100% food storage and what's on hand: last grocery shopping trip was November 2023. Today is February 19, 2024.
Although I have roasts and some ground beef in the deep freeze, in order to make the meat go further, and to use up and rotate out the oldest cans in our long term storage, I'm opening and using the first things I had bought when I felt the need to start food storage (Spring of 2012 - and knew absolutely nothing... and had zero money to spend). The 'vegetarian' (soy) fake meats were cheap and came in a little kit so I became the proud owner of vegetarian beef, chicken and taco meat. I've already posted about the taco meat (yay) and chicken (meh, it's fine). But last night I opened the beef (flavored).
My husband walked through the kitchen just as I opened the can. He peeked over the edge, smelled and announced, "Mmm... dog food!"
Yeah, it does look like puppy chow.
I decided to make a large batch. You use 1 part fake beef to 2 parts water, bring to a boil, and simmer for a couple minutes.
I made a large pot of it, which I then turned into a big pot of chili, and the rest made into a batch of Sloppy Joes.
Here is what the imitation beef looks like in the can upon opening.
It does not taste like beef.
It doesn't taste bad, but it just has a very bland, taste. I added beef base (bouillon) to it while it was cooking, which helps a little bit. I also added some salt and pepper.
The soy/beef takes on whatever you are making with it - which is why it's good for 'taco' night - the taco seasonings are perfect for imitation beef. However, made into chili, it was really good too! And the sloppy Joe's were a little different tasting than normal (since I usually use ground beef and ground mild sausage or chicken sausage) but it too was good. But plain reconstituted imitation beef? Not really beef like at all. It likes spices and sauces and flavorings.
