How 'healthy' Are Coles Roast Chickens?

Hi all.

I'm looking to see if anyone knows much about what goes into these chickens. I'm asking because i'm looking to do large volume meal preps (say a week at a time) and want to find quickest/easiest way to do this. Starting a new gym routine that will require healthy eating with more protein etc. The vegetable and carbs side of the meal prep is pretty straight forward - such as boil broccoli and a side of sweet potato.

However for the protein I figured rather than spend a good amount of the weekend cooking up meats, why not grab a coles roast chicken or two. But I stopped to think about it for a second and anything this cheap surely can't be great for you. The meat itself will probably be fine as a source of protein, but what about the sugars/oils/salts/brine that is used to make them (as well as any chemicals or hormones that these chickens are injected with to get them to size).

Anyone know if these this will be an issue with a bulking program?

Thanks!

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Comments

  • +26

    Australian chickens don't have hormones fed or injected into them, this practice is banned here. I'd say the salt content would be the main thing to consider.

    Side note: Costco roast chooks are $6 compared to Coles $9, if you have access to a store.

    • +2

      Good to know - and yup Costco is an option as well. I'll take a look there too

      • +1

        I've had a Costco roast chicken once. Never again. It tasted like chemicals and was unnaturally enormous.

        • I'll second that. Bad experience for me. There was once a fat bubble or whatever it was when I ripped into the breast fillet (not around the breast fillet but inside). I don't think it was normal..

        • @Ayepeefreely: I just vomited in my mouth a little bit

        • @p3t0r: I hope you didn't swallow. That's the stuff they use to brine the chicken in. You could make your own at home!

    • +8

      Costco chickens are a bit :/

      • +26

        Agreed - Costco chickens are 0/10.

        • +4

          Agree! Costco chickens are nasty.
          The one I got was undercooked and when I cut into it, it oozed.
          Not a nice experience.

        • @sheebies: YEEESSS! undercooked here twice!

        • +3

          @sheebies: Costco Chickens used to be brined and marinated which gave them a pink look around the dark meat. In Australia this was only seen in the past with uncooked chicken. Some people are so stuck in the old ways of thinking they instantly reject the Costco chooks and get all squirmy about it rather than asking about them, then go online and spread their ignorance everywhere.

          Costco chickens are no longer marinated to placate the ignorant masses. They are also a proper fully grown chicken rather than the 8 week old pullets they sell at 'ColesWorths'.

          I got one early on and took it back due to 'pinkness' had it explained and still got a full refund. Now they have discontinued the marinade and implemented a over-rigorous testing regime before they put them on display. They still taste great too.

        • @Bugsarse: Agreed, I brine and smoke my chickens and the smoke ring and salt can give the meat a pink tinge which some would think is uncooked.

        • @Bugsarse: My local take away has chicken that ends up pink around the dark meat, so it's not like it's something I've never seen before.

          The one I purchased from Costco was in fact so undercooked it was almost raw around the breasts, not the dark meat. When I took it back, they even agreed it was undercooked and were highly apologetic about the situation. Got a full refund and vowed only to buy chicken from the local take away from now on.

          so while I can certainly understand what you are saying, it wasn't the case in my situation. I can only go by what I experienced and that is what I experienced so it's not ignorance.

      • Are they? I haven't tried one yet. How hard is it to roast a chicken?

        • +95

          Depends if they are alive or not.

      • +2

        +1 only time we had a costco they were awful

        • +2

          not a fan of the chicken at Costco.. but they look huge too, they look weird to me.

        • +1

          @Archi:

          they're grown up chicken, not your coles/woolie underage chicks

        • @phunkydude:

          Or they're full of growth hormones!

        • @Archi: I saw a post here once before that claimed they're injected with the flavouring which bulks them up.

          No idea if there is any truth in that at all though.

        • +6

          @iDroid:

          No. They are brined, which is exactly how Donna Hay, Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver et al prepare their roast chicken.

