Not an answer to the question, but I switched from 78/22 beef to 93/7 turkey, virtually same price, very little draining and whilst there is flavour difference it’s not enough to worry me after a month or so you stop noticing.
Not sure if turkey is an option where you are, and if the price is similar?
Turkey is an option and is cheap where I am. I don’t find the taste to be as good, but with taco seasoning or in chili, it is hard to tell. In a burger, it is pretty noticeable.
I am all about making big impact low effort changes. This might fit into that category.
What sort of changes in particular are you trying to make? Reduce dietary fat intake? Reduce saturated fat intake? Etc.
I’ve never been a ground turkey eater, until I tried McCormicks Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning on Jenny O 93/7 turkey patties that I found on sale.
I try to make changes that are sustainable for me. An example of big impact low effort is diet cola.
I have tried to prioritize nutrition over cost for my lunch. I still eat mostly fast food, but I’ll get something like a burrito bowl at chipotle instead of a burger fries and pop. I’ll still get Wendy’s, but I’ll get the burger, chili, and diet coke. The difference in nutrition (less calories, and more protein) between that meal, and one with fries and a regular pop / soda is significant.
For dinners, I’ll try to make the meal meat, and veggies or fruit. I am still sometimes tempted with potatoes, or a carb side like mac and cheese. I am trying to be more consistent in that area.
I still currently buy 80/20 beef, or 85/15. I was just wondering how much fat comes off in the cooking process approximately. I typically drain quite a bit out (at least a couple table spoons). If the calorie content is similar to cooking oil, it is a lot of calories being drained out.
I am kinda at the point where I look pretty good (some ab definition, and I am fairly muscular), but I want to get to the next level, both for performance (weight class PLing), and looks. I want it to be painless as possible, and be something I can stick to long term.
Fully understand, but I’m still wanting to know WHAT you are wanting to change. Are you just looking for lower calorie alternatives? Lower fat alternatives? Lower saturated fat? Etc. You can swap ground beef for lots of alternatives, and they’ll have lots of different trade offs.
Originally, I was just looking to understand is buying lean beef is really worth the cost for the lower fat (questioning how much lower fat it actually is after cooking and draining).
I think lower calorie if the quantity is still good, and the taste is still good.
I look for lower fat and sodium right now. Kroger has some chicken burgers that taste really close to actual burgers! Sodium is a little higher than I’d like, but that’s what you get with prepackaged food - the protein to fat ratio is very diet-friendly.
I’ll consider it, but chicken as a burger would be surprising if it was good.
It’s a piece of cake. Literally. You just shove the chicken burger into some cake and it’s awesome!
For real though- I make chicken and turkey burgers using a little pepper, basil, lemon and stuff, just like any typical white meat and they’re really very good. I’ll even splash the pan with a little white grape juice to deglaze and make some sweet dippy sauce.
I hate food that tries to be something else.
Give it a try. Super convenient, surprisingly not disgusting
This came up unprompted from the wife last night because she inadvertently bought 80/20 last time she shopped and made spaghetti and meat sauce last night using it. So we ended up hashing it out between ourselves.
The 80/20 has fat scraps and pink slime added to ballance the content, which I’m not crazy about. It’s basically uncased hotdog meat.
I think the leaner ground is the tougher cuts less adulterated. I really like the way that the leaner ground cooks up. It browns better (Imo) and the burgers cook up with a better firm texture, and way better pinkness.
Typically since I do a lot of the shopping I’ll get a smaller pack of the lean specifically for burgers, and the 90/10 for other cooking. The one thing I do when making meat sauces or s.o.s. is use either browned flour or cornstarch to emulsify instead of draining, but looking at recent developments, maybe that isn’t a great idea.
Ok. Now I have to eat some words because I just had riced cauliflower and it was really good.