Ground Turkey vs Ground Beef

I will never for the life of me understand why people buy ground beef/chuck. I know that there's a lot of recipes out there that call for ground beef but let me tell you something, with the price of groceries going sky-high and the never-ending concern for our health - you can not go wrong with substituting ground turkey for ground beef. Why's that you ask? Well...

1) Ground turkey is cheaper. Like WAYYY cheaper. I can usually get a pound of ground turkey for around $1.25. I don't buy ground beef (like ever) but the last time I glanced at the price of a pound, I know it was over $3.00. THREE DOLLARS, double the price! I'm sorry, but in my world, that is just too much to spend on something that you're usually going to make into something else.

2) It tastes super similar. Now unless you're making straight-up hamburgers (although there are some awesome turkey burger recipes out there) I really don't think you can taste THAT much of a difference in the two. Most recipes that call for ground beef is usually saturated in other flavors that doesn't really revolve around the beef itself. When I make my meat sauce for spaghetti, I mix a pound of ground turkey with a jar of spaghetti sauce and let it simmer together and it's delicious. The same also goes for things like chili, hamburger helper, tacos, and even meatloaf (my family's favorite).

3) It's usually healthier. This is where reading labels always comes in handy! Turkey is normally lower in calories and fat than what ground beef is. BUT, it can be true that it can be higher, especially if you are buying something as lean as 90/10 or 95/5 ground beef. The thing is, you've really got to check the labels!! What I buy comes frozen in 1 lb increments and is about equal to buying 90/10 ground beef. However, I have seen some ground turkey out there that is actually WAY worse for you than buying a lean ground beef. It's really a difference of whether or not the company who makes it uses more of the breast or more of the darker meats in their ground products.

I cannot tell you the last time that I bought ground beef. To me, it's obvious that the way to go is with turkey, especially when you're on a budget like my family is. I am often confronted with people telling me that it makes them absolutely cringe to think about eating ground turkey instead of beef but I have to tell you - don't  knock it until you try it. The next time you go to make your family dinner, try substituting and then come back and let me know what you thought. Do you use any substitutions for health and cost reasons when you cook?