Ground Meat Savings

Ground Meat Savings
Ground Meat Savings

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ground-meat-savings
In our undying effort to save as much money as possible I’ve learned that you have to try new things; Sometimes you can literally save hundreds of dollars per year just by changing a single item in your families grocery budget. Our latest attempt attempt at saving cash was a complete Frugal FAIL.

Aldi’s (a grocery store I frequent) offers ground turkey for $1.14 per pound. It’s in the frozen food section of the store and it’s low in fat and quite delicious. So, a few days ago when I spotted this “Italian Style” ground turkey at Walmart, I thought we’d give it a taste test. It stated something on the package that should have stopped me in my tracks, it read, “mechanically separated” – which essentially means that it’s created much like hot dogs are. (For those of you that don’t know what’s REALLY in a hotdog – let me tell you, there’s a reason they call them “Lips & @ssholes”).

After thawing it, I cut one end of the package open and it was rather difficult to get past the visual. It was a very smooth nasty pink color and texture, not at all like you’d expect from ground turkey. The seasonings were pungent to say the least and the smell of the raw meat literally made me gag. Folks, I’m not your average joe- I’ve raised and butchered my own meat and chicken and I also hunt- the point I’m trying to drill home is that I’ve smelled some nasty things in my life, I don’t get grossed out easily, this was right up there with the worst of them!

I figured that there was NO way I’d ever be able to get the family to accept this “meat” as burger, so I formed little meatballs and roasted them for a taste test. I heated some marinara sauce for dipping and when they were ready I hollered to the kids and their buddies to come in for a “snack”. None of the kids liked them and I was unable to get past the texture in my mouth and the odd spiciness that had little to do with “Italian” and was more like a sausage seasoning.

Polite as she could be, my sons gal pal made a rather odd face and excused herself, heading out the door. I went out to check on her and that child was literally puking. Not only was this nasty product a frugal fail- but it literally made a child vomit.

Aye, so here’s the rub- I HIGHLY recommend avoiding any product that states in bold letters, “Mechanically Separated”, Lesson learned.

Over and Out,

Geebs

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About GB101 719 Articles
Filled with an insatiable wanderlust to see the world, I've dedicated most of my life to saving money where I can so I can afford to see and do the things I want. I dug our family out of debt by reducing our grocery expense to less than $300 a month. You can too!

8 Comments

  1. …And yet, the FDA approves the swill for human consumption. And considers pizza a vegetable source in kids’ school lunches…

  2. Meat items can score a D grade and still be sold to the public for consumption as long as it also says “edible” on the original shipping container.

  3. That poor girl! I have had a lot of funny looks from the food we serve our gal pals, but I don’t think they have ever vomited. 🙂

  4. Have you done the research on ground turkey? I have heard that it is skin, fat, and all in the ground turkey. I have avoided it because of this. I have only heard and would like to know if it is true.

    I too have a Aldi near me and have seen it there in the frozen food section for about $1.45 lb. This is a huge savings over beef. For things like chili and tomato base dishes I probably can fool my family who are big meat eaters.

    • Have you done the research on ground turkey? I have heard that it is skin, fat, and all in the ground turkey. I have avoided it because of this. I have only heard and would like to know if it is true.

      I too have a Aldi near me and have seen it there in the frozen food section for about $1.45 lb. This is a huge savings over beef. For things like chili and tomato base dishes I probably can fool my family who are big meat eaters.

      We have been using Aldi ground turkey for years and never had any issues with quality or flavor, unlike the Walmart Ground s’meat that we tried. I don’t usually go by “what I hear” because I don’t trust unfounded rumors. The package states that it’s 85% lean, which is similar to Jenny O’. You can purchase extra lean as well.

      We usually use ground turkey in casseroles or chili style dishes, and have not experienced any “greasiness”.

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