meat in a tube

[moonbeams4]

Just like someone else posted, my mom never would buy it, so I didn't either. Until I hit a really bad month, and it was really on sale. It wasn't bad. In fact it was good. No glitches, or yukkies or anything. Then, Costco started selling 7% fat hamburger in the chubs, and it's about $2.40 lb. That lean of meat around here is usually at least $4 a pound. So, its a big savings. That's all I buy now. I only use this meat for meatloaf, tacos, casseroles that sort of thing.

I buy the premade hamburger patties at Costco for when we have those. They have 2 varieties, a ground chuck burger in 1/4 pound patties, and a ground sirloin in 1/3 pound patties. I found that even though the 1/3 pound patties were good, the kids didn't eat the whole thing, and we were wasting them. So I went back to the 1/4 pound patties.

For the person that said the meat was brown when they opened the package, I wouldn't eat it either. That has not been my experience at all.

 

[Lillybelly]

We buy it all the time and haven't had any problems. Usually we can get the 5-lb one for $1.69 - $1.79 per lb. Then I bring it home cut it into 5 pieces and freeze it. It does have more fat but I just drain & rinse it all of when I cook it. I've never had a problem browning it. Our budget is only $75 per week (including diapers & cleaning supplies) for a family of 6 so I've got to be super frugal with our meat.

 

[grumpy&princess]

can we say ewwwww gross. My ex husband used to buy this all the time and I refused to eat it. There was veins in it, stuff I dont know what it was in there. I couldnt bring myself to eat something that DIDNT LOOK like it was ground meat to me it looked more like ground innards and everything else. I would try to save money anywhere else but on that.

 

[rockyroad]

I have bought the meat in a tube from Kroger.
It was about the same as the rest of the Kroger ground meat, but perhaps a bit finer grind.

I now buy all my ground meat at Sam's.
I get the 90/10.
It keeps longer and it doesn't have all that water.

When I tried to brown the Kroger Ground Chuck, packaged in a tray, it seems to boil instead of brown.

Sometimes, if I get industrious and have time I grind my own.
And ground chicken breast too.
It is way less expensive to grind your own chicken/turkey.
I do up a bunch at a time.
It's much lower in fat.

 

[Jennifer823]

I bought this once.. only once! It just had a lot of yucky grisly "stuff" in it and it seemed really greasy. No thanks!

 

[DebMcDonald]

BJ's has very good prices on ground beef. You must buy it in larger quantities, maybe like 4 lbs at a time, but that's where I bought mine. I have bought tube ground beef before, we were all fine, it tasted fine, but if you look I found that it was higher fat, I think maybe 75/25.

 

[plummer925]

I really hate to be the bearer of bad news - but both Sam's Club and Shaws open those tubes, re-grind the meat and sell as ground beef. And the large hamburger patties at Sam's are those frozen and cut up into patties (I know this because I asked the meat people at both places).

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

Also, as the wife of a meat man, most stores do not grind their 90% lean or leaner cuts of meat. They can't guarntee that percentage, so that stuff comes pre-done. Also, places like Shaws and Wal_Mart do not grind any of their meat on site.

 

[cukal6]

I have never been able to bring myself to buy the meat in a tube, but we buy the turkey in a tube all the time. Is that weird?

 

[cami89]

Guess I'm in the minority because I buy "tube" meat as well. I actually don't buy the ground beef, but the ground turkey. It's wonderful - not gristlely (is that a word? LOL) or nasty whatsoever. I can't speak about ground beef in this format as I've never bought it. The turkey chubs are very economical and work great in almost any recipe that calls for beef. I've bought the ground turkey like this for years, and never had any problems.

Wow...I buy it all the time! I only buy the one with the least fat. I love it, it tastes good, and lasts longer in the fridge than the fresh packaged stuff. It's still regular beef. Nothings different about it that I noticed. I buy it at Staters.