        • @LoopyLou: Mmmmmmm brined, chicken…

          Sounds good!

      • -2

        Agree. Not as nice as Woolies. The first one ever bought from Costco was also undercooked, so never again.

      • +4

        I'm shocked about everyone having a go at costco roast chickens. The ones from coles and Woolies are so incredibly overcooked and dry. The costco chickens are really tender and yummy. I just assumed everyone else felt the same way. Weird!

    • +10

      FYI to all the people worried about the sodium content in roast chicken:

      Salt is an essential nutrient involved in nerve signalling. If you ate a zero sodium diet you would literally die. The current perception of sodium as something bad and to be avoided is on par with the eggs cause heart disease and all fats cause heart disease fads that existed not that long ago and have now been thoroughly debunked. Recent research indicates the RDIs for sodium may need to be raised in excess of 2-3 times the current recommendation. Everytime you work up a sweat, part of that perspiration is your body losing critical electrolytes such as potassium and - gasp - sodium that then need to be replaced. OP is talking about meal prep to accompany his gym routine, he should be including health-promoting foods in his diet that contain the electrolytes he is losing.

      Oh, and if anyone says they should have a low sodium diet because they don't sweat much - being sedentary is infinitely more devastating to your health than a biological necessity like sodium.

      • +25

        No one is saying don't eat salt, just pointing out that it is quite high in these store bought chickens so be mindful of it (because who knows what else OP is eating throughout the day that might also be high in salt).

        • -6

          Nobody should be worrying about sodium content full stop, least of all someone physically active, least of all in a health-promoting food like chicken. Telling people they need to be mindful of the sodium content in chicken is analogous to telling people they need to be mindful of the cholesterol in an egg or mindful of that fat in an avocado, it has no credible scientific basis and contributes to the spread of misinformation(not directed at you, but you only have to browse through this topic to see the spread of misinformation).

          My point stands.

        • -1

          @airal3rt: Thanks for the neg. For what it's worth, I did not neg you.

        • -7

          @sTon3r: I think the general rule is: No salt is bad and Table salt is bad. If you do add salt use the pink stuff or Celtic salt.

          For a more in depth discussion I found this video worth a watch.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm6fmiG4SAc

        • +20

          @airal3rt:

          I've been told by many doctors that excess sodium has a major impact on blood pressure. Those with high blood pressure are advised to lower their sodium/salt intake as a start.

          Whether that advice is right or not, I don't know, but I assume that that is the current understanding.

          The medical studies regularly come out with new revelations - some are sensationalist articles and some are not. Unless there's something definitive, who's really going to know what to believe?

        • +4
        • @airal3rt: Wait what? So I can eat 8 tablespoons a day and I should be fine?

          You do know that some people need to watch what they eat due to prior conditions, don't you? Yes some people (crazies) are obsessed with their micro/ macronutrients to the mg but that doesn't mean sugars, salts, carbs shouldn't be moderated.

          I do give credence to your essential claim but you are being a bit too myopic in this regard

        • +1

          @Hahuh:

          Wait what? So I can eat 8 tablespoons a day and I should be fine?

          Wait what? So I can drink 30 litres of water a day and I should be fine?

          You do know that some people need to watch what they eat due to prior conditions, don't you?

          If someone asked me whether almonds are healthy, the answer is yes. If a select few individuals have life-threatening nut allergies, that does NOT change the indisputable biological reality that almonds are a health-promoting food.

          In short, your nitpicking does not address my contention in any way whatsoever.

        • +1

          @airal3rt: Guess we are all in the wrong here. No one was "nitpicking" at the claims of what was healthy and what wasn't. We had an issue with you for denigrating peoples opinions for contesting the amount deemed to be healthy. Seems like you are salty over the health nuts and have brought a personal vendetta against anyone that remotely might agree with them.

        • @bobbified: It is right. With the "new revelations" you need to go back to the late 70's & 80's for proper nutrition, people like Nathan Pritikin had everything right then, then because of the food industry everything about health is getting turned on it's head.

