You have seen them in the grocery stores, the generic looking “tubes” of ground beef. They often come in 3, 5, and 10 pound rolls. Many people overlook these ground meat tubes because of the packaging appears to be “cheap.”
What if I told you that these bulk packages were one of the best grocery store hacks there was? Not only is the quality of the meat just as good as any other ground meat in the display, but these meat rolls are often quite a bit cheaper, sometimes by a 1/3 of the cost! It is a classic example of basic economics at work
Kitchen Hack: Buying Burger in Bulk
How to get Ground beef cheaper and what to do with it once you have it
Equipment
- Stove Top
- 5 Quart Pot
- Zip Lock Bags - Quart Freezer Bags
- Zip Lock Bags - Quart Bags
- Slotted Spoon
- Colander
- Stainless or heat proof Bowl slightly larger than Colander. Colander should sit inside bowl
- Digital Kitchen Scales
Materials
- 10 lbs 80/20 Ground beef Bulk Tubes are usually cheaper
Instructions
What to get...
- 100% Ground Chuck Roast Here. 80% Lean, 20% Fat 10 pound tube
The Savings...
- $2.68 a pound when you buy 10 pounds
- I pulled this off of Walmart.com$3.98 for 1 pound
- Does not seem like a good deal to me. I get it...if you only have $6.00 to your name and have people to feed. Do what you have to do. But if you have some freezer space, and a little bit of extra money right at the moment then saving $13.00 off your monthly food bill is the way to go. $3.98 - $2.68 = $1.30 $1.30 x 10 (pounds) =$13.00 in savings by buying the 10 pounds bulk tubes!!!I just looked at the price of the 10 pound tube on walmart.com, it was $2.48. I Could of saved $15.00 as it is currently priced!
Now that I have it...What do I do with all that meat?
- So when I buy one of these 10 pound tubes of hamburger, I try to have a bit of a plan for what I want to do with it. My plan this time is I want to make some Red sauce with meat with some of it tonight, hamburgers for the grill tomorrow, and some meat loaf later this week. I'll cook the rest up with the meat for the red sauce all at once, and freeze what I don't use in the sauce for quick additions in other recipes. All you have to do is toss it in the microwave for a couple of minutes whenever you need crumbled ground beef and not have to worry about the extra time cooking the meat.
- Once I have a plan, time to attack! I cut the tube of beef in half with a knife, then I cut one of the halves, in half again. So I have 1 (half), and 2 (quarters) of the tube. Take one of the quarters and a quart zip lock bag. The tube should fit inside the bag, simply squeeze the burger into the bag, then repeat with the other bag. Into the fridge they go! That takes care of the meat for the burgers and meatloaf.
- I Took the other half of the tube and placed it into a 5 quart pot, on medium heat.Cook till all the meat is browned.
- Take a bowl that is just slightly larger than your colander, set it down on the counter with the colander inside it.Slowly dump the hamburger and grease into the colander, till the pot is empty
- Remove the colander leaving the grease behind and set on a plate with a rim on it or in the sink till it cools down.
- I weighed out the pound of meat I needed for the sauce recipe using my digital kitchen scales.
- Then I took a couple quart freezer bags and put around a pound of meat in each bag. I wrote what the bags contained and the date, then froze them for use at a later date when I'm trying to whip up something for dinner in a hurry
- I went on to finish my red sauce in the same pan I browned the beef in.
Notes
Just remember the beef in the fridge is only good for a few days 3 - 5 on average.
Beef in the freezer good for up 6 months or so. If you start noticing ice crystals forming on it, use it soon!
Now it is your turn to come up with an action plan your your 10 pounds of meat!
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Howard
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