What are the best fake meats?

[MintMunchie]

I'm trying to eat less meat and possibly go vegetarian/vegan in the future. This isn't too much of a hardship at the moment as I love vegetables, and pulses, but there are a few dishes that I'd like to try including fake meat in rather than buy meat, even though I'm not planning on giving it entirely for a while.

I'm going to Waitrose tomorrow and I'd love any recommendations for fake meats. I'm particularly interested in substitutes for meatballs, bacon and mince, but I'm open to anything.

Thank you in advance.

As someone else said, these are not very healthy (and often expensive) you would be much better with a delicious homemade meat free meal. There is a thread going about with favourite veggie meals.

@RedRosie - I need to buy some of those now, just to see DS's face when he asks me what's for tea!

I buy quorn meatballs and mince for ds and make the same dish as the rest of us just substituting the meat.
We love these parsnip and carrot burgers from Waitrose.

Farmfoods meatballs and vegan mince are good (I'm not keen on Quorn). £3 for 2 packs.

Homemade falafel are nicer than any of the shop ones I've tried.

@spiderlight

They really are delicious. We have Little Willies in buns, for breakfast, and in all sorts of 'sausage' recipes. They stand up well to cooking and have a great texture and taste.

Because someone is bound to mention it sooner or later......

Some people are allergic to quorn. As in properly spew like the exorcist allergic or stomach cramps to rival labour cramps. So go easy on it unless you know it will be OK

Im not veggie but eat lots of veggie food. I really like the asda range, in particular their meat free meat balls and bean burgers. Really good and hold their shape really well. They do these cauliflower cheese patty things which are fab too.

DialsMavis* where's the smoked tofu from ?? I love the stuff but tend to have it marinated.

Vivera vegan steak/sausages/pulled pork from Morrisons or Tesco

Been veggie 30 years long before much was really available!

I love Quorn, always have in the freezer mince, chicken style chunks, fillets and steak strips in, dd (not veggie) likes them too. They even do fish less fish fingers, I like the chilled rashers too (easier to separate than the frozen), with the exception of the sausages - prefer linda McCartney. Agree the linda McCartney pies are nicest too.

Meatballs I prefer a soy based substitute, they just seem to hold better. I also love tofu which is widely available now but generally cheaper in oriental shops if you have any nearby.

It's trial and error really. When I first turned veggie it was Holland & Barrett were the only place did any meat subs. Bean feast is a mince substitute comes in a variety of flavours, but I find it gives me heartburn but there are veggies that like it. They also do sos mix and a burger mix and plain soy pieces for making your own recipes.

Just as with meat - eg my dd meat eater but not keen on beef or pork (apart from bacon), everyone likes different things.

Enjoy finding out what you like.

I like vivera products in Tesco (not sure if anywhere else)

If it Waitrose in the fridge department they have smoked tofu - I think it’s got sesame on it - which is really nice. Maybe by taifun? Can’t exactly remember.
They also have fake ‘chicken shawarma’ meat in the fridge section as well that’s pretty good for salads.
Lots of people on here saying how processed they are - well yeah.. but just sometimes it’s nice to just have a different texture and lots of people don’t give up meat because they stopped liking the taste.

I agree with others, I’m not a massive fan of all the fake meat substitutes, there aren’t many I buy twice. I do really like...
Taifun tofu wieners,
Smoked tofu,
Just used naturli mince for the first time and it made a v nice cottage pie so I would buy it again.
Definitely going to try some of the recommendations from this thread!

Vivera have a selection of things, pulled 'meat' beetroot burgers, and some meat style ones (which I won't buy as they have palm oil in). Available in Waitrose.

I can't stand McCartney stuff, it is very salty and once again, palm oil.

I used to get meatfree meat balls from Asda but don't shop there now so maybe they have changed.

For cold 'meat', my favourite is the fake beef Quorn slices. Also buy Quorn roast, sausages, cocktail sausages, mince and fake chicken pieces, Cauldron sausages. Tofu. Waitrose make a frozen vegetarian cottage pie which is OK and have a selection of vegetarian ready meals.

As long as you don't expect it to taste like meat and are prepared to accept it on it's merits you will be OK with it.

Sorry, lost the , between pulled meat and beetroot burgers, they are not all one item.

Quinn chicken nuggets are nicer than real chicken nuggets.

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I appreciate it, and have a list of items to get from Waitrose and have also noted down items from other supermarkets that I'll try when I get to them.

I'm not at all concerned about how healthy the substitutes are or aren't. As I mentioned I eat a lot of vegetables and the fake meat is only for occasional use. I rarely eat regular sausage or bacon anyway, and if I do it's a small amount through pasta with vegetables.

I'm looking forward to trying them. Thank you all again.

Tesco veggie Lincolnshire sausages are lovely. The quorn soya burgers are lush!

I’ve never had a problem with quorn until recently, although we don’t eat a huge amount of it. However it now seems to give me a right dodgy tummy the next day

Pretty much all Quorn products are good and do taste like meat.. bar their chicken fillets.

^Don’t kid yourself. Quote is disgusting

Quinn chicken nuggets are nicer than real chicken nuggets.

^Yeah of course they are (!)

They genuinely are.

No gristle for one.

Brilliant with sweet and sour sauce.

I don't bother too much with meat substitutes any more, but I did like quorn and marinated tofu.

My DC still love Tesco's meat free hot dog sausages... just like the real thing.

I often use slabs of halloumi as a meat or burger (fried or grilled). There's also a cheap "grilling cheese" in Tesco, which is not like halloumi, but its still nice. It's like paneer, and I use it in curries

I

I really like the quorn mince for things like chilli . I did get some veggie sausages made from veggies, rice etc which were lovely but i can’t for the life of me think where (no help at all)

I make nut balls instead of meatballs. They're yummy but probably not meaty enough for what you want.

I make chilli using bulghar. You bring tomato juice to a boil and pour it over the bulghar and let it sit for around 15 minutes. You use 1 cup of each.

Tip it into the chilli with a tin tomatoes and kidney beans after you've fried up onions, peppers, carrots, tomato puree, chilli powder.

Quorn isn’t vegan (and is fucking foul)
Linda McCartney sausages are nice
Lentils for mince (can make “meatballs” with them)
Tofoo tofu doesn’t taste like shit and is easier to cook with than silken tofu