What kind of ground beef do you buy?

We eat more chicken and veggie meals here. Depends on what we are having to eat. Usually we do 80-85 percent lean. My hubby likes the ocassional meat loaf. He will buy the meat for it. But I am not sure what the leaness is.

When I buy ground beef I decide what grade I want by what I'm going to use it for. I get the 85% lean for hamburger sandwiches and the more lean for every thing else. I have also started using more ground turkey for meat balls and meat loaf.

I always buy the lean ground beef. It is not regular - I think that is like 73%, and I don't buy the extra lean which I think is about 93%. I buy the one in the middle that is like 83%. The reason I don't buy the most fat ground beef is that it has too much fat, tastes greasy, and shrinks up too much. The extra lean is too dry and does not have enough fat - you have to have some fat for the flavor. With the medium grade or regular lean - 83% it has just the right amount of fat and leanness to it to taste great but not be too greasy.

Usually the 80-85%. Sometimes, if we are going to make meatloaf, I get the 95% because it cuts down on the greasiness. I can't stand that 70% stuff and, also, I must admit that I've noticed the ground chuck not having a fat percent listed. I often steer my family towards chicken because I think it's better. Very rarely, we eat pork. Steak is too expensive. Hamburger is occasionally nice. But, if I'm going to get hamburger, then I try to keep it reasonably lean. I even buy those morningstar products to provide "it could be meat" meals without actually cooking up as much fat. Therefore, I must admit the leanness of the meat is a concern for me.

We don't eat a whole lot of red meat but when we do I buy Coleman organic 85/15 ground beef. It has no antibotics or hormones. It cost a few cents more but I think it is worth it. We also eat a lot of MorningStar products...my husband likes the hot dogs (no nitrates) and LOVES the veggie burgers(never in a million years did I think he would ever eat them. I fixed them one night and didn't tell him what they were until he was done...Ha).

I usually get normal lean ,buy a few when it's on special ,stick it in the freezer. I think you pay more depending on how lean the mince is.

I have found that if you take out a main ingredient of a product, you loose main attributes. IN this case, take out the grease and you loose a hefty flavor. Bad as it is for you, that grease is what makes so much flavor to a dish. I tried 90% lean beef and used it to make chili and it was the dryest chili ever. And as tastless. I used the same for hamburgers, and the burger was so dry I couldn't hardly make myself swallow it. Granted you could get used to it, but if I want to slurge and eat something like chili and a good burger, I'll take the grease and skimp on something later or limit my burgers. That grease that they take out for health reasons, is a main ingredient creates the biggest part of the flavor to the beef. Take it out and you are left with the dry portions of the meat's makeup.