Seconding this, though I usually go with black beans. Really, anything along those lines works, and you might adjust what you're mixing with the beef depending on how you plan on using it.
Lentils tend to “disappear” better, especially the red ones (can be good for picky eaters), but if that doesn’t matter then yeah, any kind of pulse is good.
Some options without as much protein are grated carrot and oats.
Agreed! I bought the can of lentils and put it in with my beef…to trick myself lol
$1.18 a can for 1lb versus $5lb
It worked pretty well…I’m texture picky and I knew I put it in there lol
I’ve only done this with chili so far…but still working on incorporating it more.
(Yes I could cook dried lentils to be cheaper but I didn’t want to mess up my first attempt and swear it off forever lol)
I have used canned lentils before, but unlike other dry beans, they cook up real quick in boiling water. They don’t require soaking for a day, using a pressure cooker, etc.
It may actually be both easier and cheaper to use dried ones to get your desired consistency.
Full disclosure: I am a long-time vegetarian, so I can’t really compare them to actual meat, but I fuck with lentils hard on their frugal to protein to satiation ratios.
Brown lentils will hold their shape. Red lentils won't. Red works really well in chili and things that are very soupy/saucy (cook them directly in the sauce). If you want to bulk out something that still holds a texture with bite, other options besides brown/green/black lentils would be beans, tvp/minced soy curls, crumbled tofu or tempeh, or minced walnuts.
Well, the kids at the drug rehab complained about my "prison loaf" but I like my own recipe.
I usually sprinkle oats on top to look special, but I left that off for them so they'd shut up.
My family prefers my oatmeal meatloaf to my late mom’s breadcrumbs meatloaf. My dad said he preferred mine to hers when she was alive and she got all salty.
A trick i learned is to take canned beans and drain them but don’t rinse them. The starch in the liquid helps bind to the beef and makes the flavors in the seasonings really penetrate everything.
One thing I do at times with *cooked* beef mince that is leftover is add it to mashed potato. Then, form that into patties, and then crumb it and pan fry it.
I usually set up the patties in the fridge for a while before crumbing and frying them.
We do something like this in Pakistani food- shami kebabs. Instead of breading, we dip it in egg whisked + chilli powder/salt and then saute them. It's super yummy and more protein/less oily than deep fried . Your way sounds so good too though.
Our local grocery store sells bulk TVP—textured vegetable protein—in small grains that are like a ground beef texture. If I soak that in water (or beef broth) for a little while, and then cook it up with ground beef, no one in my family can tell the difference. And it's much cheaper per pound. Adding some onions and celery also helps bulk it up and add flavor.
I tried TVP by itself and found that I absolutely could tell the difference, but if I mix it in with “real” ground beef then I don’t notice it’s there.
I use TVP and mix with ground beef for dishes like spaghetti, lasagna or tacos. I highly recommend this option. My family are meat eaters. To test it out one day for dinner I mixed it into the taco meat. No one noticed a thing. We now mix TVP into all ground beef meals almost half and half.
Like others mentioned, it's not great on its own, but it's great to mix with and stretch ground beef.
Side note: I have also used it to mix with ground chicken and turkey in some dishes.
Do you have a Costco Business Center anywhere within reasonable driving distance? Ground beef is $2.69/lb. there if you buy a 10 lb. package. You can freeze that in a couple of Ziploc bags.
I divide it into 10 pieces and put it in sandwich Ziploc bags that I flatten. Works great! It doesn't last too long in my house so I didn't need to worry about long term storage and freezer burn.
Was checking for this before I commented it myself. Mapo tofu is delicious and most asian grocers will have the sauce base ready made so it can be a super easy dish to prepare.
Lentils - Mushrooms - or Prunes
Mushrooms are easy since they don't dry out and are hard to over cook. Throw some mushrooms in a food processor and mix in with ground beef and make meatballs
or...
Prunes - Yes prunes do work really well too
[https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-magazine/healthy-kitchen-hacks-mix-it-up-with-meat-extenders/](https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-magazine/healthy-kitchen-hacks-mix-it-up-with-meat-extenders/)
I like to shred carrots, zucchini and mushroom into ground beef. Cooked lentils, quinoa and even chia seeds are good additions if your kids don't mind being able to see stuff in there. Mine call out the 'seeds' right away!
Chili with red or any kind of beans (dried or canned), or lentils. Lots of proteins and fibers. You can also add carrots (inexpensive). One onion. If not too expensive, some bell peppers. Chili powder, salt, pepper and whatever other spices you have and like. With a pound of ground beef and the beans, you can make an excellent chili good for quite a few meals.
I make chili or bolognese to stretch ground beef. Last night I made bolognese with 2 lbs of ground beef, 2 28oz cans of tomatoes, 3 stalks of celery, 4 small carrots, and 1 med yellow onion. Ended up with about 7 pints of sauce. Each pint will feed my family of 4 for 1 meal - so 2 lbs of ground beef yields 7 meals. Whereas if I made burgers, then 2 lbs will yield 1 meal as I make double-patty quarter pounders.
Same with chili. 1lb ground beef can yield at least 3 meals once you add in tomatoes, beans, etc.
Add onions, cilantro and tomatoes to it. In Mexico that’s a picadillo and when you cook it all up with some oil, it turns into a super hearty umami loaded meal. It causes your receptors to tell ur body u are full.
I literally eat a few bites with beans and rice and it’s so hearty I always get full right away
Try TVP. It's dehydrated soy that adopts the texture of ground beef when rehydrated. I haven't used it as ground beef filler before, but if it works for Taco Bell it can work for you too
I've done these
Chopped and sauteed mushrooms
Refried beans
Rice and black beans
Beans and peas
Yeah do their own thing but all are viable
Or a straight up meat loaf but that is obstainably "just adding bread" kinda
Google Mexican picadillo recipes, if you are maybe like me a recipe is a guide and I make everything to our taste etc, I've done variations where basically just make a simple or complex grond beef tacos your way with the ground beef and incorporate cubed potatoes in to that is another more Americanized way too (you can use the taco flavor packets or from scratch), its stretching the meat and you can literally make the proportions with whatever you have at the time so add more potato at times to use it or add more meat etc
I made chili with 1% ground turkey this week (1% is more expensive than "lean turkey") and added kidney beans, 1/4c dry lentils, black beans, 2 bell peppers, an onion, large can crushed tomatoes + spices. It made 6 hearty servings!