        • +3

          @airal3rt: I totally agree.

          It's very hard to remove "taught" miss-information from our thought processes and beliefs.

          Modern research suggests that the role that sodium chloride plays in heart disease has been vastly over played.

        • +4

          @bobbified:

          I've been told by many doctors that excess sodium has a major impact on blood pressure. Those with high blood pressure are advised to lower their sodium/salt intake as a start.

          Yes this was the accepted belief for some time - even GP's take a while to know about and accept modern research. Some will never accept it.

        • +1

          @iDroid:
          It's one of those things - our bodies are quite resilient and adaptable and it's not easy to pinpoint a single thing.

          The key to it all is to have things in moderation.

        • +2

          @EightImmortals: Save your money; no evidence for the pink/Celtic salt being beneficial.

          Also, be wary of O'Neill as she's a naturopath, not a doctor. I.e. An expert in making pseudo-science sound like science.

      • the thing is a packet of instant noodle = 2000mg sodium

        • +3

          Doesn't mattee how much you have as long as you do some exercise, apparently!

        • @Moofy:

          My sarcasm meter might be broken,

          You need to donate your kidney to someone who followed your "advice" blindly.

        • @phunkydude:
          Not my advice, read the above comments lol.

        • @Moofy: Did you see the news on this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnpmbSqV3O4

          that he eats his calories all at once and what he eats is high in everything? He looks good (physically) but I would hate to imagine what his insides are like

        • @Hahuh:

          that he eats his calories all at once

          FYI we have evolved for the past 200,000 years with our ancestors only having access to food sporadically, as opposed to having a Mars Bar within reach 24/7 for the last 30-100 years.

          "Eating your calories all at once" is a vast improvement over eating 3 meals per day + multiple snacks in-between which is constantly demanding an insulin response and altering metabolic processes over and over again.

        • -2

          @Moofy:

          Apply your comment to water. Observe how pathetically reductionist your "thinking" is.

        • @airal3rt: Yes but he eats all his meals that is high in everything all at once. He is basically stuffing himself with lard and sugars in one sitting.

          His meals are unhealthy. Do you somehow love playing word games ignoring the context posted to the initial reply?

        • -5

          @Hahuh:

          Yes but

          Do you somehow love playing word games ignoring the context posted to the initial reply?

          Irony meter so far through the roof you just broke it.

        • +1

          @Hahuh: You've been conditioned to believe this would be unhealthy.

          This is pretty much exactly how I eat. Typically one meal a day (dinner), home cooked, mostly cooked in dripping/lard/etc, No counting calories, no nonsense, just eat as much as I want. I've been eating like this for 20 years, not fat, never get sick, physically active without issue, plenty of energy and enthusiasm all day.

          You get used to this very quickly and I very rarely feel hungry before dinner time. If I've been unusually active then my hunger tends to increase (feeling hungry earlier) which is to be expected.

          If I break this habit and eat "normally" for a day then the very next day I start to feel hungry again all day. But on the next, back to usual, no hunger until dinner time.

          This fits with how I imagine we ate for 10,000's of years prior to our modernisation. I suspect this was the norm while we evolved (sporadic eating and feasting when we got some food - but certainly not snacking all day long or 3 square meals).

        • +2

          @airal3rt: People can't see that we've done nothing but get fatter for the past 100 years by following the advice of eating "regular meals, low fat, etc, etc - it obviously isn't working.

          When I eat like that I gain weight.

          When I fast during the day and feast at night, never an issue.

          People are eating meals because it's "lunch time", or "breakfast" - regardless of hunger or calories needed.

          This can work if you're disciplined with calories, but on average we're not (so our scales suggest).

    • Costco chickens are much bigger than the ones available at Coles / Woolies

    • +2

      Salt is not unhealthy.

  • +1

    can't answer about the sugars additives used to marinate the chicken etc but i suppose it will be the same chicken you are buying from the supermarket that they are roasting.

