Best meat free meats?

[mercutio84]

As per another post I put up, am trying to commit fully to vegetarian and was seeking advice on that post re the kids and how we’d manage.

I’ve always struggled with Quorn. Just texture thing for me and it’s hard for me to get over. Any other recommendations for best meat free meats eg sausages? Or tips re tofu recipes?

The best vegan sausages are definitely Richmond or This Isn’t Pork. For fake chicken, my favourite is from The Vegetarian Butcher.

Tofu is great when it’s air fried. There’s a brilliant recipe for it on Tesco’s food website.

My daughter is now mainly veggy. She seconds the this isn’t sausages.

she also likes the Aldi own brand veggy food - we don’t shop there generally but she will go to stock up.

I dice mushrooms instead of using Quorn.
Our vegan staples that freeze are dhal curries, jalfrezi, chilli, roasted pepper pasta sauce and ratatouille. We toss tofu in polenta and spices before baking.

I am vegan but was vegetarian for a long time before. Supermarket own brand vegan mince is way better than quorn mince (and half the price too). I also prefer it over the higher end brand more realistic versions and every meat eater ive fed it to has been pleasantly surprised too.

The best meals do not contain fake processed ingredients, instead use beans, mushrooms, aubergine, cauliflower etc to give texture and centrepiece to meals that need it. If you need a quick semi processed item I also recommend using stuffing with veggies to make a centrepiece eg sauté onions and mushrooms, add sage and onion stuffing mix, water to reconstitute and a handful of frozen cranberries plus a pinch of cinnamon, mix and bake 20 minutes, serve with roast trimmings

For tofu recipes Meera Sodha in the Guardian has loads of good ones.

Richmond sausages are definitely the best veggie sausages.

there are various versions of bacon but none of them are terribly nice.

I absolutely respect anyone who chooses not to eat one food or another. But you can’t have meat-free meat.
Manufactured lookalike stuff is available but do look at the rubbish contained within. Please look to getting your protein from other sources such as beans and pulses, tofu etc as it’s so much better for you.

No such thing. If you want something that looks like meat, has the texture of meat and tastes like meat, eat meat.

Bore off.

Richmond sausages are great. As is quorn chicken burgers.

🤣🤣🤣

There are loads of ways to do tofu in the air fryer if you Google. Otherwise Richmond fake sausages are good. Quorn chicken nuggets are just like real chicken, even though they are Quorn. This Isn't Bacon streaky bacon is quite good if you like a crispy bacon. I do it in the air fryer to crisp it up.

We like the This Isn’t sausages too, with the Richmond ones being second choice. I haven’t fond a fake bacon that is decent, they range from bad to ok imo.

My DS likes seitan for things where you’d use chicken, so for curry or similar. The Toofoo one is fine, it’s a mixture of tofu and seitan. Otherwise I just use firm tofu, the Toofoo brand again. I like the smoked one for flavour. You can coat cubes or slices in seasoned cornflour and shallow fry for a simple addition to a vegetable stir fry or similar.

If you are vegetarian, you can choose paneer also. Tesco's own brand paneer is really good. You can use it in Indian, Chinese food. I like the plant based balls from Asda to use in spaghetti with tomato sauce.

There’s always one

The this isn’t range is fantastic! I love their chicken thighs in particular, with a Nando’s sauce; lovely on a salad. Tofu in the airfryer is great too. I do mine with a honey and soy glaze; even meat eating DH loves it.

We like the Richmond char-grilled 'chicken' pieces but have recently discovered the Iceland fake chicken which has a similar texture. I didn't really like tofu when I first gave up meat but I love it now - it is so versatile as it can be cubed, sliced, shredded then seasoned as required. My favourite thing to make with tofu is tofu scramble.

Quorn options would always be last on my list (with the exception of the vegan sausages)!

Richmond sausages are amazing

Squeaky Bean for chicken pieces

Vivera for kebab meat!

I generally do tofu, lentils (mainly for curries), chickpeas and then for “meat” have Richmond sausages and ooomph chicken style pieces but I mainly eat tofu as that’s the one I enjoy the most and I prefer less processed stuff

Richmond sausages
Richmond char grill chicken ( I can only find the fresh ones though not frozen)
Linda MacCartney mince ( Quorn is too sweet )
Tofu is bland but holds flavour

I did try This Isn't ...Bacon but it tastes like kippers !

I didn't like Beyond Meat mince at all , I don't know if it was the texture or taste but it was too meaty / Maybe they are trying to capture the carnivore market so make it as near as possible ?

Juicy marbles steak!! Really really good. A bit pricey (far less than real steak) but genuinely takes like the real thing

We really like the Fable pulled mushrooms. They make an amazing black pepper "beef" takeaway.

La vie bacon is great in a sandwich, much nicer than all the others available.

The best fake bacon is MorningStar farms streaky bacon, but it’s probably easier to buy crack than to find that in the UK anymore.

Are you looking for products to have on days where you miss meat or are you thinking in terms of keeping to the same general diet but with meat subs?

If you and the family are going to go fully veggie then you need to start thinking differently about how you put meals together. Its perfectly possible to raise healthy children on a veggie or even vegan diet but if you have not grown up with it takes a while to adjust. I always recommend people do it gradually rather than “big bang” in which case you may find little need for meat subs (which are often poor nutritionally). Start with meat free days, then meat-with days, then reduce the meat-with days to zero.

I’ve posted about this before (a few times…) but this post might be helpful to planning your diets over the coming months:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5359194-dd-wants-to-go-vegetarian?reply=145170927

There was also a good thread on “old fashioned” veggie recipes, many of which are easier for those new to veggie diets than the trend for million ingredient recipes from Ottolenghi et al.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/food_and_recipes/5017053-old-fashioned-vegetarian-food?

To answer the specific question on this thread - my meat eating SiL will happily eat Squeaky Bean bacon and the aforementioned Richmond sausages but has also developed a fondness for meals such as Tempeh Rendang which does not pretend to be meat but fills the meat spaced “hole” (if that makes sense!).