De- fating ground beef

One if the ways you can make ground beef healthier, is to defat it.    Beef is still a good source if protein  that has iron and vitamin b-12 that is hard to get in good qualities in other foods.   It's expensive now, and we eat it once or twice a week because if it's cost.

It used to be that batch cooking would be ten pounds or so; now three pounds to five pounds is plenty.   

It is a more manageable quality and mess of us eat it.    

Meat loaf in meat loaf pan so that the fat drips away from the meat and the meat isn't cooked in its own juices.   Meatballs are cooked on rack over a sheet pan to drain fat.   Meatballs were placed on rack using a portion scoop so that they are  all the same size to facilitate even cooking.   

I buy seven to nine percent fat hamburger --  Fifteen percent max.    The way to compare prices is to multiply the percentage of fat plus 1. By the price.   In other words of hamburger is 1.00 a pound and its 7percent fat, the net price is 1.07 or 1.00 X 1.07. ; if fifteen percent hambirger is 1.00, the net or ice would be 1.15.   That way you can tell which hamburger is the cheapest.   

De- fating the hamburger ( or other ground meat,   Ground turkey and sausage don't have a fat content listed.   ) 

1) brown the meat until it is no longer pink.  Pour into colander.   Set over bowl of you don't want the fat to go down your sink drain.

2) remove bowl, and pour boiling water over meat.   Return drained meat to clean pan.   

Heat and add taco seasoning, drain or separate some  into portion controlled batches and add taco 

seasoning to some.

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different prospective.  The emphasis is on purchasing good food shelf/ freezer stable staples at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop you don't buy just what you need for a day or a week.   You buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table and feed your family on a consistent basis good, nutritious meals  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.