  • +4

    It always makes me laugh at the fact they call these things roasts, when the ovens they cook them in seem to steam the living snot of out them first.

    • +3

      As Gordon Ramsay once said, "I said roast the chicken, not take it to the crematorium!"

      Most of the time Coles roast chickens are so overcooked and dry it makes cooking your own much more appealing.

      • +11

        I think that quote may have been considerably cleaned up, if it was from Gordon Ramsay.

        • +2

          Haha I excluded all the expletives for the purpose of readability :P

      • I think that's more dependent on how long its been sitting there. My local woolies seems to always cook them at 7:00am and 5:00pm, so those are great times to grab them.

    • +5

      Do Coles sell the living snot separately? Asking for a friend.

  • +1

    Macronutrient wise it seems like it's a good option if you remember to take out the stuffing (mostly carbs and sugar), but there seems to be a lot of sodium in these so just be careful of that.

    • +1

      Indeed. Yes I was planning on taking out the stuffing and removing the skin. Having had the chickens before they are quite salty so i think you'd be right on that bit about the sodium.

      • +23

        I'll give you my address and I will pay you to send me the skin and stuffing, the two best bits of the chicken.

        • +6

          You sure you'd still want it after Australia post has had it for a week?

        • coles and woolies stuffing is bleh

          The red rooster stuff on the other hand…. mint!

    • The stuffing is the best part. Even the stuffing in the cheap chickens is usually pretty okay.

  • probably fresher than the woolworths ones

    http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/absolutely-disgust…

    don't know the protein content of the spider or the maggots but thought the maggots were high protein low fat.

  • +2

    I don't know the real answer to your question, but I start wondering when I feel really thirsty for a while after eating something. Coles chickens are one of those things.

    This article doesn't really explain much, but I think it will be as close as you can get in your search for answers:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3533337/How-Woolwort…

  • +2

    can switch up your source of proteins: beef, kangaroo meat (very low fat and high protein but smells like ass when you cook it), fish ect. As above its a marketing gimmick to label chicken as 'hormone free' - yes its hormone free but so is every other brand that you find in the supermarkets.

  • +4

    Leaving healthy or not for a minute…..Have you tried them and is that something you can eat regularly? Personally, I can eat them every now and then but its not the best tasting roast. I can eat them on the day but eating them the next day just does not feel the same. Now, I just roast a chook every Sunday. After a few times, it becomes quite easy and you can control what you put in. Whilst roasting the chook, you can throw in veges as well. I do understand it may not be an option if you are pressed for time. But you do get faster with a few tries……good luck with your gym!

  • +3

    From working at Coles years ago, the seasoning was a mix of Paprika and other herbs and spices. You coated the chickens which were just a pre-stuffed Steggles chicken, and loaded them up on the cooking racks and threw them in the oven.

    Dunno about sugars in the stuffing etc, but the meat is no different to a usual chicken - But they do tend to have ALOT of oil coming off them when they are cooked, and they pretty much float in their own oil when cooking.

    • +7

      The 'oil' is just from the skin.

      Fat is flavour.

      Oil such as vegetable oil isn't good for you but a bit of chicken fat is delicious and not as unhealthy as some people make it out to be.

      • -2

        Neither is Saturated fat, it raises your cholesterol level whereas vegetable oils lower your immune system (decreases inflation) and promote cancer. Both will pack pounds on you, it's like switching to gin instead of whiskey because you are worried about the health problems whiskey is causing.

        • +2

          Fat doesn't pack pounds on you, calories do.

        • I'd not heard that about vegetable oils, do they really do that???

        • -1

          @kiitos: Yes kiitos, you can read about vegetable oils here https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/aug/oils.htm

        • -7

          @Georgevic: Fat does pack pounds on you, rarely does the body convert carbohydrates into fat, it can but rarely does as it is very inefficient, the body will simply grab any fat you have eaten and put it into your fat reserves turning you into something that resembles a large beach ball.

