Video:Tips for Buying Ground Beef

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Transcript:Tips for Buying Ground Beef

Hi! This is Jesse Rosado for About.com, and today we're going to be talking about tips for buying ground beef.

Buy Beef from Reputable and Clean Sources

When buying ground beef, it's important where you shop. You can visit your local supermarket, or sometimes there's specialty butchers, and also, there are grass-fed beef producers that sell at farmer's markets. The main thing is to shop at a place that's very reputable with their meat, and is busy enough to constantly turn over their meat selection.

Notice the Fat Percentage on Ground Beef Packaging

When buying ground beef, the first thing you'll want to know is the fat content. On each label you'll see75/25, 90/10, and basically what those numbers mean is 90 percent beef, 10 percent fat, or 75 percent beef and 25 percent fat. Another way that you can tell is by the color of the product itself. This product here is 25 percent fat, and you'll notice it's kind of a creamier, whitish color. If this were 90 percent ground beef, you would see much more red color in the beef. If you're using ground beef for burger, you might want to consider using a leaner ground beef. For something like meatloaf, maybe an 85/15 mix, just to give a little fat content to add flavor.

Store Ground Beef in Plastic in the Fridge or Freezer

If the meat at the counter has any signs of discoloration or browning, this means that the meat has been oxidized, or just not well taken care of. And so you want to avoid that meat. Store it on the bottom shelf of your fridge, wrapped in a plastic bag, on top of a sheet tray or something - just to make sure the juices don't leak out and contaminate the other ingredients in the fridge. If you're shopping further in advance, you'll want to put it in a plastic bag and store it in your freezer.

If you're dealing with frozen ground beef, like this block here, you want to take it out of your freezer the night before and put it in your freezer to let it gently thaw out overnight. If you need a quicker defrosting method, you can use a baking dish like this, put your beef - inside its package - right underneath a steady stream of cold water, and it should defrost within an hour, hour and a half.

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