Should You Buy Lean Or Regular Ground Meat?
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Your choice of ground meat is not simply a matter of health or nutrition, but also the kind of meat suitable for the recipe at hand. With supermarkets flooded with different products and varieties, this choice can be quite daunting, especially when you have that special meal to cook for those dear to you. Should you buy lean or regular ground meat, and does the difference matter at all? We all wish we had direct access to an all knowing butcher who could tell us just what good our ground meat was for, and if we were making the right choice. In case you are blessed with just such a soul, do pass on his details to us; we know many a person who could do with some answers. But if you find yourself stranded alone in the meat aisles overwhelmed by the choices before you, here are a few basic guidelines to keep in mind when buying your ground meat. When it comes to ground beef, the standard guidelines are pretty clear. You may not know exactly what went into your ground beef, but you can be assured of the percentage of fat therein. Regular ground beef contains no more than 30% fat content and packs in 70 to 85% lean meat. A 70% lean ground beef contains 230 calories and 13 grams of fat in three ounces of meat. The high fat content makes regular meat ideal for recipes where the meat needs to be browned before draining off excess fat, such as for sauces or in tacos. But for the rest of your menu, if you are leaning towards a healthier diet with a more modest fat content, then you might want to choose lean ground beef. Lean meat is usually 90 to 95% lean meat and contains no more than 17% fat content. That means there are just under 200 calories in three ounces of lean ground beef (90%) with no more than 10 grams of fat. This makes this ground meat ideal for pretty much any recipe, and can be supplemented in all your favorite dishes as a healthier option to regular ground meat.
There is also medium and extra lean ground beef available on the shelves. Medium ground meat strikes a balance between health and indulgence at 23% fat, and is your choice of meat for dishes where the fat can drip during cooking or be drained later (e.g.: burgers and kebabs). Extra lean beef on the other hand is no more than 10% fat and is suited for dishes where the meat does not require pre-cooking. As a thumb rule, you are better off buying leaner beef. You might see draining off the fat as a makeshift solution, but this also drains off your money as you pay for meat by the pound. However not all meats strike gold with leaner varieties- turkey, for instance, can be a little too tough and chewy in its leaner formats, making that 0% lean turkey less than desirable- no matter how little fat it contains.