Super cheap ground beef - Page 4

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by mnnice

way!

Braised Lentils with Swiss Chard and a Poached Egg
(Lightly adapted from Serious Eats who adapted from Last Night's Dinner)

Makes 2 servings

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 cup French green lentils
1 bunch winter greens, such as kale, chard, collards, etc. (I used swiss chard)
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup red wine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon red chili flakes, or to taste
Splash of lemon juice or sherry vinegar (optional, I forgot and it was fine)
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 eggs

Oh, yum....that's tomorrow's dinner! Thanks!

We do a lot of "beans and greens" around here, too. I might throw in some meat or fatback (I'm in NC, afterall) for flavor, though.

I, too, get lightheaded if I eat too many carbs, but beans and greens (lots of fiber) work better for me than meat (although I LOVE meat sometimes, too).

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by mnnice

I guess I'm not sure I consider either of those dishes are high carb (that's different than they would work for you too). The pho does have rice noodle made with white rice, but also mung bean shoots, often tofu, and greens plus enough hot sauce to make your nose run. The bean soup has ham broth, beans, onions, carrots, garlic, and greens too. Anyway both have plenty of protein just not from animals. Dh also makes a dish with sauted greens, lentils and veggies, and then a poached egg. It sound a bit strange, but it's a super good dish. The blog dishing up delights had a version I cut and pasted in here

Thanks for the recipe. It looks delish!

Vegetable sources of protein come with a lot of carbs, compared to animal products. Even beans, for me, have to be eaten with either 1) a lot of fat added or 2) with some animal protein (eggs, milk, etc). A rice and beans dinner would, literally, make me pass out. However, rice and beans with some chicken and/or eggs in it with some fats, is fine. I have to be careful about eating fruit alone too. Oh, and commercial Peanut butter--must be careful, too much sugar! Natural Peanut butter is fine. I think I'm on the more sensitive side to carbs/sugar.

Like whenever I eat oatmeal, I need to eat eggs with it. I've tried adding lots of fats (tablespoons and tablespoons of butter, coconut oil, whatever). Still got the shakes. Dh is similar, but he has the opposite problem--his blood sugar gets too high. His dad is diabetic, so it's in the family. Dh doesn't have diabetes, but he's borderline high.

It's difficult at times, but we try to make it. We do eat LOTS of veggies though. Right now we are eating lots of winter squash. It's in season and cheap. I don't want to make it sound like we eat 1lb of meat each at every meal or something. But that we do need more meat than just for 'flavoring'.

Ami

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by JTA Mom

Vegetable sources of protein come with a lot of carbs, compared to animal products. Even beans, for me, have to be eaten with either 1) a lot of fat added or 2) with some animal protein (eggs, milk, etc).

Beans have a lot of carbs, but also a lot of fiber. The fiber helps to offset the carbs and regulate blood sugar. I haven't been able to eat a bunch of beans and rice since my pregnancy with ds (when I developed gestational diabetes, and have felt sensitive to carbs ever since). But, personally, I can eat lots of bean soup with sour cream , or beans and greens with lots of olive oil without a blood sugar spike. If I add pasta or rice, however, I need to be careful. Bean soup + whole grain bread =

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by sunnmama

Beans have a lot of carbs, but also a lot of fiber. The fiber helps to offset the carbs and regulate blood sugar. I haven't been able to eat a bunch of beans and rice since my pregnancy with ds (when I developed gestational diabetes, and have felt sensitive to carbs ever since). But, personally, I can eat lots of bean soup with sour cream , or beans and greens with lots of olive oil without a blood sugar spike. If I add pasta or rice, however, I need to be careful. Bean soup + whole grain bread =

Has fiber really helped you? I haven't noticed much difference for me, but I switched out to whole grains a long time ago (since I was about 16-ish). The white versions just crashed my blood sugar way too much. Oh, white sourdough bread, how I miss thee!

I've actually found that beans can be really bad, even though they have a ton of fiber. Unless their traditionally made refried beans, aka made with lots of lard. Then I'm fine. Can you eat brown rice with beans and be okay?

Kinda o/t, but the lowfat craze of the 90s was a scary time for me. Steamed rice with steamed plain veggies---sooo not good! Or my mom's fave--plain pasta with fat-free pasta sauce.

Ami

[sunnmama]

The fiber does help me, and helped me when I had GD (I could see the impact when monitering my blood sugar).

I can eat beans and brown rice, but I add sour cream or grated parm cheese. Still, I don't eat a big bowl of it. I'm ok with that and a huge side of (fat laden) greens

Yeah, low fat is bad news for me!

[littleplum]

Originally Posted by velochic

Then they were explaining that hot dogs are made from livers and snouts and "other parts that people wouldn't normally eat" and she said, "I'm glad that I don't like hot dogs."

We eat liver. I might even eat snout. People eat pickled pigs feet. Menudo is made from beef stomach and often beef feet. I've eaten tripe in Vietnamese Pho.

I don't see the problem with using all parts of an animal for food or other purposes. :

[gentlemango]

Originally Posted by littleplum

We eat liver. I might even eat snout. People eat pickled pigs feet. Menudo is made from beef stomach and often beef feet. I've eaten tripe in Vietnamese Pho.