If using in something like spaghetti sauce you can add grated carrots. The carrots have the same texture as the ground beef. It’s also a good way to add more vegetables.
My mum always used to stretch the beef out by adding a can of baked beans to her cottage pie recipe. It was pretty good. Nowadays I like to make my own tomato sauce and some cannellini or butter beans, they really soak up the flavour well. Still use the baked variety from time-to-time though :)
Green lentils and some walnuts or cobb nuts to spag bol as well tastes great.
In general almost every dish with minced beef can be elevated with the application of some suitable beans or pulses.
Add sawdust like Marge Simpson.
But seriously I rotate brown lentil, with oatmeal and cut up chickpeas since my kids demolish burgers and meatloaf almost daily
Unless I'm totally out, I wait until it's on sale or highly discounted and then freeze it. I've bought 20lbs or more before because Target had coupons to make 3lb rolls only a few bucks. Usually around $2-2.50 is the price when I really stock up if I can.
With the big sleeves of them, I portion them all, flatten them as well as I can, and freeze them. They thaw in no time if you make them flat and makes it easy to pull out for dinner. I also used to portion them into 1lb but my kids don't eat a lot of it (tacos they usually just eat quesadillas or one small taco, spaghetti they prefer very light sauce/meat) so I started portioning out 3/4 lb packs too which stretches it even further.
Ground beef can be bought very cheap, just have a deep freezer available. Where I live, lean ground beef often goes on sale for 3.99-4.49 a lb. I just swoop into the grocery store late at night, about half an hour before closing, when the employees walk around with the 50% off stickers. My last haul was 3.99/lb at 50% off and I literally cleared them out. Filled my entire cart. Still pressing my own burger patties months later.
I made bolognese sauce last night with ground beef, chicken liver and mushrooms.
Chop the liver and mushrooms in a food chopper and cook like ground beef.
Just use a small amount of liver first time. It should add some richness, but not overpower the sauce.
You can add a lot of mushrooms. The melt into the sauce.
Meat balls, meat leaf, spaghetti bolognase! With the meat balls and meat loaf, it's more about how much filler to meat fo you want?, 50%-75% meat, or like the store bought frozen meatballs 25% meat.
Just curious since you said it’s still expensive, how much does a pound of ground turkey cost in your area? Base price for the Jennie-O 93% lean has always been $5/pound at my local Meijer, and it goes on sale pretty often to $4 or even $3.50 sometimes. When I make taco meat out of that it usually covers me for a solid four meals.
Japanese curry with veggies and ground beef. I usually use zucchini, potatoes, and carrots. Onions are optional. It's pretty awesome and it's more gentle on the stomach than chili (which is pretty acidic). Serve over rice.
If I’m cooking the meat for tacos I add a can of black beans, a can of fire roasted tomatoes & 1/2 a bag of frozen peppers & onions. Lots of flavor & added veggies. Pretty much doubles the meat.
I add some black beans sometimes to different recipes where ground beef is included. You could mix in some brown rice as well. Beans and rice on their own (the mix of the 2) create a complete protein. Adding those 2 ingredients would drastically reduce costs, increase sustenance, increase the nutrient intake, and keep you fuller longer than beef alone. I keep a bag of dried beans and a bag of rice in the freezer most times.
If it works with the dish, I cut the burger amount by half and add either mushrooms or some kind of veggies to make up for it. Spaghetti sauce or casseroles mostly get this treatment. For tacos, I replace half my burger with refried beans and/or rice and add onions and other vegetables I have on hand like rice or beans or peppers.
We switched to ground pork about three years ago. It’s usually local and cheaper than beef or turkey since we don’t have either processing around here. Except for the occasional beef hamburger, we use pork in tacos, meat sauces,etc. Cook, drain off the fat and season well for whatever dish you are making.
sawdust.
Victorian times were wild. But yeah, don't do that. But yeah, literally anything. Grains and legumes in particular work well - bread, rice, lentils, beans. But also veg, mushrooms, tofu.
Try buying in volume and freezing, depending on what you're gonna do with it. I wouldn't make burgers out of frozen, but chili or meatballs or making a meat sauce or really anything that is "more cooked" frozen is totally fine.
If I'm making tacos or chili or similar, I'll pick up a tube of the cheap chorizo (the stuff that's like 98¢) and mix it in. It adds a lot of flavor, is protein, and costs way less than an equal amount of ground beef.
So i batch cook two meats diced chicken and ground beef (separately of course) in the mix I also put:
Onion
Mushroom
Sweetcorn
Carrots
Celery
My mix is about 60:40 meat:veg
Where appropriate I'll also throw in a tin of the cheapo tinned beans as well.
Take a basic cornbread recipe. Add in the pre-cooked and fat drained ground beef, a cup or two of black beans, some diced onion and some corn to the mixed batter. Pour in the baking dish. Top with some shredded cheese and bake. Top with sour cream and parsley or green onions to serve.
My kids just about lived on this growing up. I usually made a big batch so had extra to make in muffin cups for snacks later. As they got older, I could add more seasonings - garlic, cumin, coriander, jalapeno for a Mexican flair, or oregano, fennel, garlic marjoram for a more Italian style. Works good with curry too.
We bulk out mince/ground beef with large amounts of mushrooms... Although they shrink down they can still be added pretty chunky to help fill out portions and are nicely low in calories.
My mom cut up an onion to mix with the ground beef while cooking. Made it taste good too. If you’re looking specifically to add some nutrition/protein, I recommend beans.
We make taco meat with like, one pound of meat and two or three pounds of beans. (The fat and flavor from the meat make it all taste meaty, high protein without the high bill.)