 

[therealleigh]

As a former employee of Sam's Meat department, there are two types of tubes, both are considered fine ground. There is 80/20 and 90/10 in the tubes. If you buy the hamburger in the Styrofoam trays it is the same that is in the tube just been run through the grinder. Sam's has meat cutters but Walmart does not (union issues). Also all large grocery store chains use hamburger from tubes they grind. But those are considered coarse ground in tubes, they are the ones that would have bits of the white stuff, bones fat etc. Sam's only carries fine. All their meat comes in cryovaced, from ibp which is now tyson fresh meats, smithfield and other places. Then they cut them into steaks, chops or cube it. FYI

 

[bettyann29]

Yes, around here at least, the "tube meat" is much higher in fat than what I buy out of the fresh meat case. I tend to buy 93/7 lean ground beef unless I am making burgers on the grill and then I buy something like 85/15.
The tube stuff is more like 75/25!

Not sure about where you live, but here they sell it 73/27, 80/20 and 93/7 I believe.. Its actual beef.. its not "fake beef" or anything like that..

I buy it and have for many years.. Im not a big beef eater but it doesnt taste any different to me..

 

[dhuba]

I have actually read that if you buy that kind of meat that is processed in a large plant you could actually have meat from over 1,000 different animals in one tube, thus increasing your chance of contamination. If you really want to be grossed out about the meat industry, read Fast Food Nation and watch the movie. It certainly has enlightened me. Local farms are your safest bet I guess.

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

ROFL...so, I just called DH at work to comfirm that they get their meat in tubes:

Me: Honey, does you meat come in tubes?
DH: Uh....what?
Me: Does your meat come in tubes, like at Sam's?
DH: (laughing)...oh....that meat! I had no idea what you were talking about?
Me: What else would I be asking...oooohhhh! Never mind!

ROFL....who thought "does your meat come in a tube" would be taken in that manner.

 

[TheRatPack]

We buy a lot of ground turkey for our chili's, soups, taco's...etc It's good and you really can't tell a difference, it browns up nicely (the dark meat, not the ground white turkey). And it's a LOT cheaper than ground beef right now.

I've never purchased meat in a tube (other than sausage) but my sis does and she likes it.

 

[jessica52877]

At first I was scared of the tubes but eventually that is all I could find unless I wanted to spend $5.99 lb. They are fine to us and easier to split up in my mind, I get the big one and cut in 1/4's, wrap and freeze. It does stay in the fridge better too. I have noticed any ickyness or yuck and never had one involved in a recall but have had fresh packaged meat involved in one before.

 

[dopeyfanatic]

I think it's ridiculous that people think the meat in a "tube" is worse. 20% fat is 20% fat regardless of it's in a tube or a tray. I buy the tubes at 7%. When I use to buy the trays I would have that white stuff in my meat if I didn't buy the diet lean. It's just pieces of fat. There is no difference in taste with tube meat.

 

[Mickey's Neighbor]

Guess I'm in the minority because I buy "tube" meat as well. I actually don't buy the ground beef, but the ground turkey. It's wonderful - not gristlely (is that a word? LOL) or nasty whatsoever. I can't speak about ground beef in this format as I've never bought it. The turkey chubs are very economical and work great in almost any recipe that calls for beef. I've bought the ground turkey like this for years, and never had any problems.

We too buy ground turkey in the tubes. The Jenny-O is $1.37 a pound this way. We use it for anything you'd normally use ground beef for. It's cheaper and I have issues with eating cows

 

[Daydreamer64]

I'm sorry but I've had a long day and when I saw "meat in a tube" I had to open this thread.

I'm serious here- I'm really tired and when I read the title all I could think about was, "HUH?" the picture of a gogurt tube was in my head! Yuck, squeezable meat on the go!
Bleck!

I worked in a Winn Dixie meat market in the late 1980's- the things that I saw- I don't know how many times our meat had tumers or growths in it and the meat cutters just cut it out and then ground the left over meat up. YECK! I quit buying meat except for what I ground up. Now I cook the daylights out of it and still can't stand to even think that I "see" anything off in my meat.

 

[jenfur]

I really appreciate all of the information, well almost . I may try some from Sam's, just to see how I feel about it. If its the same stuff as I'm getting everywhere else, why not?