Leaner ground beef is very expensive. Rinsing cheaper beef is a way to save money and calories. Do it all the time!

Warning: I have plugged up my sink not using enough hot water to rinse.

Thanks Kaplods - I am definitely going to start doing that! We get our meat by the side of beef from some local farmers - and we always have SO MUCH ground beef in the freezer that I am scared to eat b/c of the calorie content. This will help a lot (plus, seriously, I think the beef will now last FOREVER instead of merely almost forever!).

Glad to help Su-Bee. Hubby and I are both very overweight, and dieting on a pretty tight budget, so it's a thing to celebrate when we find a way to save money, calories AND time.

And it definitely does save time. I often make the tvp mixture in a large dutch oven, and brown 3 lbs of beef and 3 cups or more of tvp (so the equivalent of 6 or more lbs of browned, ground beef). Usually I do season it with onion, celery, garlic, seasoned salt and sometimes green pepper, because almost everything I use it for, is compatible with those seasonings. Freezing it so I can pull out whatever I want, means that whether I'm cooking for company or just myself, I don't have to have leftovers, and many of the dishes I use it for can be made in almost as little time as heating a frozen dinner.

I'll second the tvp. It's awesome, cheap, and tasty. Noone notices when I use it in chili or sloppy joes....

Grass-fed ground beef
 

I like the grass-fed ground beef, even though it's a little bit pricier. There's not as much fat on it and there are no hormones or antibiotics added.

Kaplods, I tried to do a search on your tvp. I typed in kaplods and tvp. I kept getting the error message about tvp being too short. Never mind that there were 2 other words in the search. I then put it in " " and it came up with this one.

ARGH!

Could you please post the link to it?

Oh darn it, I forgot about the four word minimum. I'll just write it here. You can easily double or even triple the recipe as long as you have a pan deep enough that stirring is easy. You can also use any ratio of tvp to ground beef, and any fat content of beef (you can also use other ground meats, I've done it with ground pork) but of course the calorie breakdown would be different.

I buy the tvp in bulk from a healthfood store, it looks like grapenuts cereal.

So, I start browning 1 lb of hamburger, and any seasoning veggies I want to brown with it (usually about 3/4 cup or less of veggies diced small, in any combination -onions, celery, bell pepper and once in a while mushrooms). When the hamburger has released some of it's fat, so I don't have to worry about sticking, I add 1 cup of dry tvp. I let it cook a few minutes before adding 1 cup of water or broth, and continue to simmer until all of the water is absorbed. I remove it from the heat and let it cool about 15 minutes before putting it in the freezer bags or storage containers. About every 20 minutes or so, I shake the container or smush the storage bag so that the mixture freezes into crumbles. The bags work a little better (freezes into smaller crumbles).

When I use tvp on it's own, I just add 1 cup to a cup and a quarter of hot water or broth to 1 cup tvp. Personally, I don't mind completely meatless tvp, but the tvp/beef mixture definitely does taste better (to a meat eater). My favorite blend is about 1 lb 80% lean beef to 2 cups dry tvp (and 2 cups liquid), but my hubby prefers a blend that is no more than 1 and 1/2 lbs of beef to 2 cups of dry tvp). Basically, I kept adding more tvp every time I made it until he started complaining and then went back to my previous formula.

I start with 96 percent lean ground beef and cook in old-fashioned pans that stick so I use water instead of fat to cook it in, draining the water as I go until at the end I can let it brown in what fat/water is left. I've tried rinsing it before cooking but that didn't work out for me.

I stock up on 93% lean ground beef when it is on sale and don't have a problem with excess grease, so I have never rinsed my beef after cooking.

We don't eat red meat at all but I am very interested in this TVP and have never heard of it. Do you think it could be used with ground turkey as well? Do you have the fat, calories, and sodium content of it Kaplods? Thank you.

Thighs,

I don't eat meat but occassionally I'll add TVP to a bean mixture or something.

1 serving (1/4 cup)
80 calories
Fat 0g
Sodium 2 mg

that is for the dry mixture before it expands.

Here is the link to calorieking:

http://www.calorieking.com/foods/cal...tleT10dnA.html

Thank you! :) I am going to figure out what it will save me cost wise and calorie wise with my ground turkey. We have ground turkey 2-3 times a month. I am really into bean mixtures myself--patties and hummus mostly. Do you add the TVP to save calories or what on the bean mixture?

I mostly add TVP to up the protein a bit and just to give it a different texture. TVP is pretty cheap, you can buy it bulk at Whole Foods. My bean mixtures are basically like chili, a couple cans of various beans, some diced tomatoes, some diced onions, diced bell peppers, etc simmered on the stove for 20 minutes or so. If adding tvp, you'll want to add a little bit of water or veggie broth because the water from the diced tomatoes isn't enough

Rinsing beef before cooking wouldn't remove any fat, because the fat is still solid at that point.

Nelie, I do my chili the same as yours basically. I add 1/2 teaspoon salt and chili powder. Aww, I was just at Whole Foods yesterday!