Meat substitutes review-the good, the bad, and the reaqlly expensive

Over the last 6 month I've tried various meat substitutes, and my opinion is generally they're a nice convenience option but overall sticking to whole foods is better for a variety of reasons; 1) Meat subs are expensive, 2) Meat subs are over processed with hydrolyzed this and that, and 3) Some of them taste downright nasty.

This isn't a comprehensive list at all, just what I have tried so far and what I think. And since this is a free blog with no commercial connections, it is the unvarnished truth.

The Good

Good includes everything I like and would happily eat again and use in recipes.

Out of everything I've tried, my absolute favorite is Trader Joe's Meatless Italian Sausage. It tastes really good and is moist, and there is no weird after-taste you get with some fake meat products. I've used in pasta sauces, sliced it up and sauteed with peppers, even used it in stuffing for Thanksgiving with my family none the wiser that it wasn't real pork sausage. The downside is that it is a Trader Joe's product which I only go to occasionally, we all know how often TJ likes to discontinue products we love.

I have tried Tofurkey Italian Sausage and it's good, just not as good. It's a little dry with an off-taste, but used in pasta sauces you can't really tell and it does have a good texture. Tofurkey does it's best not to use over-processed and/or GMO ingredients, and as a bonus I can find it in my local grocery stores. My husband and I like their Hickory Smoked Tofurkey Deli Slices, with lots of lettuce, tomato, and mustard it's hard to tell the difference between real turkey and this.

I've tried different ground beef subs, and my favorite is still beans, but for a change of pace I like Morningstar Meal Starters Grillers Recipe Crumbles, what a name. It's alright in chili and other things where ground beef isn't the star of the dish. It still has that soy-aftertaste but not as much as the other fake ground beef out there.

The Bad

In other words, stuff I either spit out and/or swore to never buy again in whole life.


Yves Veggie Cuisine Meatless Deli Bologna Slices taste like dirt, and not like how pork bologna tastes like dirt but you don't really care if it's fried. It's bad dirt, people.

Another dirt tasting product is Lightlife Smart Dogs, dirt in tube form. Mushy and bland. Bleh. My oldest child is still mad and insists whenever I go grocery shopping that I better not come home with any veggie dogs, that's how badly I scarred her with the experience of these.

I am not a big fan of Boca products either, the soy after-taste is so strong in all of them and I thought the Crumbles had an icky texture. Your mileage may vary, of course.

The Really Expensive

Anything Quorn. At my local stores it averages between 5.50 to 6.50 for a 12 ounce item, that's not a lot and generally twice as much as I pay for comparable Morningstar or Trader Joe products.

What I've tried so far is the Chick'n Tenders, which is a totally misleading name because it is more like diced up chicken then anything resembling tenders. But it was good, really good. It had a really close texture to real chicken and tasted good, if not a little bland. I used them in quesadillas and it was wonderful, everyone ate them without a problem. Because of the price, it is going to be firmly an occasional treat item, though.

As I try more things I'd be happy to add more reviews. Night, y'all.