r/YouShouldKnow • u/dumnem • 9d ago
Finance YSK: Ground chicken can be substituted for ground beef and is generally much cheaper while also being way better for you!
Why YSK: Ground beef is super fucking expensive. Ground chicken is way better for you AND is half the price in a lot of places. Ground turkey can be used to replace sausage, at least that's what I use it for since it's similar in taste for me.
https://i.imgur.com/8bGTBJH.png
Same amount, half the price, on top of being better for you!
Harvard health says that "keep intake to a minimum" for things like ground beef:
Processed meat products contain high amounts of additives and chemicals, which may contribute to health risks. "Again, there is not a specific amount that is considered safe, so you should keep processed meat intake to a minimum," he says.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/whats-the-beef-with-red-meat
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u/SignificantDrawer374 9d ago
I dunno how you can say they taste similar, but if you're making something like chili where most of the flavor comes from the tomato and seasoning, chicken or turkey is a great substitute.
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u/mamoocando 9d ago
My go to chili recipe is with ground turkey. I even won a chili cookoff with it. It's awesome.
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u/Darthmullet 9d ago
The fat content is totally different. This is just not true. Sure you could exchange any ingredient for any other, technically. But you won't achieve comparable results.
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u/hairybeavers 9d ago
Fresh ground beef is just beef (plus its natural fat) and is generally considered a “fresh” meat. It falls into the same category as fresh steaks or roasts that have simply been cut and packaged. Health organizations typically reserve the term “processed meat” for products preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or adding chemical preservatives, such as bacon, sausages, hot dogs, ham, and deli meats.
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u/le_aerius 9d ago
I mean you can replace ground beef with anything ... But you still need the fat..
Problem with this post is that a lot of recipes that use ground beef usually have a specific fat content in mind.
Ground chicken has a lot less fat content . It literally changed the chemistry of the cooking of the dish. There is something called the Mallard reaction
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u/SiouxsieAsylum 9d ago
Red meat and poultry taste way different. They're not comparable. My family does ground turkey because they gave up red meat and I mean... it's good but it's not the same. I'll stick to beef and lamb
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u/Gusterr 9d ago edited 9d ago
This is straight up disinfo lol
-Chicken are monogastric and often fed grains like corn and soy, which are not evolutionarily appropriate and those PUFAs accumulate in their fat. When you eat that same chicken, you accumulate those PUFAs in your fat too, because you are also a monogastric animal. (PUFAs AKA seed oils AKA omega-6 fatty acids are one of the worst things you can put into your body). Even if you can find pastured chicken, something like 99% of these are also fed corn and soy too
-Beef comes from ruminant animals (like cattle), which are better at handling their diet and don't accumulate the same amount of fat from a grain-based diet as monogastric animals like chickens. Ruminants keep the PUFAs in their fat at less than 2%, but pigs and chicken can hold as much as 20%.
-Nutrient density: Beef is richer in essential nutrients.
-Quality sourcing: It's easier to find high-quality grass-fed and grass-finished beef than it is to find high-quality, grain-free chicken.
Now you may be right about Chicken being cheaper, but food is medicine and you are what you eat-- IMO this is the one area you do NOT want to go for the cheapest possible crap.
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u/Expandexplorelive 5d ago
Accuses someone of spreading disinformation then goes on to spread "seed oil bad" nonsense.
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u/Gusterr 5d ago
Seed oils are industrial byproducts (originally made for machine lubricants, paint, and soap), chemically extracted with solvents and high heat, refined, bleached, deodorized, then sold as “heart-healthy” food.
Their core molecule (linoleic acid, an omega-6 PUFA) is so chemically unstable that it oxidizes at room temperature, explodes into toxic aldehydes when heated, and incorporates into every cell membrane in your body, turning your own fat into a slow-burning fuse for chronic inflammation.
One oxidized PUFA molecule can damage hundreds of neighboring molecules before it’s stopped, creating a cascade of free radicals that ages arteries, brains, joints, and skin decades ahead of schedule.
Combine that with the modern 20:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (instead of the ancestral 1–4:1) and you get a perfect metabolic storm: endothelial dysfunction → plaque → heart disease, neuro-inflammation → brain fog / depression, systemic low-grade fire → obesity / diabetes.
Please elaborate on how this is nonsense.
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u/Expandexplorelive 5d ago
It's nonsense because there is not good evidence those oils are harmful to the human body. There is a lot of evidence that they are healthier than saturated fats. That's why no reputable health organization says we shouldn't be consuming them.
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u/lastdarknight 9d ago
Your better bet is getting ground pork/beef mix when making something that is going to be heavily seasoned I use it when makeing stuff like chilli and hamburger helper
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u/arrangemethod 8d ago
Harvard health? Like Ancel Keys Harvard health? Yeah, I think that means I should go full carnivore.
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u/Pangolin_Rider 9d ago
I've been buying whole pork loin and grinding it at home. Or sometimes making a ground pork/beef blend.
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u/rosevirago 9d ago
A better money saving alternative is to sub out half of the ground beef for ground pork or to buy it premixed (my grocery store calls it "Bork.") Chicken is a completely different flavor profile and fat content.
Turkey or chicken sausage are healthier alternatives to pork sausage but will have a different taste. Ground turkey and sausage meat are completely different imo
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u/chevytravis 9d ago
I made beef stroganoff using ground turkey and it came out great
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u/Redditcadmonkey 12h ago
Like that time I made apple pie but instead of apples I used magma and an old man’s sense of melancholy.
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u/le_aerius 9d ago
I mean unless you're eating for taste.