Food Prep: Organic Grass Fed Beef

Andrew Berry / October 6, 2013

Ok, so a lot of clients as me about how I prepare my foods. Since I eat a lot, I like to prepare a lot of foods at once and get them ready for the week when time is more valuable. Find a time in your schedule to put 45 – 60 minutes into preparing the majority of your foods and your 90% on you way to a successful diet plan. First, you don’t want to waste your hard earned money, so you will eat what you have already prepared and secondly, you saved yourself lots of time from having to cook every individual meal, or search for a healthy alternative when you are away from home.

First, get you organic grass fed beef. You can find this at farmers markets, health stores and even in the regular grocery stores. The health benefits are many and not the scope of this article, but trust me, it will make you feel better, it tastes better and it is doing a world of good for your health.

Second, cook two to three pounds on a large skillet over low to medium heat. High heat can damage the proteins and fats in the beef and can cause them to become less healthy for you.

Thirdly, wash the beef. The fats in the grass fed beef are a very important component to the overall health of my diets but usually the fat content in the beef is a little bit higher than I like. Most grass fed beef portions are 90-93% lean. i like to get it closer to 96% lean. I do this by transporting the beef to a strainer and washing it under warm water for 30-60 seconds

I was trying to contact some universities and food service companies to get an exact protocol down to make the beef 96% lean but unfortunately it’s an expensive process to the tune of $650 per sample. I guess we’ll just have to guess. Washing does’t completely take all the fat out. Remember we want a good deal of the fat just not al of it. Washing just gets rid of the oils that come out from heating. There is plenty of fat still trapped within the meat.

After the wash, put the beef back into the pan on low heat. If you want, season with some low to no calorie spices and herbs. Taco seasoning works quite nice. Or, keep it plain. The taste of real grass fed beef is far superior to regular corn fed cows. Since we have a whole bunch cooked, let’s save even more time by using our food scale to get our portions set up for the week.

Now, we’re done. It’s just that easy. We have a good bulk of our meals cooked. If you are like me you will need to do this again one more time during the week to provide meals for the second half of the week. While the beef is cooking, my other protein source, chicken is usually baking in the oven, my vegetables are steaming in the steamer and I am putting my whey protein and other supplements into little baggies in preparation for the rest of the week. This saves a load of time!!

Ahh, now I just have to add a serving of veggies once they are done cooking, add a carbohydrate if the meal calls for it and throw them in the fridge. Time saved feels great. Give this method a try.