Shoutout to the deli guy who showed me how to stretch a pound of ground beef into three meals

He told me to mix in grated zucchini and oats while I was buying my usual Tuesday bogo ground beef at the Publix on Main Street, and that single tip has saved me like $15 a week ever since.

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.charlie1mo ago

Hold on, oats in ground beef are fine but you gotta be careful with the ratios. Too much zucchini and it gets watery, turns into a mushy mess instead of stretching it. Three meals out of one pound sounds like you're eating pretty small portions, or you're really packing in the filler. I'd say mix in some breadcrumbs too, helps bind everything together so it doesn't fall apart in the pan. Good tip from the deli guy, but maybe try half the zucchini and see if it holds up better.

nathan8511mo agoTop Commenter

Another angle here is that you can freeze the grated zucchini raw and add it frozen directly to the pan. It releases way less water that way since the cell walls are already broken down, keeps the texture firmer. Just a trick I picked up from meal prepping, cuts down on the mush factor by a lot.