        • I think you meant 'decreases inflammation' not inflation. And it's technically mainly the omega 3 components of vegetable oils that do this. Omega 6 heavy vegetable oils can promote inflammation.

          An example of a vegetable oil higher in omega 3 content would be canola oil or flaxseed oil, while a vegetable oil very high in omega 6 would be sunflower oil. Worth checking what your vegetable oil is made from.

        • @buckster: The point I was trying to make is that consuming any of these oils is unhealthy, it doesn't matter what type of vegetable oil, they are all unhealthy to consume, no need to check what the vegetable oil is made from before consuming because you shouldn't be consuming any of them. Everyone gets enough Omega 6, it's in fresh vegetables and the people who are naughty eating fried foods get way too much. Everyone probably gets enough Omega 3 but if you are worried to set your mind at ease you can use EPA and DHA supplements made from algae.

          Another thing the current standard diet people are consuming Omega 6 & 3 at a ratio of 25 to 1, research shows the optimum level is a radio of 4 to 1, so if you are using vegetable oils rich in omega 6 you can't counter balance that with anything and if you are frying you can't use omega 3 oils because they will not tolerate heat.

          Really you have to give up fried foods and foods with any added oil.

        • +2

          @freemoneyhunter:

          "Everyone probably gets enough Omega 3".

          If everyone got enough Omega3 intake we wouldn't be having so many people with heart diseases and clogged arteries. Everyone says cholesterol clogs up your artery, but little did they know the human body can handle excess cholesterol intake and regulate the production of cholesterol just fine. It's the inflammation that's the evil and the imblance of omage3 and 6 are the cause for a lot of the heart diseases.

        • +2

          @freemoneyhunter: the general consensus with an average Australian diet is that there is insufficient omega 3 to omega 6.

          Do you mean to say (smoking point aside) then that cooking with olive oil is also unhealthy?

        • -4

          @Leeroy Jenkins: The body can not handle excess dietary intake of cholesterol. If you eat more than 1/2 pound of meat a week, the cholesterol will build up in the blood and be deposited in the arteries. The liver produces cholesterol and when it is used up it is know as HDL and gets disposed through the bowels with some being reabsorbed by the body, if you start eating bacon, eggs, chicken and other foods that contain cholesterol, the body can't get rid of it and it just goes into the arteries. Omega 3 has nothing to do with heart disease, others such as Pauling Therapy are scams. Research since the 70's has confirmed people with high blood cholesterol suffer heart disease, people who have blood cholesterol levels under 160 rarely suffer heart disease, I recommend a level to aim for is 140 and that is by following a proper diet to lower cholesterol, not using statins, if you take enough Crestor you can lower cholesterol to 20 but it is meaningless. A level under 140 without drugs you simply will never suffer heart disease.

        • -2

          @buckster: Look above I provided a research link. Olive oil is unhealthy, to put it into context you can't refute that adding sugar to food is simply adding empty calories, well sugar is 4 calories per gram, olive oil is 9 calories per gram and it is just as empty as sugar, and people pour it all over their foods such as salads and they fry foods in it, it is not in anyway healthy.

        • @freemoneyhunter:

          Wherever you got your "facts", I don't care because my own daily nutrition and experience tell me otherwise.

          I drink on average 1L of full fat milk, 2 eggs and some meat every day, and my blood test has always been on point (except Vitamin D, which is often low and i do have over-average creatine level in my blood sometimes in my blood tests). Also that 1/2 pound of meat a week sounds very sus cuz I eat about 300g of cooked meat DAILY (a combo of any of salmon, beef and chicken and sometimes basa and prawns).

          I do take my nutrition very seriously because whether I'm bulking up or cutting down, I always wanna maintain those important hormone levels to maximise the return from my effort (time spent both in gym and on nutrition). I use blood tests to gauge how I'm doing.

