My eyes are wide open!
 

I am truly shocked by how many calories are in some foods...most foods. When trying to stick within a certain limit, you really learn to choose your foods for the better!

My son wanted hamburgers for dinner last night, so I figured I'd make them but I would probably only eat a portion of it, considering the calories. I even knew I'd probably have to ditch the bun. When I looked at the calorie content for premade frozen hamburgers, I was shocked to find they were 370 calories! To stay within my 200 calorie mini meal, I could only eat half a burger patty plus maybe some broccoli. So I checked out the turkey burgers just for kicks. 130 calories! With the turkey burgers, I could eat half a burger with its buns, load it with onions and could still have a large portion of broccoli and a little corn.

I was a little worried about how the family would take to the turkey burgers. They all complained based on looks alone, but once I got them to try it, they liked it and everyone has requested a second go-round for the end of the week.

Oh I definitely suffered from some "sticker shock" over the summer. Between the potato chips (1 ounce is so ridiculously small), frozen hamburgers, hot dogs w/the bun, chocolate chip cookies, etc... Forget it! Once you start counting calories, you really learn to try and get the most bang for your buck. Like anytime I'm craving potato chips, I thin slice a potato, spray w/pam, season w/salt, pepper & cajun seasoning, & bake for about 20-30 minutes. It totally kills my chip craving and you get so much more food for the 150 calories I would have "spent" on chips.

p.s. Totally love turkey burgers. They also sell 99% lean ground turkey where I'm at and I use that in chili, burgers, tacos, etc. Huge calorie saver.

Sounds great your family is willing to try it- I made turkey chili and my husband refused to touch it :( But oh well- HIS loss. I gained weight cooking for him after our marriage so now I cook for myself- he's lost weight since I've dieted MERELY because he'll skip dinner a few nights a week- go figure!

lol there I go off on a tangent.... sorry :p

Oh and btw ground turkey breast is much leaner than just ground turkey :)

When my family wants burgers I just eat a Boca Burger. I like them and sometimes even my husband will eat one.

Cooking your own food and knowing what is specifically in it is huge when it comes to managing calories.

Two suggestions:

1. Many people mix turkey with beef (especially in chilli).

2. You may want to try Bison (Buffalo meat) which is lower in fat than regular (cow) beef patties.

Lori

Be careful when you're buying ground turkey at the store because often the regular ground turkey has as much fat and calories as the lean ground beef. You have to make sure that you're getting the lean ground turkey breast.

I'm a big fan of some of the veggie burgers out there. My favorite brand is Morning Star, Bocca is probably second. I will say though that I haven't had the traditional "burgers" I usually buy the black bean flavor or the pizza burger flavor. They're both about 100 calories.

I'm a big fan of shopping at Aldi. :D (Cheap with few choices, if you're not familiar with the chain.) I found their ready made turkey burgers and just checked the nutrition facts.

I also love, love, love their popcorn! And only 25 calories per cup of popped popcorn! I always thought popcorn had to be air popped with no flavor. Not so.

I switched to buffalo in my chilli and meatballs and my husband never knew the difference. In fact he told me that my chilli keeps getting better and better.

I use kangaroo mince for burgers and bolagnaise sauces, shepards pies etc etc.

Its one of the leanest meats you can find, one of the richest in iron and is fantastic for people with high cholesterol. Plus it tastes great :D It's a rich meat so you often find you don't need to eat as much of it.

For 100gms kangaroo mince you get 22.3gms protein to 1.3gm fat of which only 0.3 is saturated for about 100 calories.

compared to 100gms turkey mince at 17gms protein, 8.2gms fat (2.2 saturated) and 150 calories.

I don't know what the odds would be of finding it over there but if you ever come across it give it a go, great stuff!

Ground turkey is so great in chili and such, most of time people wont know it isn't ground beef unless you mention it!
It does seem to be dry when I try to just make turkey burgers, any suggestions?

Originally Posted by RockyMtnGirl:
Ground turkey is so great in chili and such, most of time people wont know it isn't ground beef unless you mention it!
It does seem to be dry when I try to just make turkey burgers, any suggestions?

None from me. I kind of steam mine. Maybe that's it. I put them in a skillet frozen, brown each side and then cover them until the inside catches up with the outside. I'm sure it won't make any cooking shows, but they came out moist. :^:

Putting grated veggies (onion, garlic, and if you're me, carrot and zucchini) in with your turkey burgers really helps keep them moist while cooking. The veggies sort of provide steam from the inside. It only works if you're making your own patties, obviously.