# Holy Sodium, Batman!!



## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

The hubs and I were out at the store yesterday, picking up our own groceries, and checking out meat for Zoey. We took a peek at the turkeys in the grocery store, and found some that were only around $1.50/lb! WOOHOO! I thought. I can finally give her more than just turkey wings! In my excitement, I failed to check the packaging. :doh:

Last night I was looking more closely. The turkey we got has all SORTS of addititives/enhancements! It's got an ungodly 270 mg of sodium PER SERVING!!! :shocked:

So...do the hubs and I just enjoy a big ol' turkey to ourselves (have a little early Thanksgiving?), or is there any way possible to reduce the sodium amount in turkey? Can it be soaked in water to help rinse out some? Or is it no good; it's in the meat and it's there to stay?

Grrrrrr!!!!


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## frogdog (Aug 10, 2011)

Honestly, I would return it! I personally don't eat anything over 100 mg of sodium per serving and most of the time if it's over 40 to 60 I will not.

You could just enjoy a lot of turkey sandwiches or have friends over for an early turkey dinner.:smile:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i personally don't eat that much sodium, either.....i'd return it. your body will thank you.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Kroger has NO chicken/turkey without sodium. It's crazy. They had wings on sale for a really good price - with 470 mg of sodium per serving. 

They are really beefing up their profits.

Can you take it back?


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

I've never considered trying to return something like that to the grocery store. I guess I could try. Altough it's been thawing since we brought it home. It was frozen solid when we bought it. Should we refreeze before attempting to return?

The thought of consuming that much sodium is a little sickening to me. Although I do looooove a good turkey sandwich. I'd need to go out and get a roasting pan, though! We've been in our house for 3 years and haven't hosted Thanksgiving yet (still get together with my parents or his parents), so I've never cooked a whole turkey!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Well, before a few months ago I was happily eating that stuff thinking it was just chicken. I never checked the ingredients, because it was chicken! Or so I thought. It didn't kill me.

And it probably makes it taste better.

Edited to add: you don't need to buy an expensive pan. They have aluminum ones at the grocery store, and you can throw it out rather than clean it.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i would take it back and as long as you have the receipt, they will or should take it back, no questions asked.

food costs too much to eat something that high in sodium just for the sake of eating it.....just tell them the truth. you didn't realise it was so high in sodium and you can't have that.


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

xellil said:


> Well, before a few months ago I was happily eating that stuff thinking it was just chicken. I never checked the ingredients, because it was chicken! Or so I thought. It didn't kill me.
> 
> And it probably makes it taste better.
> 
> Edited to add: you don't need to buy an expensive pan. They have aluminum ones at the grocery store, and you can throw it out rather than clean it.


True on the pan! I've used those throw-away ones before.

I'd rather add other herbs and spices to make it taste better! I've a half decent hand at seasoning (I think), and between hubs and I, we could certainly make a tasty bird without all that salt!!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

BoxerPaws said:


> True on the pan! I've used those throw-away ones before.
> 
> I'd rather add other herbs and spices to make it taste better! I've a half decent hand at seasoning (I think), and between hubs and I, we could certainly make a tasty bird without all that salt!!


Being totally lazy and hating to cook, I always buy one of those bags with the stuff in it. That probably makes good cooks cringe.

I DO, however, make my family recipe dressing from scratch. That days literally days, and about kills me.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

I think I must be lucky. I hear on this forum all the time about people saying to be careful when buying meat that it does not have added sodium. But around here, the grocery stores all brag about how their meat has “no salt solutions added”….this tagline is next to the advertised meat in the weekly ads, and they proudly place signs by the meat in the actual store. I think it would be harder for me to find something that actually has sodium in it….


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

shellbell said:


> I think I must be lucky. I hear on this forum all the time about people saying to be careful when buying meat that it does not have added sodium. But around here, the grocery stores all brag about how their meat has “no salt solutions added”….this tagline is next to the advertised meat in the weekly ads, and they proudly place signs by the meat in the actual store. I think it would be harder for me to find something that actually has sodium in it….


You ARE lucky! The couple of times we've bought whole roaster chickens from the regular store for Zoey, we were fine on sodium in the house brand. The turkey we bought was the store brand, too, so I was soooooo shocked to see all the additive info when I got home and finally gave it a second look! I think it's a toss-up, since hubs bought a store-brand pack of drumsticks once and they had more than the 80 mg/serving, but the whole chickens have less. So random!


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## kennyk (Sep 17, 2011)

1.50/lb for turkey?????? Am I the only one who thinks this is way too much??? O_O


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

kennyk said:


> 1.50/lb for turkey?????? Am I the only one who thinks this is way too much??? O_O


I live in a HCOL area. Most of the chicken I get is still at least $1/lb; only backs are always significantly cheaper (duh). That was the cheapest turkey, whole or otherwise, I've seen yet. The wings we've been buying as the only turkey source so far are always around $1.80/lb.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

kennyk said:


> 1.50/lb for turkey?????? Am I the only one who thinks this is way too much??? O_O


I was thinking that was ridiculous too. I am paying $.79 a pound now for 25 pound turkeys and it's not even thanksgiving yet. I just cooked one and I have another one in the freezer. I was thinking about picking up two more this week. 