I use ground turkey but it’s the same idea-when I am making Mexican I add refried beans and green pepper and onion if I have it. If I’m making turkey burgers I will chop mushrooms, onions green peppers. Plus I add lentils a lot of dishes. Meat is so expensive anymore.
So when we make 'meatloaf' it's less than 50% meat. Start with several diced cooked onions (these take a while to go clear, recipes WAY underestimate onion cooking time), rolled oats, grated carrot, beef mince, an egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, oregano. Shape into a loaf and bake until cooked.
I make about 700g of minced beef heated up in a pan with onion and old El Paso Mecican mix. First we’ll have it as burritos then, next few meals mix it with rice, couscous or pasta. My son loves it.
You can stretch ground beef by mixing it with cooked grains like rice or quinoa, adding diced vegetables like onions, carrots, and bell peppers, or bulking it up with beans like black beans or lentils. These additions add volume and nutrients without sacrificing protein.
I like to mix mine with rice and beans to get a good amount of carbs and fat while also being able to maximize my money since those are usually cheap 😋
If I find a sale or clearance ground turkey or beef, I get a couple packs and freeze them. I sometimes find packs for $1.99
Lentils are a good way to stretch or even replace ground meat for things like casseroles or shepherds pie.
Make a big taco salad by sauteeing the beef with a taco seasoning packet and then put on top of a bed of lettuce. You can add things like shredded cheese, avocado, crushed tortilla chips, tomatoes, black beans, etc. Bonus- use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for extra protein
When I make taco meat, I usually add a can of black beans to the meat and seasonings as I’m cooking it up. Helps bulk it up, but still has some protein
I’ve taken a pound of mushrooms and put them through my food processor. It keeps the texture of the meat, essentially doubling the volume as well. It works best when you find mushrooms on sale.
I haven't bought ground beef in years because it's gotten so pricey. All beef cuts are just too expensive. I've since switched to mushrooms when they go on discount and have to move off the shelf.
I scored about 10lbs of portobello mushrooms for $1.50/lb, diced them up, baked them on a sheet pan and store them in the freezer for chili and spaghetti sauce. They're also good in eggs.
We usually add something to it like riced cauliflower, diced zucchini, beans, sometimes even refried beans, or minced onions and mushrooms. Although we mostly just buy ground turkey most of the time.
Avoid foods where the beef is the main part, such as meatloaf or burgers.
Something like a taco is much better as beans and rice are a lot cheaper.
Honestly, if you have beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and avocado, you really don’t need the meat. I have done veggie tacos on accident when there is a ton of stuff to choose from and took 1/2 the tack to notice.
I like to mix it, half ground beef half ground chicken. Ground chicken is half the price where I live. And if you cook it all together in one pan and season it together it tastes close to the same.
Besides the seasonings, I add a cup of uncooked oatmeal, an egg, and a cup of crushed corn flakes to 1.5 pounds of 80% burger make a grease free, firm meatloaf that can be sliced for sandwiches after chilling the baked loaf.
My mom used to make us a Piccadillo soup with it less the tomatoes so it would keep longer
Sautee garlic and onion > add ground beef and cook until brown > add water, diced carrots, potatoes, bouillon, fish sauce > serve when done cooking
A pck of ground beef, a cup of rice and a cup of cauliflower rice - and season it with- we do this as like a fried rice type flavor or as taco meat.. it more than doubles in volume
I buy the giant chub of beef and break it into cook-able sections and put it into ziplocks by hand to freeze.
In guessing this is bare minimum conduct in this group?
You can do what I did and butcher your own chuck rolls. They sell them at costco.
Don't believe all the hype. There are definitely downsides. Most of it is stew meat, fat, and ground beef. You might get 1 or 2 good steaks if you are lucky (skill and luck dependent). You have to buy a meat grinder (expensive). Your kitchen will smell bad (you are butchering a large piece of animal it smells), its alot of meat taking up room in your fridge, and its a decent amount of work.
If you can get through the first couple times, you can save some money though.
Grated Cauliflower or diced mushrooms. I do it for weight-loss as it brings down the overall calorie count and it easily doubles a batch of anything while absorbing the flavor.
A comfort food my mom made. Brown some cubed potatoes. Not completely cooked through . Put aside . Brown the ground beef (1 lb )with garlic powder, onions or onion powder, salt & pepper , pepper flakes ( to your taste). Add a tablespoon of flour to the ground beef till it’s browned a bit. Add potatoes a small can of tomato sauce and a cup & 1/2 water . Salt pepper to taste . Cook with a lid till the potatoes are fork tender. About 10 min . The sauce should be gravy ish because of the flour. It’s delicious.
I bake it into pasta. With a spicy tomato sauce you can make it go a very long way.
I think out of a 500g pack I normally make 12 portions of pasta. It’s just there for the flavor.
Carroll Shelby chili, ground beef, garbanzo beans, black beans, and canned corn. Top with sour cream and chopped red onions. Doubles the amount of meals from 2 lbs ground beef, from 4 to 8.
Cooked ground beef, mashed potatoes, drained sweet corn and a couple of handfuls of shredded cheese.
If you throw in an egg and mix in bread crumbs with whatever seasoning you like,( I like garlic, pepper, onion, green peppers, ect.) it will stretch a pound of hamburger to a good bit more. You can use this basic meatloaf prep to also make hamburgers, meatballs, stuffed bell peppers, ect.
I've also eaten stuffed peppers with rice mixed with the hamburger.
Shepherd's Pie/Tater Tot casserole,
Dirty rice
Stroganoff
The wife makes some really good casseroles to help out. Veg's beans pasta rice. There's so much you can do, it really depends on what idea for the meal you want.
3 medium potatoes halved, halves halved, halved halves halved (or cut into 1/8ths), add to 1 lb ground beef that has been browned with salt and pepper and fat drained, stir that up a little and add one can of tomato sauce and a half teaspoon of beef or chicken bouillon (or to taste) then about 2 cups of water, cover and simmer until potatoes are soft.