          The only bad thing about hormone/cholesterol I've experienced is low Testosterone level (on the very low end of healthy range) during end stage of my cutting phase and headaches I experience possibly due to a combination of overtraining and staying too long on a caloric deficit. The T level always comes back after a little while after I bring my calories back to maintenance/surplus. Still, apart from my T level and sometimes Vitamin D, all hormones all stay in good range and there's no sign of any danger or disease.

          I can't prove my point of omega-3 because I've never had any sign of heart disease or abnormal cholesterol levels, but none of the opposite side of the theories apply to me so I choose to trust this and always get my healthy dose of omega 3 through fatty fish and chia seeds.

          Edit: creatinine not creatine.

        • @freemoneyhunter:

          About cholesterol, what I can tell you that I learnt from a doctor is that the amount of cholesterol from food intake is minuscule-small compared to what the body needs for hormone production and what the liver produces every day. So if you eat a "large" amount one day and your liver is healthy, the liver is smart enough to regulate production of cholesterol. It's VERY hard to eat an excess amount of cholesterol for a healthy person.

          About the build up of "plaque" (not cholesterol) in the artery, I read it from somewhere else which I'm not gonna cite here because I'm neither a doctor nor an expert in that area. But according to a lot of people the amount of fat and cholesterol I eat is dangerously high and I probably should be dead by now. Nah, I'm fit and healthy.

        • -2

          @Leeroy Jenkins: Thank you for your reply, the information I have is decades old and is from the man who linked high fat and high cholesterol to heart disease which the entire medical industry has followed up unto this day. There is no cardiologist who has any integrity who would accept you as their patient or client and give you a green light on drinking 1lt for milk, 2 eggs and 300gms of meat each day, they would refer you to a lawyer so you can get your will in order.

          I know there is a lot of disinformation out there that you have to eat these foods for your health but it is completely wrong. Nathan Pritikin established the link of diet to various diseases and Dr Mcdougall has continued his work. I am not going to keep writing explaining what a high meat, high fat and high cholesterol diet will do to you, it will just end in disaster for you. What you need to do is more research from better qualified people. Anyway here is a video interview of Nathan Pritikin and John Mcdougall, it explains why your diet is wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOj4rzSkqok

        • @Leeroy Jenkins:

          Question - how often do you do your blood test and where do you do it?

        • @bfg100k: I almost always do my blood test at Melbourne Pathology. I don't do it regularly like every 3 months. i do do it multiple times a year, say at the end of a cutting phase or a bulking phase or when I don't feel well and the doctor can't really tell what's wrong with me. I usually go to a doctor to ask for a blood test, you need to ask specifically for all hormones and minierals and stuff, or they wouldn't test it or show it in the report especially testosterone.

          I tend to do blood test a lot more often than normal people cuz I experiment with my nutrition a lot, like very high fat diet, low fat diet, intermittent fasting etc. Just wanna use it as a way to stay on top and make sure I don't end up (profanity) up.

  • I'd be concerned about the sodium if I were eating these a lot.

    Something like fresh chicken breast is not that expensive, requires minimal prep and is easy to cook.

    • what's the prep ?

      wash it ?

      • +1

        No, I'd say they meant marinate or season it before cooking.

  • +2

    As an cheap easy option, Basa fillets.
    Wrap individual fillets frozen with herbs spices and lemon in foil then put back in freezer in a ziplock.
    Then put in oven for 1/2 hour when you get home.

    • but need to clean oven & oven tray

      do you need to wash the fish, or no ?

      • Cooked in foil no clean up.
        I don’t wash them, they come washed in a bag, then I cook them at 200c

    • +4

      Basa? No thanks.

      • +6

        Lobster for you then

        • +22

          Basa is nicer sounding than 'Vietnamese catfish farmed in the Mekong river'.

          For a $10/kg you can buy Hoki from Aldi that is wild caught in NZ.

        • +1

          @JB1:
          Yeah but Basa bulk buy is 5$ a kilo Vs 10. And this is ozbargain.

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