one extreme to the other.

[Lloyd Smale]

been buying extra burger when we get a chance. I probably had a 150 lbs in the freezer. Stuff from the stores lately is all 80/20 and that's giving them the benefit of the doubt. Some of it was fattier then that. Tasty when cooked but it puts on a flame show on the grill. Buddy called me a couple days ago and said his brother bought a steer and was grinding it all into burger and I could get 200lbs for 250 a lb. So I jumped on it. Got it yesterday all nicely packed in tubes. Took a lb out for supper last night and its probably the leanest burger ive ever seen. Its lucky to have 5 percent fat. It was harder to grill then the flame throwing fat burgers and to be honest didn't taste as good when it was done. Probably great for spegetti, sloppy joes ect. But a burger needs a bit of fat if you ask me. Id like to cut it with some 80/20 but its all packaged nicely in tubes and its just the wife and I so its kind of hard to take out a lb of each every time.

[NyFirefighter357]

Dice up some cheap raw bacon and mix it in when you make the burgers.

[mattw]

We use a mix of venison and beef for about everything. Cook up 2 pounds and make 2 meals... burgers for the first and spaghetti for the second or tacos or road kill helper.

[MaryB]

Would make good "jerky" snack strips... canbuy suet from a butcher and grind it and add a little to each pound of burger. Freeze it in ice cube trays and pop one out and thaw as needed.

[IHuntDragons]

I definitely prefer a bit more fat, both in the burger and the steaks. We just picked up our beef 10 days ago.

[rockrat]

I prefer 85/15 or 90/10 if I can find it. 95/5 is a bit too lean, unless I am making tacos or chili.

[Lloyd Smale]

told my wife any time were using two lbs like making spegetti or chilli to take out a lb of each but its way to much work to thaw it all out and add fat and repackage it. If it was bulk id do it but its all packed nicely in one lb tubes. Im sure not getting my grinder out every time to grind up some bacon or a 1/10 of a lb of fat to add to it. Cant stand pork fat in it and did 50lbs of venison with bacon ground in it and my wife didn't like that and to be truthful it seemed like a waste of good bacon to me too. Tastes much better with a couple slices of bacon on top the burger. Like I said it could be worse. Some of the burger we got lately from the local store is so fatty its nasty. When they deliver your grocerys in the parking lot its pretty tough to guarantee good meat. I guess to complain about getting burger to lean for 2.50 a lb is silly when Walmart is getting 4 bucks for that nasty fat in a tube crap. Heck im trying to loose weight anyway so a bit less fat is probably a good thing. Especially in something like chili or speg. or sloppy joes or ham helper where it doesn't taste any different anyway. Just not a great burger.
We use a mix of venison and beef for about everything. Cook up 2 pounds and make 2 meals... burgers for the first and spaghetti for the second or tacos or road kill helper.

[jimlj]

I have never found the spooge in a tube from the grocery stores to be much good. I'm guessing its more like 50/50 than the 80/20 it says on the label.
I agree a bit more fat makes the burger taste better. I'd just thaw a pound of each that you have and mix it, then plan on using the second pound in a few days. Should keep fine for a couple days in the fridge.

[trebor44]

I prefer 85/15 or 90/10 if I can find it. 95/5 is a bit too lean, unless I am making tacos or chili.

I quit buying 'burger' years ago. I grind my own from Chuck or Sirloin and add fat (seldom) if I think I want some. Fat in burger is "plate meat" and the percentage is ideally no more than 10 percent. Also make my own 'ground' chicken, pork or turkey. The ROI on the basic Cabelas grinder has been a great.

[AlaskaMike]

We always save the grease from bacon and sausage, and I always use it to mix in with the 93/7 super lean ground beef my wife always buys. I just eyeball the proportions, trying to get it close to 80/20. It seems to work out well, and my wife feels good about buying the super lean stuff!

[Omega]

I mixed some cheap ground beef with ground venison 50/50 and made some burger patties with it, it tasted great, the extra beef fat was diluted by the venison and helped it stick together better and not shrink as much. We ate them (I gave some to friends too) pretty quick, but they should last as long as beef does when frozen. I don't like mixing bacon into venison, I'd rather eat bacon separately, and only mix pork fat with it when I make sausage.

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree with you on the bacon. It tastes a heck of a lot better fried crispy and on top then mixed in raw. I made some venison burger last summer with 10 percent bacon for fat and the wife (who is obsessed with bacon) wouldn't eat it. She said it made it taste funny. To be honest I didn't think it was bad but it didn't impress me much either. Plus its a very expensive way of adding fat and in the end it doesn't taste much like bacon added like that anyway.
I mixed some cheap ground beef with ground venison 50/50 and made some burger patties with it, it tasted great, the extra beef fat was diluted by the venison and helped it stick together better and not shrink as much. We ate them (I gave some to friends too) pretty quick, but they should last as long as beef does when frozen. I don't like mixing bacon into venison, I'd rather eat bacon separately, and only mix pork fat with it when I make sausage.