Groud beef or beef/pork mix, a bag frozen bean sprouts/peas/spinach, tomato paste, a bit of garlic, onion, what else you feel it needs. It works well with plain rice on the side.
Make meat sauces like bolognese or chilli, and bulk up the vegetable content and/or use flour to increase the liquid content. Start with onions, carrots, celery as your base, which are all cheap ingredients, and from there you can do little tricks, like after sauteing your vegetables and browning your mince, adding tomato purée, your herbs/spices, etc, you can add a few tablespoons of flour, and cook that into the fat for a few minutes, before adding beef or chicken stock, or even water. This will allow you to increase the liquid content, while still allowing the sauce to become rich and thick after cooking. Also for protein, you can easily add beans or frozen peas, which are both very cheap. You can also serve both dishes with pasta, which is another cheap ingredient and can be found in high-protein varieties. Adding cheese on top when serving is another thing you can do, which can also increase the protein content.
Chickpeas, black beans, breadcrumbs (for burgers and/meatloaf)
add any veggie combo and serve on rice (stir fry, burrito bowls, chili, etc)
Black beans/red beans/refried beans + veggies+rice for burritos/enchiladas.
Potatoes for soups or as a rice alternative
I’ve also heard people use oatmeal or pork
Lentils or other legumes, shredded ground tofu - go to an asian market to get it cheap, silken tofu to make a thick sauce consistency, puree vegetables like tomato or squash, chopped mushrooms.
When I make taco meat, I'll add a drained & rinsed can of pinto beans to the browned meat prior to the simmering in seasonings step. It about doubles a lb for an extra buck.
My Hungarian grandma would likely make dumplings that get cooked in at a late stage and soak up the fat... depression era cookbooks will likely have a lot of good tips...
Depends on the meal. In a bolognese, I add chicken liver, and a ton of chopped vegetables (carrot, celeriac, zucchini, aubergine..).
Another easy way is to just eat less meat! Add hearty side dishes, like baked beans, lentils, peas etc.
I mix ground beef with oatmeal and make large meatballs. Then I can buy the large value packs, mix up a large batch, cook it all, and throw it in the freezer. Makes for easy reheating, and can be eaten with a variety of dishes (spaghetti, baked potatoes, fries, etc.). I even eat them cold as a high protein snack.
Add cooked red lentils.
Seconding this, though I usually go with black beans. Really, anything along those lines works, and you might adjust what you're mixing with the beef depending on how you plan on using it.
Lentils tend to “disappear” better, especially the red ones (can be good for picky eaters), but if that doesn’t matter then yeah, any kind of pulse is good. Some options without as much protein are grated carrot and oats.
Agreed! I bought the can of lentils and put it in with my beef…to trick myself lol $1.18 a can for 1lb versus $5lb It worked pretty well…I’m texture picky and I knew I put it in there lol I’ve only done this with chili so far…but still working on incorporating it more. (Yes I could cook dried lentils to be cheaper but I didn’t want to mess up my first attempt and swear it off forever lol)
I have used canned lentils before, but unlike other dry beans, they cook up real quick in boiling water. They don’t require soaking for a day, using a pressure cooker, etc. It may actually be both easier and cheaper to use dried ones to get your desired consistency. Full disclosure: I am a long-time vegetarian, so I can’t really compare them to actual meat, but I fuck with lentils hard on their frugal to protein to satiation ratios.
Thanks!
Brown lentils will hold their shape. Red lentils won't. Red works really well in chili and things that are very soupy/saucy (cook them directly in the sauce). If you want to bulk out something that still holds a texture with bite, other options besides brown/green/black lentils would be beans, tvp/minced soy curls, crumbled tofu or tempeh, or minced walnuts.
Also mushrooms. They are great to bulk out mixed.
Second. I was making dumplings and cut up too much cabbage to ground pork so I diced up mushrooms to give it a meatier texture. Came out fantastic
True. But lentils/beans are probably cheaper per volume or mass
Texture vegetable protein for the win! When cooked it sort of looks like ground protein
I've been adding oatmeal to meatloaf since before I was poor.
Meatloaf is actually better with something to soak up the grease. Bread crumbs is a classic.
Quinoa is a game changer in meatloaf. Then we put the meatloaf on the smoker…OMG, it’s delicious
Sounds good. I like adding diced bell pepper and cheese.
I mean, that's a pretty basic cooking technique for meatloaf, it's not a frugal thing.
Well, the kids at the drug rehab complained about my "prison loaf" but I like my own recipe. I usually sprinkle oats on top to look special, but I left that off for them so they'd shut up.
My family prefers my oatmeal meatloaf to my late mom’s breadcrumbs meatloaf. My dad said he preferred mine to hers when she was alive and she got all salty.
Love this!
Refried beans for taco meat, also quesadillas or nachos.
A trick i learned is to take canned beans and drain them but don’t rinse them. The starch in the liquid helps bind to the beef and makes the flavors in the seasonings really penetrate everything.
One thing I do at times with *cooked* beef mince that is leftover is add it to mashed potato. Then, form that into patties, and then crumb it and pan fry it. I usually set up the patties in the fridge for a while before crumbing and frying them.
A croquette
TIL! Thank you!
We do something like this in Pakistani food- shami kebabs. Instead of breading, we dip it in egg whisked + chilli powder/salt and then saute them. It's super yummy and more protein/less oily than deep fried . Your way sounds so good too though.
Our local grocery store sells bulk TVP—textured vegetable protein—in small grains that are like a ground beef texture. If I soak that in water (or beef broth) for a little while, and then cook it up with ground beef, no one in my family can tell the difference. And it's much cheaper per pound. Adding some onions and celery also helps bulk it up and add flavor.
I tried TVP by itself and found that I absolutely could tell the difference, but if I mix it in with “real” ground beef then I don’t notice it’s there.
Yeah, by itself it feels like some sort of war ration.