I don't see the problem with using all parts of an animal for food or other purposes. :

Isn't factory farmed liver full of toxic junk? I thought we were only supposed to eat organs of pasture raised animals?

[littleplum]

Originally Posted by gentlemango

Isn't factory farmed liver full of toxic junk?

I wouldn't know. My beef (including organs) comes from pasture raised cows.

[lilyka]

forgive me if I repeat but when you cook a pound of 97% ground beef, and sommething like 73% ground beef do you end up with considerably less cooked product? I no longer eat meat at all but whenI did I never bothered buying the cheaper ground beef because I always figured most of it would drain off and whichever tube you bought you would still be getting about the same amount of meat per dollar.

and really, so long as the meat tastes ok does it really matter what part of the cow it came from? I mean...ground meat is ground meat regardless of if it is ground tounge or ground butt or ground chest, so long as it makes a juicy burger grind it up! So that aspect of cheap ground beef doesn't bother me. but I am just curious if it really is a better deal than buying a higer per pound ground meat in the end when all the fat is drained away.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by lilyka

forgive me if I repeat but when you cook a pound of 97% ground beef, and sommething like 73% ground beef do you end up with considerably less cooked product? I no longer eat meat at all but whenI did I never bothered buying the cheaper ground beef because I always figured most of it would drain off and whichever tube you bought you would still be getting about the same amount of meat per dollar.

and really, so long as the meat tastes ok does it really matter what part of the cow it came from? I mean...ground meat is ground meat regardless of if it is ground tounge or ground butt or ground chest, so long as it makes a juicy burger grind it up! So that aspect of cheap ground beef doesn't bother me. but I am just curious if it really is a better deal than buying a higer per pound ground meat in the end when all the fat is drained away.

It depends. We save the beef fat for other purposes (like making fries ). I actually save a lot of animal fat and reuse it. For example, I like to roast chicken. I either load up the pan with veggies and potatoes to absorb the drippings or after its cooked, I pour the drippings into a clean jar and use it to cook eggs, etc. Animal fats don't have the same dangers as cooking veggie oils at high temps (in terms of creating trans-fats), very flavorful and well, free.

I also don't think the shrinkage is enough to make a difference. As long as the meat is at least 80% meat, it's all a wash. I once got a chub that was 73% meat. Got lots of fat from that. Little meat.

This method allows me to save enough money to invest it back into good olive oil, for example. I also don't view animal fats as bad. We evolved eating animal fat. No matter what I do, I can't create corn or canola oil in my kitchen. Now, olive, walnut, sunflower oils? Yep. But other than olive, I don't really care for the others.

Ami

Ami

[JamieCatheryn]

If you look into traditional foods you may find animal fats and organs might be healthy enough to change or get past the ick factor about them. But feedlot beef is far from ideal that's for sure. We generally don't eat red meat at all, maybe 1 steak a month for DH. But we bartered a friend (he's a hunter) last week for a few pounds of ground venison (traded some homemade mead we brewed last year for it). In my book that's free burgers and oh my gosh were they good.

[StanleyTheCat]

Run to the hills from cheap ground beef. I'd much rather do the rice and beans thing. Have you seen what they put in cheap ground beef? This is kind of separate from ground beef, but if you google mechanically separated meat, you'll see why places (like fast food) can offer meat for so cheap. It's cheap for a reason, and yes, they can buy in bulk, but that is only part of the reason it is cheap. Beware!

[Chicky2]

All this stuff is why we work very hard to raise our own meats.  We get all our pork for free, except for the gas$ to go get them and put them in our pen til we butcher (they are trapped to help the growing feral pig problem.  We grind our own meats, and I know exactly what is ground.  When we started butchering our own meats, we realized very quickly what could go wrong in a big butchering operation.  I know someone who will NOT eat here because she's afraid it might be meat that's NOT from the grocery store.  I wish everyone had the options we do.  I think more people would if they just knew where to look.  Take the feral pig problem....they are in SO many states now, and if someone would simply put together a program w/local hunters and trappers and the food pantries, everyone could have all they could eat, there are so many.  I've even tried to give away bones for stock here on MDC but not one response to my thread.

As far as I'm concerned, meat is meat is meat, no matter what kind (rabbit, duck, deer, goat, lamb, chicken, guinea, squirrel, raccoon) as long as it is clean.  As a matter of fact, we're eating skillet lasagne and the meat in my sauce from the freezer is raccoon that my son trapped himself. 

[betsu63]

Hi, thanks for posting. Of course this isn't "fancy" meat, but not everyone can afford the so so expensive meat that people buy. Yes it is true that it has cow parts in it. I grew up eating tongue, liver, kidneys etc. As far as those who say I "only eat free range, humane etc:. This is the way people raised their meat years ago. A friends grand father wouldn't eat the chicken or turkey because "who wants to eat meat that ate off a shit pile." which is what birds do that run around free as opposed to being in a cage and the feces dropping onto the floor. Just sayin'. I don't want animals to be mistreated, but I don't want people to starve either or to go without heat or medical care. I think because this is a frugal forum that people need to be thoughtful of this. I think we need to be supportive of what people can legitimally can afford. It is fine to have opinions, but not be dismissive of people who are trying to help others survive.

[kayleesmom]

interesting. maybe this will help a mdc mom.