Ground Beef
Beef in the Midwest · down 13% this week
Per a typical 113g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Beef, ground, 80% lean meat / 20% fat, raw).
- 1 NortheastCheapest $4.51/lb
- 2 Midwest $5.04/lb
- 3 Southcentral $5.38/lb
- 4 Southwest $6.07/lb
- 5 Northwest $6.08/lb
- 6 Southeast $6.27/lb
Buying ground beef in the Northeast saves about 28% versus the Southeast this week.
- How to pick a good one
- The percentage on the label is the whole decision: 80/20 has enough fat to stay juicy in burgers and meatballs, while leaner blends dry out. Look for bright red on the surface with no grey or brown patches, and a package with little accumulated liquid, which indicates it has been sitting.
- What a good price looks like
- Ground beef is the reference protein for budget cooking: commonly $4 to $6 a pound for 80/20, which works out to roughly $0.20 to $0.30 per gram of protein. Under $4.50 is a good price and worth buying in bulk to freeze. The larger family packs are almost always cheaper per pound than the tray of one.
- What you actually get
- A pound of 80/20 cooks down to about 12 oz, losing roughly a quarter of its weight as rendered fat and water. Leaner blends lose less. A pound serves four in a sauce or chilli, or makes three good burgers at 5 oz each. Budget 4 oz raw per person when the beef is the main event.
- How to store it
- Ground beef has far more surface area than a steak and spoils faster — one to two days in the coldest part of the fridge. Freeze it flat in a bag if you will not cook it in that window; it thaws in minutes and stacks better.
- In the kitchen
- Get the pan hot before the meat goes in and then leave it alone. Most people stir ground beef from the moment it lands, which drops the pan temperature and steams it grey; a flat layer left undisturbed for three or four minutes builds the browning that carries the whole dish. Break it up after it has coloured, not before, and drain only if the recipe does not want the fat.
- Getting the most out of it
- Do not crowd the pan and do not stir it constantly. Let it sit and brown properly on one side first, since that browning is most of the flavour. For burgers, handle the meat as little as possible — overworking it makes the texture dense and springy.
- Bolognese RecipeRecipe by Budget Bytes~$1.02 / serving 5 in-season
- Sautéed Beef, Cabbage, and RiceRecipe by Budget Bytes~$1.20 / serving 2 in-season
- Chimichurri MeatballsRecipe by The Modern Proper~$1.25 / serving 0 in-season
- Italian Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (Polpette in Sugo)Recipe by The Mediterranean Dish~$1.30 / serving 4 in-season
- Vegan Tater Tot CasseroleRecipe by Nora Cooks~$1.41 / serving 3 in-season
- Gingery Ground Beef (Soboro Donburi)Recipe by The Modern Proper~$1.54 / serving 0 in-season
See all 236 recipes with ground beef →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.
Price from the USDA weekly retail meat report (conventional, per lb). Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.
Ground Beef — FAQ
What's the price of ground beef this week?
As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of ground beef in the Midwest is $5.04/lb, down 13% from last week. Prices come from the USDA's weekly retail meat report.
Which region has the cheapest ground beef right now?
The Northeast has the cheapest ground beef this week at $4.51/lb — about 28% less than the Southeast, where it runs $6.27/lb.
How much protein is in ground beef?
A typical 113g serving of ground beef has about 19.4g protein and 287 calories (22.6g fat), per USDA FoodData Central.
What can I cook with ground beef?
SeasonSort indexes 236 recipes using ground beef, each priced per serving from this week's data — starting from about $0.19 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.