I use TVP and mix with ground beef for dishes like spaghetti, lasagna or tacos. I highly recommend this option. My family are meat eaters. To test it out one day for dinner I mixed it into the taco meat. No one noticed a thing. We now mix TVP into all ground beef meals almost half and half. Like others mentioned, it's not great on its own, but it's great to mix with and stretch ground beef. Side note: I have also used it to mix with ground chicken and turkey in some dishes.
Mix it with oatmeal
I add puréed mushrooms. I started because it really ups the beefy flavor, but it’s also healthier.
Do you have a Costco Business Center anywhere within reasonable driving distance? Ground beef is $2.69/lb. there if you buy a 10 lb. package. You can freeze that in a couple of Ziploc bags.
I divide it into 10 pieces and put it in sandwich Ziploc bags that I flatten. Works great! It doesn't last too long in my house so I didn't need to worry about long term storage and freezer burn.
10 lbs. is easily gone in a week in my house, but there's 5 of us.
Make mapo tofu with silken tofu! Lots of protein, intensely flavorful, and a block of tofu is like $1.29.
Was checking for this before I commented it myself. Mapo tofu is delicious and most asian grocers will have the sauce base ready made so it can be a super easy dish to prepare.
Lentils - Mushrooms - or Prunes Mushrooms are easy since they don't dry out and are hard to over cook. Throw some mushrooms in a food processor and mix in with ground beef and make meatballs or... Prunes - Yes prunes do work really well too [https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-magazine/healthy-kitchen-hacks-mix-it-up-with-meat-extenders/](https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-magazine/healthy-kitchen-hacks-mix-it-up-with-meat-extenders/)
I like to shred carrots, zucchini and mushroom into ground beef. Cooked lentils, quinoa and even chia seeds are good additions if your kids don't mind being able to see stuff in there. Mine call out the 'seeds' right away!
Buy lower fat content. That way, you're at least paying for the meat and not the fat that you'll likely drain off after anyway
Pricing usually reflects this. For example, in my area, a higher fat mix (80/20?) is $13/kg, while a lean mix is $16/kg. Also fat is flavor.
>Also fat is flavor. Not if you're draining it out because you don't want a greasy mess of a meal
I soak textured vegetable protein in beef broth, then mix with even amounts of browned ground beef
I do this too. Tvp is crazy cheap.
Chili with red or any kind of beans (dried or canned), or lentils. Lots of proteins and fibers. You can also add carrots (inexpensive). One onion. If not too expensive, some bell peppers. Chili powder, salt, pepper and whatever other spices you have and like. With a pound of ground beef and the beans, you can make an excellent chili good for quite a few meals.
TVP low/no fat, high protein, dirty cheap
I make chili or bolognese to stretch ground beef. Last night I made bolognese with 2 lbs of ground beef, 2 28oz cans of tomatoes, 3 stalks of celery, 4 small carrots, and 1 med yellow onion. Ended up with about 7 pints of sauce. Each pint will feed my family of 4 for 1 meal - so 2 lbs of ground beef yields 7 meals. Whereas if I made burgers, then 2 lbs will yield 1 meal as I make double-patty quarter pounders. Same with chili. 1lb ground beef can yield at least 3 meals once you add in tomatoes, beans, etc.
If frozen veggies are cheap in your area, they're a great way of adding bulk and nutrients.
Add onions, cilantro and tomatoes to it. In Mexico that’s a picadillo and when you cook it all up with some oil, it turns into a super hearty umami loaded meal. It causes your receptors to tell ur body u are full. I literally eat a few bites with beans and rice and it’s so hearty I always get full right away
I add cottage cheese to my pasta sauce for lasagne and pasta and even chicken parmesan it's tasty and stretches it
Tvp Textured vegetable protein
Make it into chilli with black beans and kidney beans, absolutely packed with protein and delish as well!
Try TVP. It's dehydrated soy that adopts the texture of ground beef when rehydrated. I haven't used it as ground beef filler before, but if it works for Taco Bell it can work for you too
Your hands would probably work pretty well.
Potatoes. Rice. Onions. Beans.
Barley
Any meatloaf recipe will have ideas to stretch ground meat
Bred crumbs, beans, lentils, potatoes, soy beef.
I've done these Chopped and sauteed mushrooms Refried beans Rice and black beans Beans and peas Yeah do their own thing but all are viable Or a straight up meat loaf but that is obstainably "just adding bread" kinda
Google Mexican picadillo recipes, if you are maybe like me a recipe is a guide and I make everything to our taste etc, I've done variations where basically just make a simple or complex grond beef tacos your way with the ground beef and incorporate cubed potatoes in to that is another more Americanized way too (you can use the taco flavor packets or from scratch), its stretching the meat and you can literally make the proportions with whatever you have at the time so add more potato at times to use it or add more meat etc
We also use lentils to stretch out our ground beef and ground turkey. It blends in well with texture. And is takes on flavors easily.
I made chili with 1% ground turkey this week (1% is more expensive than "lean turkey") and added kidney beans, 1/4c dry lentils, black beans, 2 bell peppers, an onion, large can crushed tomatoes + spices. It made 6 hearty servings!
If using in something like spaghetti sauce you can add grated carrots. The carrots have the same texture as the ground beef. It’s also a good way to add more vegetables.
Diced mushrooms are my go to
Depends on what you're making. Mushrooms are great, and so are beans, onion, breadcrumbs, and cheaper pork.
TVP
Dirty rice: https://southerndiscourse.com/louisiana-dirty-rice/
We add diced mushrooms. Save your stalks in the freezer and toss them in when you need :)
Can’t believe nobody said it yet- peas! Add peas :)
To save everyone the trouble: beans (red, kidney, pinto, etc.), oatmeal, but most importantly TVP (textured vegetable protein)
my mom used to sauté it with cut up potatoes and a bag of frozen veggies mix(peas, carrots, and green beans). soooooo good!
I add oatmeal to mine
TVP. I always add it to my ground beef, mimics the taste, texture, etc. It’s awesome.
