every time I go to a supermarket now it triggers my PTSD.

      Make Love not War

  • +2

    Grab a chook rip it up turn it into 1 meal + 2 frozen meals (in freezer bags)

    1 chook and salads when you get home.

    2 Cover with appropriate spice and it will become chicken burritos.

    3 Cover with your favourite curry combo (Korma).

    3 Meals under 8 bucks…winning

    *Note - dog gets the skin scraps etc (dog tax)

    • Smother with cheap tabasco sauce before reheating for a nandos style chicken ;)

    • How does chicken last long enough in your home to freeze it?

      Roast chicken (even two!) rarely lasts more than a week in our fridge!

      Not to mention it's usually skinless and pecked to bits before it's even done cooling on the bench when it comes home.

  • Until their supply is screwed, won't last long. It's unsustainable, chickens don't just grow on trees.

    • Yes they do. Where do you think they come from? Chicken Plants of course :)

    • +2

      Yeah, it's not like you can magically grow more chickens. Chickens are a finite resource just like oil.

      • Give or take 5-6 years, we should have commercially viable in-vitro meat.

      • they have a fast reproduction rate from a fertilised egg to a chick. so to increase production isn't. a problem provided the growlers have steady contracts as they need to build more or larger sheds.
        with the current cost of beef l think I will need to read up Om more chicken recipes.

        I haven't seem these cheap chickens at my will Woolworths or Coles ….. but at $8 I could be trying more chicken recipes.

    • chickens don't just grow on trees.

      https://youtu.be/_pDTiFkXgEE?t=24s

  • The latest chook casualty is Michell Pearce. He's getting roasted lol wont be flapping anything soon.

  • -1

    Why bother RSPCA approved chicken, it's deal from wollies and roasted as well.:)

  • -1

    Great for consumers, not so great for farmers as the price war continues

    Any "Price war" between retailers is a win for farmers - they should be laughing all the way to the bank.

    1. Lower price means more sales at retail level.

    2. More sales means more demand for the resource (chickens).

    3. Competing Retailers must source additional chickens, or risk upsetting consumers.

    4. Bidding wars for the limited resource will increase the price.

    5. Farmers can charge extra, since they dictate the prices.

    6. Increased production volumes lowers the farmer's costs.

    Of course, if the chicken farmers are as stupid as the milk farmers, then they will voluntarily dropped their wholesale prices…

    …and thus have absolutely no reason to whine about making less money :-)

    • The chicken farmers will do worse than the dairy farmers. There are very few big players in the industry and it is highly competitive.

      Unless they decide to work together (they won't) they will cut eachother's throats until the only ones left in the industry are the mass producers.

      In order to grow large quickly, the corporate farmers will take on loans and sell shares so they can afford to buy up their competition.

      The profits of farming will move to share holders, many of them foreign, and the banking industry.

      We will have our cheap chicken, and yet another career path will disappear out of existence.

    • +1

      the Australian dairy industry is run by a couple of multinational dairies that sell to Coles and woollies and they set the price and also make other products for export …… Coles and woollies don't negotiate prices with dairy farmers. As China's middle class develop a larger taste for diary, beyond just our baby formulae, what will happen with the price of cheese and other dairy products…. hence Chinese already buying large dairy interests and by passing Australian wholesalers and sending product direct into China ….. the buy the whole supply chain.

  • +3

    "Rugby League player in lewd act with Woolies chook… Gets more stuffing than first thought"

  • +2

    give'm 3 months and the price will change.

    • By then we will all be sick of hot chicken.

  • +1

    Now if only they sold hot chips and gravy.

    • they do have that rice bran oil on special quite often though woollies no longer sell mc cains chips for $2 but Coles have good $2 chips……
      be nice if someone weighed the Coles and woollies chickens to see if they are the sane weight and also the Lillydale free range to see has the most chicken per $$$$.

      • someone weighed the Coles and woollies chickens to see if they are the sane weight

        What's an insane weight? :p

        Its too hard to compare, unless you remove the chicken from the bag/oil, and remove the stuffing too.
        Personally I prefer the Coles chicken. I find the Woolies chooks taste too 'herby'

  • +1

    Don't know about you guys, those roast chicken just taste like plastic after having them for a while. Since the early days of buying "just before closing" coles/woolies chicken as a poor uni student, I have never touch the roast chicken ever since.

    • +11

      Try taking them out of the bag before eating or reheating.

    • chicken in general doesn't have a distinctive taste only texture so you are dependent what you have with it or how it is spiced eg gravy etc to add taste. the Lillydale ones have spiced stuffing but cost $13. I can't see then making distinctive spiced chickens eg peri peri because it might not suit the majority of consumer tastes so I think they strike with a taste that doesn't please anyone but also doesn't offend anyone. even the Colonel had to add 11 herbs and spices to make it not taste bland and sell a product based on its taste that didn't need extras to add flavour.

      as one person wrote " make chicken tacos one night, add curry sauce and have chicken curry another.

      • +1

        chicken in general doesn't have a distinctive taste

        Lean chicken breast has little taste, but when you cook the whole chook, or just pieces with bone and skin, you get plenty of flavour, even without salt and herbs added.
        Real chicken stock is good stuff.

  • -1

    This bothers me. How can a life be worth so little?

    • +2

      Think of all the worms that are saved with each chicken killed.

    • What does the negative vote mean? You're unhappy/unwilling to consider the question? It seems worthy of consideration to me, regardless of what you conclude. Here's some "food" for thought:

      http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/7-facts-about-chick…

      • +1

        I assume the neg was for the question.

        Do you have a more reputable link? I haven't clicked on the link, but I assume a link from animalsaustralia wouldn't be about how good roast chickens taste

    • +1

      so you're perfectly fine with the breeding and raising of chickens purely for food, just as long as their life is 'worth' somewhere north of $7.90?

      • Hah! No. It just makes me think: in order to "produce" these animals so cheaply, it must be one hell of a production line. That must come at a cost (to them), surely.

        I just checked. In Australia, we slaughter ~600,000,000 chickens per year. ~1,644,000 every day. ~19 every second.

        All I'm saying is, it makes me stop and think.

        • Is it any different to cows,pigs or dare I say eggs?
          I'd say a proportion of chooks slaughtered are for export.
          I do wonder why there isn't any pro free range chicken comments here (compared to caged eggs deals)?

        • @mmd: No, it isn't really. The egg industry is pretty nightmarish. Half its animals get ground up pretty much as soon as they're born…

  • +1

    For those lucky enough to be near a Costco.
    They sell a BBQ'd Chook ( 1.4kg ) for $6.99…….. Can get 2 feeds from it and use the frame and bones to make a great stock.
    Moistest breast meat I have ever had in a BBQ's chook.

  • +1

    I always wonder why anyone would buy a raw chook when they're generally the same price as the roasted ones?

    If Cole's wanted to kill off Woolie's, all they'd need to do is some major price-drops, short-term, on popular items. Most people I ask go to Coles as it is. Our Woolies costs more & the selection/quality is lacking by comparison.

    Imho

    • I agree. I have always found Woolworths to be of lower quality and cost more in general when compared to Coles.

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