Found a way to make a full pot of chili for under $8 total

I was tired of chili recipes needing a ton of ground beef. I swapped half of it for a can of brown lentils from Aldi, which cost like 80 cents. You really can't tell the difference, and it stretches the meat so much further. Anyone else have cheap swaps for ground meat that actually work?

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lee9266mo ago

Yeah, the mushroom trick is solid. I read a food blog that said to grate a carrot or zucchini into meatloaf or meatballs. It adds moisture and bulk, and the flavor just disappears into the meat. I tried it with taco meat once, using a grated carrot, and it worked way better than I thought it would.

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verar216mo ago

Oh man, my buddy did something similar with mushrooms last winter. He got a pack of those cheap white mushrooms, chopped them super fine, and cooked them down with a little onion before adding his ground turkey. He said it bulked up his pasta sauce like crazy and you couldn't even taste them. He was so pumped about it.

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caleb_stone5mo ago

Totally works with lentils too, I mix the red kind into my chili. They basically vanish but make it way thicker and heartier, it's a solid move.

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