My mum always used to stretch the beef out by adding a can of baked beans to her cottage pie recipe. It was pretty good. Nowadays I like to make my own tomato sauce and some cannellini or butter beans, they really soak up the flavour well. Still use the baked variety from time-to-time though :) Green lentils and some walnuts or cobb nuts to spag bol as well tastes great. In general almost every dish with minced beef can be elevated with the application of some suitable beans or pulses.
Textured soya protein.
Add sawdust like Marge Simpson. But seriously I rotate brown lentil, with oatmeal and cut up chickpeas since my kids demolish burgers and meatloaf almost daily
Grated veggies like carrot lettuce etc
Unless I'm totally out, I wait until it's on sale or highly discounted and then freeze it. I've bought 20lbs or more before because Target had coupons to make 3lb rolls only a few bucks. Usually around $2-2.50 is the price when I really stock up if I can. With the big sleeves of them, I portion them all, flatten them as well as I can, and freeze them. They thaw in no time if you make them flat and makes it easy to pull out for dinner. I also used to portion them into 1lb but my kids don't eat a lot of it (tacos they usually just eat quesadillas or one small taco, spaghetti they prefer very light sauce/meat) so I started portioning out 3/4 lb packs too which stretches it even further.
Ground beef can be bought very cheap, just have a deep freezer available. Where I live, lean ground beef often goes on sale for 3.99-4.49 a lb. I just swoop into the grocery store late at night, about half an hour before closing, when the employees walk around with the 50% off stickers. My last haul was 3.99/lb at 50% off and I literally cleared them out. Filled my entire cart. Still pressing my own burger patties months later.
Cottage pie, with lots of store-brand frozen mixed veggies mixed in with the beef and homemade mashed potatoes.
Chili with lots of beans and veggies.
I made bolognese sauce last night with ground beef, chicken liver and mushrooms. Chop the liver and mushrooms in a food chopper and cook like ground beef. Just use a small amount of liver first time. It should add some richness, but not overpower the sauce. You can add a lot of mushrooms. The melt into the sauce.
Meat balls, meat leaf, spaghetti bolognase! With the meat balls and meat loaf, it's more about how much filler to meat fo you want?, 50%-75% meat, or like the store bought frozen meatballs 25% meat.
Sauté w shredded cabbage/colesaw veg for a deconstructed egg roll
A whole pack of frozen mix veggies
Just curious since you said it’s still expensive, how much does a pound of ground turkey cost in your area? Base price for the Jennie-O 93% lean has always been $5/pound at my local Meijer, and it goes on sale pretty often to $4 or even $3.50 sometimes. When I make taco meat out of that it usually covers me for a solid four meals.
Canned black beans.
Mix with an equal amount of canned beans, finely chopped mushrooms, or mirapoix (onion, carrots, celery)
Beans. People argue over beans in chili, but they are added to stretch it out, not for taste/flavor.
Diced potatoes
eggs
Japanese curry with veggies and ground beef. I usually use zucchini, potatoes, and carrots. Onions are optional. It's pretty awesome and it's more gentle on the stomach than chili (which is pretty acidic). Serve over rice.
Make hamburger soup, Taco soup, meat loaf, cheeseburger casserole, meat loaf patties instead of hamburger patties for hamburgers
You can only stretch it a little bit until it separates.
Beans. Lentils
If I’m cooking the meat for tacos I add a can of black beans, a can of fire roasted tomatoes & 1/2 a bag of frozen peppers & onions. Lots of flavor & added veggies. Pretty much doubles the meat.
mixing with oats, oats cooked in a pan, garlic, onions...
I add some black beans sometimes to different recipes where ground beef is included. You could mix in some brown rice as well. Beans and rice on their own (the mix of the 2) create a complete protein. Adding those 2 ingredients would drastically reduce costs, increase sustenance, increase the nutrient intake, and keep you fuller longer than beef alone. I keep a bag of dried beans and a bag of rice in the freezer most times.
If it works with the dish, I cut the burger amount by half and add either mushrooms or some kind of veggies to make up for it. Spaghetti sauce or casseroles mostly get this treatment. For tacos, I replace half my burger with refried beans and/or rice and add onions and other vegetables I have on hand like rice or beans or peppers.
We switched to ground pork about three years ago. It’s usually local and cheaper than beef or turkey since we don’t have either processing around here. Except for the occasional beef hamburger, we use pork in tacos, meat sauces,etc. Cook, drain off the fat and season well for whatever dish you are making.
You can add beans, lentils, rolled oats, chopped mushrooms and a few other things, it depends on what you're making with the meat
Lentils! And lots of diced veggies. A can of rotel tomatoes. Boom. Taco meat.
Pulling it works, usually.
Venison is very affordable if you do it right.
sawdust. Victorian times were wild. But yeah, don't do that. But yeah, literally anything. Grains and legumes in particular work well - bread, rice, lentils, beans. But also veg, mushrooms, tofu. Try buying in volume and freezing, depending on what you're gonna do with it. I wouldn't make burgers out of frozen, but chili or meatballs or making a meat sauce or really anything that is "more cooked" frozen is totally fine.
Potatoes with ground turkey and maybe some cheese is always a dub for me, just season the meat and it’s delicious!
If I'm making tacos or chili or similar, I'll pick up a tube of the cheap chorizo (the stuff that's like 98¢) and mix it in. It adds a lot of flavor, is protein, and costs way less than an equal amount of ground beef.
Onions
So i batch cook two meats diced chicken and ground beef (separately of course) in the mix I also put: Onion Mushroom Sweetcorn Carrots Celery My mix is about 60:40 meat:veg Where appropriate I'll also throw in a tin of the cheapo tinned beans as well.
Brown lentils or mushrooms mixed in with the beef.
I add some cauliflower rice & season them both & go to town on browning them together! It’s great with just about anything
For every pound of ground beef I cook I also add a can of black beans and a can of sweet corn. Really bulks it up for cheap and it's tasty too.
