Anyone looking back at what I’ve cooked can immediately see I’m relatively carnivorous.  I like my meat.  However, both of my siblings are vegetarian – one is even vegan and I’ve often eaten at a vegan restaurant.  On my most recent grocery shopping I saw some fake chicken and beef and thought I’d give it a try.

First off – price.  The fake meat is about two and a half times more expensive in terms of price per pound than boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.  Paying some attention, I’ve been able to keep the cost for a meal to a few dollars.  One third of a pound of good beef is under $2.  I’d have to check again to see what chicken is at, somewhere similar.  Having the cost of a meal almost double isn’t a small bit of more expense.

This might be fixable with more people.  The awkward part is the bag is 8 oz and doesn’t take to getting thawed and refrozen.

Cooking it is more of an issue.  I know how to cook chicken.  The fake chicken doesn’t brown like I’d expect it to.  Meat also has inherent fat in it which helps not stick – the fake meat stuck and means extra cleanup for me.

For taste, it was meh.  For someone who is vegetarian, it had texture but it didn’t quite feel right to a carnivore.  I’d rather do a pure vegetable stir fry than add the fake chicken to it.  I also have some fake beef, I’ll have to see how well that works in another dish – probably one with more flavor to it.