How to Stretch Ground Beef Using Oats
Did you know that you can make your grocery money stretch by adding oats to ground beef? I promise you it tastes the same and no one will know the difference. I do this every time I cook ground beef and it saves me lots of money.
First off I normally buy the 5lb family pack of ground beef at Aldi to save money, but this time they were out so I had to buy the 2.25 lb pack.
You will need:
Uncooked Ground Beef
Uncooked Old Fashioned Oats
(1/4 – 1/2 cup per lb of beef)
Chopped Onion (optional)
(1/4 – 1/2 cup per lb of beef)
1. Mix all ingredients until well combined.
2. Brown ground beef as usual.
*Note: The oats soak up a lot of the fat so you will need to stir often to avoid burning or sticking to the pan.
Use your beef mixture like normal! I normally let mine cool and freeze for later use. As you can see I got 4 “lbs” of ground beef out of my 2.25 lbs! Yea baby!
I’ve also heard that you can stretch ground beef using lentils, rice, beans and/or pureed veggies, but I’ve never tried any of them.
Do you do anything to stretch your ground beef?
If so I’d love to know your secrets!
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Ok, I seriously love this idea!! I’m going grocery shopping soon and I am going to give this a try! Thank you!!
I’m so glad it helped you out! 🙂
I am going to trythis tomorrow! I just bought one lb of ground beef for some meatballs to have with soup. I was wondering in I could make it last for two meals. Now I know I can! Thank you very much!
Greetings, Reini from Germany
This is a great idea – I typically stretch mine using added black beans or veggies (shredded carrot works well), but my husband is not a big fan of the beans 🙂
I’ve stretched my meat with rice, but I’ll try the oats. I bet its texture is better.
Wish I would have read this an hour ago, I just finished up Browning & freezing burger
This looks like a great idea- I’m going to have to try this the next time I stock up on ground beef!! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
It works with the meatballs, too, it was soooo delicious! I would recommend using more seasoning as usual because the oats taste a little bland.
Thanks again for sharing!
This is awesome! Thanks for the tip!
I do this with my meatloaf in place of breadcrumbs. My picky eaters don’t even notice the difference.
Raki
My grandmother and my Mom used oats in her meatloaf instead of bread crumbs. More nutritious too.
This is such a great tip! Thank you for sharing it on Show Me Saturday!
I found this great post from the Frugal Friday Link Up Party! I had no idea this was even possible. We use a lot of ground beef in our home. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting Janell! I hope this tip works for you!
With the cost of ground beef these days, this tip is priceless! Thanks so much for sharing!
Will this work with ground poultry as well?
I think it would work alright with ground turkey, but I’ve only tried it with beef.
Would this work for ground turkey also? I buy it bc it’s so much cheaper than ground beef. love your blog-just discovered it!
I haven’t tried this method with ground turkey. It has less fat so it could end up dry because the oats soak it up. You could always try and see what happens!
What measurement of the oats did you use per pound of meat?
1/4-1/2 cup per lb of meat.
How do you measure out the beef after you’ve cooked it? I started with 6# of ground beef, added 1/2 cup of both oats and onion per pound…cooked it up and only ended up with 6.9# of ground beef. I use a food scale to weigh it out, and weighed out 1# for each bag. Thanks!
I put “lbs” in quotations because I didn’t weigh it, just portioned it out according to what I normally use per recipe. I hope that helps!
I always use oatmeal in my meatloaf–never thought to do this with ground beef for casseroles! Great Tip! I have used lentils to stretch my taco filling and it was great!
I’v never used lentils, but I want to try!
How do you do that? Do you put them in the pan to soak up the fat? Or cook them separately and add at the end?
I add them together before or during cooking so that they soak up the fat and flavor.
Never heard of doing this! But I often stretch my ground beef with black beans when I make Mexican type of dishes. Does this method work well with things like soup?
I do this every time I cook beef and it always works well for me.
Awesome! I’ll definitely try it then.
I also add either a can of tomato relish (canned tomato, onions, courgettes and aubergines) or about 2 cups of veggies to my ground beef. This stretches it out even further. Don’t add the relish or veggies if you making meatballs.
Thanks for the tip Penny!
nice idea! i also use grade carrots when i cook it.
I’ve never stretched ground beef before. If I follow your instructions and then later want to make something like Meatballs or Meatloaf which have rice/oats in the recipe already, do I still add those ingredients despite the lb of meat already containing them?
I would not add more oats as it would make it too dry, can you make meatloaf or meatballs with cooked meat? I thought it had to be raw.
I plan to combine all ingredients and then divide into various freeze ahead recipes, some will be converted to meatballs and meatloaf, while some will simply be cooked up and prepped for more complicated dishes.
In that case, I wouldn’t add more oats than your recipe calls for just in case it turns out too dry.
My husband’s grandma used to do this when he was a little guy. I could never get it work right. I’ll have to try it your way! Hope it works!!!
I used diced carrots in my chili recipe every time. I just use my hand chopper and add to the raw beef. It has the same consistency and flavor as the meat once cooked. So yummy! I’m going to try the oats tonight, thanks for sharing.
We use textured vegetable protein abt 1 cup TVP to 2 lbs burger. Works well but remember to rehydrate before you add it to burger
I’ve mixed in TVP too- gives the ground beef a slightly finer texture, but mt family never noticed!
I add a half cup of cooked lentils per pound of ground beef….you can’t tell the difference–and of course I cooked the dried lentils in my crock pot to save even more!!!!
How long does cooked meat keep in the freezer? Once you defrost it, how long does it need to be reheated?
Around 3 months in a regular freezer and up to 6 months in a deep freeze.
Great idea! I have always added a couple of handfuls of rice when making meatballs, makes them really yummy and filling.
Soak the oatmeal in water for a few minutes and it won’t dry the meat.
Can you also use quick oats?
Yes.
I’ve seen “beef filler” and “chicken filler” in old depression era cookbooks, and also Tex-Mex cookbooks that call for mashed potatoes to be mixed/mashed into the ground beef. This is what gives ground beef that very fine texture in the tacos at a certain taco fast food restaurant. Instant potatoes! The first time I tried it I was amazed. Anyone who browns ground beef knows it comes out in clumps, even if you break it up with a spoon as you cook it, but adding mashed or especially instant potatoes, you get a very fine texture that is much easier to stretch. Then you could add oats, onion, beans etc to stretch it further.