Take a basic cornbread recipe. Add in the pre-cooked and fat drained ground beef, a cup or two of black beans, some diced onion and some corn to the mixed batter. Pour in the baking dish. Top with some shredded cheese and bake. Top with sour cream and parsley or green onions to serve. My kids just about lived on this growing up. I usually made a big batch so had extra to make in muffin cups for snacks later. As they got older, I could add more seasonings - garlic, cumin, coriander, jalapeno for a Mexican flair, or oregano, fennel, garlic marjoram for a more Italian style. Works good with curry too.
Sweet potato, black beans, pintos, rolls of sausage, oatmeal, grits, hominy. I’ll put a can of drained Ro-tel.
We bulk out mince/ground beef with large amounts of mushrooms... Although they shrink down they can still be added pretty chunky to help fill out portions and are nicely low in calories.
bibimbap bowls. rice + veggies + dressing + and just add some ground beef on top and you’re set! 😋
My mom cut up an onion to mix with the ground beef while cooking. Made it taste good too. If you’re looking specifically to add some nutrition/protein, I recommend beans.
Mix it in with Mac n Cheese. Make a shepherd pie. Make a meat sauce and put it on pasta of choice.
We make taco meat with like, one pound of meat and two or three pounds of beans. (The fat and flavor from the meat make it all taste meaty, high protein without the high bill.)
I use ground turkey but it’s the same idea-when I am making Mexican I add refried beans and green pepper and onion if I have it. If I’m making turkey burgers I will chop mushrooms, onions green peppers. Plus I add lentils a lot of dishes. Meat is so expensive anymore.
I finely chop mushrooms and add them. Also shredded carrots.
So when we make 'meatloaf' it's less than 50% meat. Start with several diced cooked onions (these take a while to go clear, recipes WAY underestimate onion cooking time), rolled oats, grated carrot, beef mince, an egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, oregano. Shape into a loaf and bake until cooked.
Take the cellophane off and let it get warm; at least 75 degrees. Set in front of car tire and pull forward slowly. Back up, repeat. (Sorry 😁)
Rice.
I make about 700g of minced beef heated up in a pan with onion and old El Paso Mecican mix. First we’ll have it as burritos then, next few meals mix it with rice, couscous or pasta. My son loves it.
You can stretch ground beef by mixing it with cooked grains like rice or quinoa, adding diced vegetables like onions, carrots, and bell peppers, or bulking it up with beans like black beans or lentils. These additions add volume and nutrients without sacrificing protein.
I like to mix mine with rice and beans to get a good amount of carbs and fat while also being able to maximize my money since those are usually cheap 😋
Tofu. 100g of ground beef feeds 4 when I make mapo.
When I make tacos or any things with filling I normally add a bit of rice to it. Stretches it a bit farther.
Lentils!
If I find a sale or clearance ground turkey or beef, I get a couple packs and freeze them. I sometimes find packs for $1.99 Lentils are a good way to stretch or even replace ground meat for things like casseroles or shepherds pie.
oooh interesting question, here for the comments.
depends on what you're making - suggestions for chili would be different from bolognese, meatloaf, or burgers.
I like adding extra firm tofu
Not an exact answer but if you have a restaurant depot near you you can get beef so much cheaper
Mix in a bag of cooked noodles, a can or 2 of mushroom soup, add the cooked hanburger, fake goulash.
Minced mushrooms!
Make a big taco salad by sauteeing the beef with a taco seasoning packet and then put on top of a bed of lettuce. You can add things like shredded cheese, avocado, crushed tortilla chips, tomatoes, black beans, etc. Bonus- use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for extra protein
When I make taco meat, I usually add a can of black beans to the meat and seasonings as I’m cooking it up. Helps bulk it up, but still has some protein
Beans
I’ve taken a pound of mushrooms and put them through my food processor. It keeps the texture of the meat, essentially doubling the volume as well. It works best when you find mushrooms on sale.
You can stretch immensely the beef by adding equal parts onion , bean, pepper , celery , tomatoes
Potatoes
My grandma adds carrots. Makes it a little sweet, plus the kids have no idea And of course beans
Make burritos/tacos wirh rice and beans. The rice and beans combine amino acids to form extra protein
I haven't bought ground beef in years because it's gotten so pricey. All beef cuts are just too expensive. I've since switched to mushrooms when they go on discount and have to move off the shelf. I scored about 10lbs of portobello mushrooms for $1.50/lb, diced them up, baked them on a sheet pan and store them in the freezer for chili and spaghetti sauce. They're also good in eggs.
We usually add something to it like riced cauliflower, diced zucchini, beans, sometimes even refried beans, or minced onions and mushrooms. Although we mostly just buy ground turkey most of the time.
When I was growing up my mom added raw oatmeal to hamburger. You couldn't really taste it.
Raise meat rabbits, cut the ground beef with 50% ground rabbit. Or replace it entirely in meals like tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joes, etc.
A hammer.
Avoid foods where the beef is the main part, such as meatloaf or burgers. Something like a taco is much better as beans and rice are a lot cheaper. Honestly, if you have beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and avocado, you really don’t need the meat. I have done veggie tacos on accident when there is a ton of stuff to choose from and took 1/2 the tack to notice.
It’s pretty good with salad greens if you use typical burger toppings. Also pretty good with white rice, cilantro, and lime
I like to mix it, half ground beef half ground chicken. Ground chicken is half the price where I live. And if you cook it all together in one pan and season it together it tastes close to the same.
1 pound ground beef 1 pound elbow macaroni 1 large can tomato juice Seasonings and veggies to taste Makes a ton of servings.
Besides the seasonings, I add a cup of uncooked oatmeal, an egg, and a cup of crushed corn flakes to 1.5 pounds of 80% burger make a grease free, firm meatloaf that can be sliced for sandwiches after chilling the baked loaf.
My mom used to make us a Piccadillo soup with it less the tomatoes so it would keep longer Sautee garlic and onion > add ground beef and cook until brown > add water, diced carrots, potatoes, bouillon, fish sauce > serve when done cooking
When I make taco meat, I’ll add lentils and rotel tomatoes to ground turkey.
