Anyone got a good alternative to Beyond mince?

[Gooseandanothergoose]

Some of the household are veggie, some are meat-eaters. Everyone liked Beyond mince - it was 'meaty' enough for everyone while still being veggie.

Then the company stopped selling it - it was pretty expensive so I'm not shocked (I always used to buy when it was on offer).

All the other supermarket alternatives have since been rejected by the meat-eaters, leaving me either having to make two separate meals, which is a faff, or do something else entirely, and so classics like spag bol or cottage pie have fallen off the radar.

Has anyone got anything which resembles Beyond mince as a meat substitute?

I'm confused because I've got two packs of Beyond Meat Mince on my Ocado order for next week and I can get it online at Morisons, not sure if it's available in store

I do cottage pie with lentils sometimes, we aren’t veggie it’s usually just for a change. I know it’s not the same but it’s tasty.
Meat alternatives are all a bit too mushroomy for us.

Please let me know if it arrives! I see a lot of it showing as available but it isn't. I even emailed the company and they said they had no plans to restock (this was a few months ago).

@AmberCrow yes I do that sometimes, but it's a very different dish. I'm looking for something that to all the world appears to be meat. We don't eat a lot of processed food, but I'm willing to use meat substitutes occasionally so I'm not having to make two dinners at the same time.

I make a cottage pie with aduki beans.

I really love the Tesco meat free mince!

Thanks, I tried that one most recently, but it got a thumbs down.

That sounds lovely, but it's a very different meal - and beans def won't work for spag bol or lasagne or a lot of dishes that call for mince, annoyingly. Everyone eats the lentil/bean dishes, but the meat-eaters understandably want meat dishes sometimes too, and I've lost the one ingredient that means a bunch of them I now have to make separately. It's not the end of the world, but it probably is the end of spag bol unless I somehow find extra time between work and dinner time to make two separate pans each time.

Have you tried Moving Mountains? We order firm Ocado online. Our previous favourite mince was Beyond Burger and now we use this brand. We haven't tried that many veggie minces, but most of the ones we have tried we didn't like. Just to add, with MM, I find I have to cook it until well browned else the texture doesn't pass muster with any of us.

A mixture of puy lentils and chopped mushrooms and splash of soy sauce instead of salt makes a good substitute

Having tried a couple of others, I've settled on Vivera plant mince - I haven't given it to non-vegetarians though, but like it myself for e.g. lasagne and moussaka. I do probably use a bit more liquid than I would with beef mince.

Have you tried the Linda McCartney one?

Thanks for your suggestions! @HundredAcreOwl & @caffelattetogo afraid both Vivera and Linda McCartney minces have already been tried and rejected by one or more meat eaters in the house already.

@mitogoshigg Seasoned lentils and mushrooms are an absolute no - much as they might be delicious, they are no pretender to meat, and while I cook with both, it's clearly a veggie dish. We all eat plenty of those as it is - but it's not pretend meat.

@WaryOchreZebra We haven't tried Moving Mountains yet, so thank you, I will see if I can get hold of some to try! Just a shame it looks like it's only from Ocado.

I think cans of green or brown lentils are the best simple substitute, or dried ones if you don't mind cooking them first.

We eat the Sainsbury’s meat-free pioneers mince. I find the texture much more preferable than quorn mince.

From the photo of Beyond mince on their website it looks exactly like plain TVP that I buy from the health food shop? What is it about the others that they don't like? That may help find an alternative.

My absolute favourite is the Asda meat free mince.

I did try the Holland and Barrett version after seeing it recommended on here, but I couldn't get off the loo afterwards!

@AdeloreSmore It's not TVP, it's a very different flavour and texture and has different ingredients. It's much closer in taste and texture to actual meat. Many vegetarians disliked it for that reason!

The meat eaters in the family liked it because it was very similar to meat. The vegetarians liked it because it was tasty. I liked it because I could cook one dish of spag bol that everyone ate! Sadly, other products don't have the same taste/texture - TVP has a very different flavour and doesn't have the bite to it - it's a poor meat substitute. Lentils, etc taste nothing like meat. (I do cook with them fairly often, and those meals are good in their own way, but I'm not going to ask a meat-eater to pretend spag bol made with TVP or lentils is the same as a meat version - it isn't.)

@Roastiesarethebestbit @OldTinHat thank you! We have tried them both and they don't come close to the Beyond mince. Search continues!

It looks like there is no easy answer. You could make either the meat part or the vegetarian part ahead of time in a big batch, freeze in portions then serve as individual cottage pies, lasagne etc. Might not be a perfect solution but it is workable.

Have you tried This Isn't Mince?

I was going to say mushrooms chopped and then cooked in marmite with onions, etc., but it definitely doesn't taste similar to meat.

Another option would be buying some of the Beyond Meat burgers and grinding them up a bit pre-cooking. The taste should be similar, but obviously not quite the same. I can't remember what Quorn mince is like now (I'm coeliac and it has barley in), but again I used to occasionally cook that with a teaspoon of marmite for richness.

The problem is, lots of the processed mince is quite...plain? I think that's why it I mainly avoid and use mushrooms these days. Plus the price! Those burgers are like a fiver for two! I don't mind occasionally but it just seems a rip off because they're so small!

@Bippertyboo2 thanks, we tried it, but it wasn't a success.

@GiddyRobin I did consider that, but yes the price is astronomical and they do taste considerably different to the mince. Ditto their sausages - I thought that might be an option, turns out the Beyond sausages are foul. We did a family taste test (meat & veggie sausages) and they came bottom of the pile.

This isn't mince is great, as it the waitrose plant range one

Just to let you know that I did indeed receive my two packs of Beyond Mince from Ocado and it's still available online

Quorn is gluten free barley so fine for coeliacs. Not OK if you have a barley allergy. I just double checked as had a total panic that the recipe had changed!

Marmite isn't gluten free though!

Meatless farm goes down well in this house. I’m not vegetarian and like it despite not really tolerating the fake meats generally.

also the “this isn’t” range

(our) Sainsburys’s has a really good selection tbf