Ground Turkey Versus Ground Beef
I stopped eating ground beef because I thought it was unhealthy and switched to ground turkey instead. For my husband, ground turkey versus ground beef does not apply. He's strictly a beef man. So I always prepare two separate ground meat dishes. But I began to wonder, is the extra effort worth it?
Here is my view on ground turkey versus ground beef.
Ground Turkey versus Ground Beef: Nutritional Content
From reading the labels on the packages I discovered that lean ground beef and ground turkey are almost identical nutrition wise. Both have 8 grams of fat, 85 mg of sodium, 22 grams of protein, and 10% iron. Also, they both have 160 calories. And surprisingly, the turkey has 10 more grams of cholesterol than lean ground beef.
Ground Turkey versus Ground Beef: Taste
Hands down ground beef is more flavorful than its bland counterpart. You have to add a lot of seasoning to ground turkey to make it tasty. Ground beef on the other hand already has a "beefy" taste. So just adding a little seasoning brings out the natural flavors.
To compensate for the lack of flavor in ground turkey I usually season it heavily with seasoning salt and then dice and add: 1 small onion, 1 bell pepper, and several cloves of garlic.
Ground Turkey versus Ground Beef: Price
At my local Wal-Mart the ground turkey is the winner as far as price goes. A 1 lb bullet cost $1.67 and the lean ground beef is always over $2 per pound.
Ground Turkey versus Ground Beef: Cooking
As far as how you use ground meat, both the beef and the turkey are completely interchangeable. You fry them the same and can use either one in any recipe that calls for ground meat.
Ground Turkey versus Ground Beef: And the winner is?
From a nutritional standpoint there is almost no difference. And everything else is pretty much a draw. Lean ground beef costs a little more but lean ground turkey takes a little more time to prepare - chopping onions, peppers, and garlic - to make it tasty.
However as far as ground turkey versus ground beef goes for me, I am starting to rethink going through the extra effort of preparing two separate dishes the next time I make a ground meat entrée for dinner.
Published by Serfronya Wallace
Serfronya Wallace is a wife, mother, and freelance writer. Her husband and she have been home educators for several years. Serfronya writes about home management, frugality, child rearing, and homeschooling.... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a Comment"Nutrition facts/labels" are useless & misconceiving. SIMPLE EXAMPLE----- 80 calories of "Y" has 17 grams of sugar. 72 calories of "X" has 7 grams of sugar. Which is healthier based on this?
If you say "X" then you are an idiot because that's a fun size Snickers candy. Y is an apple. Not to mention all the types of sugars out there. Simple sugars come from fruit & are very healthy. Also, for some reason many people relate "carbs" to breads & grains only. Sugars are carbs. It might be better to rely on the Ingredients list & NOT the nutrition label... Nutrition labels should be considered by people with some background of science. Ingredients lists are EXCELLENT for people with common sense of "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods. Don't worry about analyzing how many fibers or sugars or calories are in it... eat foods that you can pronounce & picture in your mind. Can you pictu
You did the research and learned that turkey LOST, and you are just starting to think that you might stop cooking separate meals? Why not eat what you like? Or if you're so into healthy foods, why not go vegetarian? And by vegetarian, I mean eat actual vegetables, grains, beans, fruits and such, not bizarro fake meat like seitan or tofu, and especially not tofurkey. It sounds like you are punishing yourself needlessly.
I bought some Jenny-O Extra Lean ground turkey last night. The 1.25 lb package has a total of 7.5 grams of fat (1.5 grams per 4 oz serving). You're never going to beat that with ground beef. You're just not buying the right stuff.
Ground turkey CAN be cheaper and healthier... You just have to read the labels. Plain old ground Turkey uses all sorts of diffferent parts of the bird, even the skin. Look for ground turkey breast. There is a major difference there.