Want advanced access to my weekly Chewsday Reviews?

Every Tuesday morning receive the latest Chewsday Review delivered directly to your inbox.

Aldi Farmwood Chicken Breast T-Rex Bites | Chewsday Review

Another day, another dino nugget. Let’s see whether Aldi’s version is a roaring success or a little crumb-y.

Ingredients

Positives

At $8.99 for a 1kg bag, these nuggets give you bang for your buck. They’re a lot cheaper than Steggles Tempura Chicken Dino Snacks ($13.50/kg), and even slightly less than supermarket branded nuggets ($10 to $11 per kg). And remember, the more expensive brands aren’t necessarily better than the cheaper brands when it comes to nutrition.
Saturated fat content of 0.7g per 100g is well below our target, although this is true of most chicken nuggets.
Sugar is within guidelines (2.3g per 100g), although these nuggets do contain added sugar.

Negatives

These nuggets have 500mg of sodium per 100g, which is above our target of 400mg per 100g. This is higher than Steggles Chicken Dino Snacks in the bag (320mg per 100g).
Chicken content of 48% is middle of the range compared to other nuggets, with some products as low as 34%, and the highest chicken content going to Woolworths Crumbed Chicken Breast Nuggets (59%). I recommend looking for chicken nuggets with a chicken content of at least 50%.

Marketing

The dinosaur shapes are again the biggest drawcard for this product.
“Made with Australian chicken breast. No added hormones.” This adds an element of confusion for customers, given that all Australian chicken is free from hormones. Also, nuggets promoted as being made from chicken breast do not necessarily have a higher chicken content.
“No added preservatives”. That’s true, but this is pretty standard for frozen products.
“Good source of protein”. These nuggets do contain a decent amount of protein per serve, but remember that most Australian kiddies eat enough protein to easily exceed their protein requirements.

Alternatives

The lower chicken content and high sodium wouldn’t make this product my first choice for chicken nuggets.
If you’re after dinosaur nuggets in particular, I’d go for Steggles Chicken Dino Snacks, or for a budget-friendly regular nugget option Woolworths Crumbed Chicken Breast Nuggets or Coles Tempura Chicken Nuggets.
Nuggets are a common safe food for kids, and can be used as a step towards eating crumbed or plain chicken.