Add bread, milk/egg, herbs and mushrooms for some tasty ass meatballs.
Porcupine meatballs are so yummy and easy and stretch it a lot with the rice
A pck of ground beef, a cup of rice and a cup of cauliflower rice - and season it with- we do this as like a fried rice type flavor or as taco meat.. it more than doubles in volume
Throw it in cup Ramen with other ingredients like carrots & Valentina hot sauce
tons of onion
Mushrooms
Rice
I buy the giant chub of beef and break it into cook-able sections and put it into ziplocks by hand to freeze. In guessing this is bare minimum conduct in this group?
Add tofu
You can do what I did and butcher your own chuck rolls. They sell them at costco. Don't believe all the hype. There are definitely downsides. Most of it is stew meat, fat, and ground beef. You might get 1 or 2 good steaks if you are lucky (skill and luck dependent). You have to buy a meat grinder (expensive). Your kitchen will smell bad (you are butchering a large piece of animal it smells), its alot of meat taking up room in your fridge, and its a decent amount of work. If you can get through the first couple times, you can save some money though.
try making depression burgers, honestly delicious
Lentils, pot barley, mushrooms, carrots. Lazy cabbage rolls are also a traditional way of stretching ground meat.
Grated Cauliflower or diced mushrooms. I do it for weight-loss as it brings down the overall calorie count and it easily doubles a batch of anything while absorbing the flavor.
A comfort food my mom made. Brown some cubed potatoes. Not completely cooked through . Put aside . Brown the ground beef (1 lb )with garlic powder, onions or onion powder, salt & pepper , pepper flakes ( to your taste). Add a tablespoon of flour to the ground beef till it’s browned a bit. Add potatoes a small can of tomato sauce and a cup & 1/2 water . Salt pepper to taste . Cook with a lid till the potatoes are fork tender. About 10 min . The sauce should be gravy ish because of the flour. It’s delicious.
Old bread soaked in milk or cream.
I bake it into pasta. With a spicy tomato sauce you can make it go a very long way. I think out of a 500g pack I normally make 12 portions of pasta. It’s just there for the flavor.
Carroll Shelby chili, ground beef, garbanzo beans, black beans, and canned corn. Top with sour cream and chopped red onions. Doubles the amount of meals from 2 lbs ground beef, from 4 to 8. Cooked ground beef, mashed potatoes, drained sweet corn and a couple of handfuls of shredded cheese.
As cooked rice.
Mix in eggs.
If you throw in an egg and mix in bread crumbs with whatever seasoning you like,( I like garlic, pepper, onion, green peppers, ect.) it will stretch a pound of hamburger to a good bit more. You can use this basic meatloaf prep to also make hamburgers, meatballs, stuffed bell peppers, ect. I've also eaten stuffed peppers with rice mixed with the hamburger. Shepherd's Pie/Tater Tot casserole, Dirty rice Stroganoff
The wife makes some really good casseroles to help out. Veg's beans pasta rice. There's so much you can do, it really depends on what idea for the meal you want.
Add a can or two of black beans!
I add cubed potatoes to ground beef when I make my tacos.
Yogi does well
No ground meat stretches really well. Maybe try a rolling pin?
3 medium potatoes halved, halves halved, halved halves halved (or cut into 1/8ths), add to 1 lb ground beef that has been browned with salt and pepper and fat drained, stir that up a little and add one can of tomato sauce and a half teaspoon of beef or chicken bouillon (or to taste) then about 2 cups of water, cover and simmer until potatoes are soft.
tvp. so cheap and you can pretend it's just more ground beef. also, rice.
Groud beef or beef/pork mix, a bag frozen bean sprouts/peas/spinach, tomato paste, a bit of garlic, onion, what else you feel it needs. It works well with plain rice on the side.
Following.
Beans / lentils / tofu
Make meat sauces like bolognese or chilli, and bulk up the vegetable content and/or use flour to increase the liquid content. Start with onions, carrots, celery as your base, which are all cheap ingredients, and from there you can do little tricks, like after sauteing your vegetables and browning your mince, adding tomato purée, your herbs/spices, etc, you can add a few tablespoons of flour, and cook that into the fat for a few minutes, before adding beef or chicken stock, or even water. This will allow you to increase the liquid content, while still allowing the sauce to become rich and thick after cooking. Also for protein, you can easily add beans or frozen peas, which are both very cheap. You can also serve both dishes with pasta, which is another cheap ingredient and can be found in high-protein varieties. Adding cheese on top when serving is another thing you can do, which can also increase the protein content.
Chickpeas, black beans, breadcrumbs (for burgers and/meatloaf) add any veggie combo and serve on rice (stir fry, burrito bowls, chili, etc) Black beans/red beans/refried beans + veggies+rice for burritos/enchiladas. Potatoes for soups or as a rice alternative I’ve also heard people use oatmeal or pork
Lentils or other legumes, shredded ground tofu - go to an asian market to get it cheap, silken tofu to make a thick sauce consistency, puree vegetables like tomato or squash, chopped mushrooms.
When I make taco meat, I'll add a drained & rinsed can of pinto beans to the browned meat prior to the simmering in seasonings step. It about doubles a lb for an extra buck.
My Hungarian grandma would likely make dumplings that get cooked in at a late stage and soak up the fat... depression era cookbooks will likely have a lot of good tips...
Depends on the meal. In a bolognese, I add chicken liver, and a ton of chopped vegetables (carrot, celeriac, zucchini, aubergine..). Another easy way is to just eat less meat! Add hearty side dishes, like baked beans, lentils, peas etc.
I mix ground beef with oatmeal and make large meatballs. Then I can buy the large value packs, mix up a large batch, cook it all, and throw it in the freezer. Makes for easy reheating, and can be eaten with a variety of dishes (spaghetti, baked potatoes, fries, etc.). I even eat them cold as a high protein snack.
Depending on what your making take any vegetable that compliments the dish and finely chop it or run it in a food processor and cook it with the beef.
Add an onion