Aldi has recently been jumping on the bandwagon of more organic, non-gmo, and vegan/vegetarian products at an affordable price and we love them for it. Aldi’s line of animal free products, Earth Grown, has expanded my Meatless Mondays menu.
What is it?
Earth Grown’s Vegan Chickenless Strips are a soy based product. It’s made to look like grilled chicken as each stirp has grill marks. It reminds me of the breast meat chicken from Subway. It doesn’t really have a smell to it, but the buoyancy texture reminds me of the famous oven roasted chicken sandwich.
I decided to make chicken fajitas with it, since the salad on the package seemed a bit boring. I cooked the strips in a pan and seasoned it to my liking adding the bell peppers at the very end. It only took a few minutes to cook the strips and overall less than 30 minutes to finish the fajitas.
Does it taste like chicken?
But the real question is, is it any good? I tried the strips straight out of the package and as fajitas with my choice of seasonings. To get to the point yes, it was good both plain and seasoned. Without the seasoning it tasted like a soy meat substitute with actual flavor. With all of the seasonings and bell peppers mixed, I’d say it’s a great meat substitute. If you served me the fajitas in a school cafeteria and told me it was chicken I’d believe you. So it doesn’t taste exactly like chicken but it sure is close.
It has a decent amount of protein and has a natural source of iron. But beware, it is a processed food after all. For those who are still in the transitional phase of going vegan it’s a great alternative start.
How much is it?
You can find this meat substitute in the frozen section next to the vegetables, for only $3.49 at my local Aldi. I comfortably fed my family of three (two adults and a teenager), with these fajitas. Although the serving size for the entire package is four, the three of us were able to comfortably eat seconds.
What’s in the bag?
When you open the bag there is another plastic bag holding the strips (a bit wasteful if you ask me) The bag is resealable so if it’s only you and you need something to stretch on a budget, then these strips will last you a couple meals. The best part of all is that the meal was filling. Everyone was satisfied after dinner. Often times when eating vegan meals I find myself hungry and never full, not in this case, the strips were satisfying.
Overall this meatless munchie gets four stars. It’s affordable, has great flavor, and was a convenient quick meal. Although highly processed and a bit wasteful in packaging, it’s a nice muchie to sub.
Meatless Munchies 