Farmfoods are Quorn to be wild with this great vegan burger bargain

The lockdown is hitting many people in the pocket, so any budget vegan food is to be welcomed at the moment, but this is something else!

Farmfoods has a big bag of Quorn Ultimate Vegan Burgers for £3.99 – and by big, I mean 2kg! I counted 18 burgers in my bag, and they are a decent size too.

A bag of Quorn Ultimate Vegan Burgers from Farmfoods

These thick and meaty burgers are perfect for a family and even better for a barbecue. Farmfoods also has its usual “three for a fiver” offer on its Veggie Kitchen range too – that’s reviewed here.

Now, calling anything “ultimate” is a huge claim – do they live up to the claim?

Well, the burgers themselves grill or fry from frozen in 12 to 14 minutes, and they colour nicely too. They have that chargrilled look about them when they’ve cooked and boast a meaty feel and texture. They’re not overly chewy though and have a nice bite to them.

To me, they taste burger-like too. I can’t remember exactly what meat burgers taste like, but I personally couldn’t see non-vegans complaining.

Some vegans don’t like the trend of making vegan food more meat-like. As a long-standing vegan, I can understand this and relate to this point of view. I can also see how it’s an advantage for new vegans missing the taste and texture of meat and for those vegans wanting something which meat-eaters can also enjoy.

Some may prefer their vegan burgers with a little more spice and, if I’m honest, I wouldn’t have minded the addition of a kick of black pepper, but the lack of an overbearing flavour can be seen as an advantage too – I can envisage these going down well with kids – vegan or not.

I had mine with chips for the purpose of this review, but I can imagine gravy complementing this perfectly – they’d also go well in a vegan cheeseburger I believe.

As you can see from the ingredients below, they are soy-free but not gluten-free.

Quorn does have a sustainable palm oil policy which you can read here

Quorn Ultimate Vegan Burgers ingredients

 

But vegan bacon though…

Vegan bacon has risen in popularity this year.

The old joke “but bacon” from meat-eaters, which is about as original as “where do you get your protein” or “how do you know a vegan? They tell you”, has been answered tenfold.

For years, Cheatin Rashers had been my go-to for a BLT or fried vegan breakfast. But suddenly, with the explosion in veganism over the last couple of years, everyone seems to want a part of the vegan bacon action.

I’m not complaining, they can really add something to a burger and thrown with some tofu scramble, beans and fried mushrooms, it really makes a cooked breakfast sing. But don’t forget the hash browns and dark, dark brown tea!

Of course, these shop-bought vegan bacons are as processed as their dead pig counterparts. The advantage they have for many of us is that they are so quick to cook – typically, you have to fry each side for about thirty seconds. You are more likely to cremate them because the phone rings than you are to under-cook them.

But you can make your own.

Banana skin bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich

Do they taste like bacon? Probably not, but they are better for you and for the pigs and they do taste nice.

I hadn’t realised how easy it is to knock some up until I saw this recipe for banana skin bacon. To see for yourself, go here 

Soon after, I was sent almost the same recipe but using slivers of carrot.

For a slight variation on this, go here

It’s all in the marinade you see. And that is what makes these versions so appealing to me – the ingredients in the marinade make so much sense and I thoroughly recommend keeping them in your vegan store cupboard.

Liquid smoke, for example, adds a bite to anything and is great for frying with.

As for soy sauce; well I just love frying broccoli in the stuff as a side dish. You can use Henderson’s Relish instead of soy sauce, I swear by that stuff and always have a bottle around.

But my favourite of all is smoked paprika. I love the stuff. It has a smoky, sweet but not too sweet, taste that is the key to such dishes. Mixed together these ingredients are perfection.

I must say you can never over-marinate, but boy can you under-marinate? In a word: Don’t.

For me, food is always better planned in advance anyway.

I have tried many of the supermarket vegan bacons, and, to be honest, I haven’t found one I didn’t like – but it’s sometimes more fun to make your own, right?

No one is pretending they taste like meat, but it is fun triggering the anti-vegan obsessives with them and they do work so well with breakfast, an addition to roast dinners and my earlier suggestions.

Vegans against covid 19 and anti-Chinese racism

Like many of my friends, I’m stranded at home and left to ponder the coronavirus outbreak from a vegan perspective.

There’s been enough said already about how this was all caused by animal exploitation, although even the mainstream press has been rattling on about the wrong types of animals being eaten. The irony isn’t lost on us.

But sometimes vegans themselves express more horror at a bat being eaten than they do over a cow being eaten. This is our chance to highlight the speciesism. It has to be said that many vegan campaigns do highlight the disparity between the different attitudes to dogs and cows or pigs – sadly, people’s views of different animals have been highlighted yet again by the pandemic. Plus, I like bats.

The racism unnerves me a lot though. Something else I read recently, China has a huge number of vegans as talked about here, for some reason this gets overlooked all too often; very often by vegans themselves. Racist behaviour isn’t compatible with veganism. We’re supposed to be compassionate; racism is the opposite of compassion. We complain about prejudice against another species but tolerate towards our own species? That is wrong on every conceivable level. And let’s treat the myth that vegans can’t get coronavirus with the contempt it deserves – the worst fake news in an environment awash with fake news. What a dangerous and idiotic idea!

There have been reports about the increase in quality of the air and the drop in greenhouse gases due to the reduction in human activity. This shows how destructive our modern ways of life have become and how detrimental they are to the natural world.

Animals and birds have been seen in cities where they are not usually spotted now, showing how it is possible to live side by side with nature instead of against it. See the report here. I’ve always said there’s something arrogant about humans who feel the need to ‘manage’ the natural world. It can do that very well itself thank you.

The number of small start-up vegan businesses over the last few years has been truly empowering and to think the lockdown could put many out of business is terrifying. I implore you to support those which have been able to stay open or diversify their business model – for example offering a delivery service.

Animal sanctuaries too are suffering from lost open days, the inability of volunteers to attend and a general drop in financial support – something seen by a large number of charitable organisations. There’s a page where you can donate here.

Many vegans are discovering the advantages of cooking at home and, perhaps, discovering it’s easier and less time consuming than they first thought.

I’m discovering how much less money I spend while under lockdown.