The dogs are really happy and so is my husband!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Unfortunately the meat you return to the store will end up at the dump. Its a loss both ways. 

If I were you, I would let the turkey soak in a sink of warm water for HOURS to help leach out the sodium content from the meat. Then feed that meat sparingly so as to not constantly bombard the body with sodium. 

We have fed turkey meat like this before without issues. Is it something I'd feed on a weekly basis? NOPE...but I wouldn't throw it out altogether. Maybe I'm just cheap like that.


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> Unfortunately the meat you return to the store will end up at the dump. Its a loss both ways.
> 
> If I were you, I would let the turkey soak in a sink of warm water for HOURS to help leach out the sodium content from the meat. Then feed that meat sparingly so as to not constantly bombard the body with sodium.
> 
> We have fed turkey meat like this before without issues. Is it something I'd feed on a weekly basis? NOPE...but I wouldn't throw it out altogether. Maybe I'm just cheap like that.


Natalie, we decided we'd just eat it ourselves. MAYBE Zoey will get a leg or some of the gizzards or something. The tag ripped off when we brought it home, so hubs doesn't think we could return it anyway.


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## Grandiose (Apr 2, 2011)

chowder said:


> I was thinking that was ridiculous too. I am paying $.79 a pound now for 25 pound turkeys and it's not even thanksgiving yet. I just cooked one and I have another one in the freezer. I was thinking about picking up two more this week.
> 
> The dogs are really happy and so is my husband!


When I was at the store looking at prices 2 weeks ago, they were around $.98 a pound here....I expect they will drop in the next few weeks


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## kennyk (Sep 17, 2011)

Grandiose said:


> When I was at the store looking at prices 2 weeks ago, they were around $.98 a pound here....I expect they will drop in the next few weeks


bingo! DDDDDDD


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

BoxerPaws said:


> Last night I was looking more closely. The turkey we got has all SORTS of addititives/enhancements! It's got an ungodly 270 mg of sodium PER SERVING!!! :shocked:


May I ask, how much does a "serving" weigh? Our food labels say how much of each thing per serving (which usually has a size or a "servings per pack" number) as well as how much per 100 grams (approx. 3.5 ounces) so that it's easy to compare different brands/foods etc (as many have different "serving" sizes)

I'm just curious to compare this to the foods I buy... how much sodium would be acceptable? If someone can give me a mg/ounce or pound measurement I can convert it :thumb:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Honestly I think sodium content that's ideal is none added to any meat. BUT it also depends on how your particular dog handles "enhanced" meat. All of mine do fine with the occasional enhanced meal. I don't feed it often, but I wouldn't turn down free enhanced meat LOL


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## splitnightsky (Jun 20, 2011)

humans should not eat more than 140mg Na per serving, so I would think that dogs need less due to the fact that only some is natural in meats, and even thatisn't that much.
I go out of my way like crazy to check everything that comes into my house because they sneak sodium into so many foods (like some frozen veggies - why?!).
I'm glad you ate it though because I don't think it's something that hurts every once in a while.
plus you'd get more than that per serving from just going to Subway


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> May I ask, how much does a "serving" weigh? Our food labels say how much of each thing per serving (which usually has a size or a "servings per pack" number) as well as how much per 100 grams (approx. 3.5 ounces) so that it's easy to compare different brands/foods etc (as many have different "serving" sizes)
> 
> I'm just curious to compare this to the foods I buy... how much sodium would be acceptable? If someone can give me a mg/ounce or pound measurement I can convert it :thumb:


A serving size of meat (for a person) is 4 oz (be that chicken, turkey, beef, or fish). We (in the US) rarely actually eat a serving size, lol, everything is supersized! My husband alone will easily eat 3 servings' worth in a sitting. He loves his meat, too! Hahaha.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

splitnightsky said:


> humans should not eat more than 140mg Na per serving


you would NOT want to read the label of the corned silverside we just had for dinner then... hahaha, way way WAY more than that per serving :tongue:

And boxerpaws - we eat more than one serving per "sitting" too haha


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## splitnightsky (Jun 20, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> you would NOT want to read the label of the corned silverside we just had for dinner then... hahaha, way way WAY more than that per serving :tongue:


haha! yeah, the average American eats about 3000mg per day when the "recommended" amount is 2400 (although it's always nice to be a little lower).
and actually, in the US a serving size of meat is 3oz - trust me when I say that I doubt anyone besides vegetarians get that little.

it is amazing though - I found turkey today for $.88/lb and written write on the front was "contains turkey, salt, sodium phosphate".
thank goodness I got ours from our farmer's market before it closed


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

splitnightsky said:


> haha! yeah, the average American eats about 3000mg per day when the "recommended" amount is 2400 (although it's always nice to be a little lower).
> and actually, in the US a serving size of meat is 3oz - trust me when I say that I doubt anyone besides vegetarians get that little.
> 
> it is amazing though - I found turkey today for $.88/lb and written write on the front was "contains turkey, salt, sodium phosphate".
> thank goodness I got ours from our farmer's market before it closed


That reminds me that I wanted to go check out our 2 local farmer's markets! I know one near my dad has a meat stall, and I'd love to see what they have and how their prices are. I've never been to the other, but now's a good a time as any to finally go see what they have to offer!


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