This article was written 23.03.06, some of the below products may be sold out/discontinued/etc. at the time of posting.
Though No Frills is owned by Loblaw, they surprisingly don’t carry as many vegan options as their parent company. Sure they’re a ‘discount’ store, but that doesn’t mean they should carry less vegan products.
Vegans like deals, too!
Earth Balance:
Soy Free Buttery Spread
Original Buttery Spread
Becel:
Vegan Margarine
Unsalted Plant-Based Margarine Brick
Salted Plant-Based Margarine Brick
Yves:
Veggie Ham Slices
Veggie Turkey Slices
Veggie Bologna
Veggie Bacon Strips
Ground Round Original
Ground Round Italian
Ground Round Mexican
Veggie Family Hot Dogs
Jumbo Veggie Dogs
Veggie Chicken Nuggets
Veggie Nuggets With Whole Wheat Breading
Veggie Breakfast Links
Falafel Balls
Veggie Meatballs
Lightlife:
Smart Bacon Strips
Smart Dogs
Smart Chicken Tenders
Original Crumble
Original Tempeh
Gardein:
7 Grain Crispy Tenders
Chipotle Lime Crispy Tenders
Beefless Ground
Meatless Meatballs
Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick’n
Lightly Breaded Turk’y Cutlets
Fishless Fillet
Crispy Chick’n Sliders
Beefless Tips
Crispy Golden Chick’N
Barbecue Wings
Chick’N Wings Spicy Gochujang Style
Crabless Cakes
Beyond Meat:
Beyond Beef Ground
Beyond Burgers
Beyond Mild Italian Sausage
Beyond Hot Italian Sausage
Daiya:
Shreds Mozzarella
Shreds Cheddar
Pizza Supreme
Pizza Fire Roasted Vegetable
Flatbread Mushroom Caramelized Onion
Block Cheddar
Block Feta
Salad Dressing Ranch
Salad Dressing Creamy Caesar
Cheesecake New York Style
Cheesecake Key Lime
Silk:
Almond For Coffee Vanilla
Almond For Coffee Hazelnut
Soy For Coffee Original
Oat For Coffee Vanilla
Almond Original
Almond Vanilla
Almond Dark Chocolate
Soy Original Unsweetened
Soy Vanilla
Creamy Cashew
Half & Half Coffee Creamer
Coconut Original
Almond Yogurt Vanilla
Coconut Yogurt
Coconut Yogurt Vanilla
Oat Yogurt Vanilla
Oat Yogurt Plain
Whipping Cream Alternative
Oat Original
Oat Vanilla
Violife:
Shreds Cheddar
Shreds Mozzarella=
Slices Mature Cheddar
Slices Cheddar
Slices Smoked Provolone
PC:
Butter Alternative Salted
Butter Alternative Unsalted
Salad Dressing Caesar
Cheddar Slices
Swiss Slices
Coconut Cream Cheese Style Spread
Mozzarella Sticks
– Beefless Undeniable Burgers
Vanilla Marshmallows
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
Peanut Butter Delights
As always, the above list is for the pre-made/faux vegan foods. I don’t list staple vegan products like fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, etc. because not only are those found at every store, including them would make these posts way too long.
Like this article? Check out more store crawls here!
If you’ve been around here before, you’ll know I can not handle spicy foods. I have a very low spicy tolerance, and very, very rarely eat spicy foods willingly.
That said, when the Beyond Meat Hot Italian Sausages came to Canada, I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to review them.
I first tried these sausages back in March of last year (2021), and I have to say, I was actually pleasantly surprised!
Similar to the Beyond Meat Burgers, these sausages had a very similar texture to meat sausages (or at least, from what I remember) and even seemed to have a ‘skin’ or casing on them.
These sausages are very meaty tasting, and smelling. Which is great, if that’s your thing! If you’re looking for a plant-based alternative to replace meat products without compromising on taste or texture, these are definitely the sausages for you!
As I’ve said in previous reviews, I’m a fan of plants that taste like plants. Give me a mushroom burger that tastes like mushrooms, and I won’t complain. These sausages, as well as the Beyond Meat burgers… honestly, I think it’s amazing that we can make plants taste that close to meat products, but it’s just not really my thing.
I don’t know quite what it is, but even just smelling the ‘meat’ smell makes me mildly nauseous. Like my body is screaming no, don’t eat that! at me, even though I know it’s made out of plants, and is not a dead body.
For me personally, it’s too close to meat for me to be a big fan of them, or to add them to my regular shopping list. Once in a while is fine, but I really can’t handle them more than that. I just don’t crave that meaty taste – even back before I went vegan, I stayed away from pretty much every meat that wasn’t chicken/turkey, because I just didn’t like the taste – so it’s actually not surprising that I still don’t really dig that flavour.
Beyond Sausage close up
Not only were these sausages super meaty, but they also definitely lived up to their Hot name. They were spicy. Like, take three bites and burn the back of my throat spicy. Now, as said above, I have a very low spice tolerance, so you may not find them that spicy, but honestly, these messed up my digestion I imagine the same way eating hot wings messes with other people. It was not pretty, nor fun.
Even just thinking back to eating them is making me want to chug a bunch of water. I definitely am a bigger fan of the Mild sausages, though I also found those spicy. Not as bad, but they definitely still had a kick.
I did notice however, that if I chopped up the sausages and mixed them into something else, it did significantly reduce the spicy effects. So, that’s also an option, if you’re worried about how spicy they are.
Beyond Sausage cut up in a Mr. Noodle stir fry
One thing I definitely don’t like about these sausages, is the packaging. They come in a cardboard container, that’s wrapped in plastic. Also, they only come 4 to a package. I’ve complained about this in other reviews, but seriously, if you want to offer that little in a package, at least have a bigger packaging option. Why not make them available in an 8, or hell, even a 6 pack would be better.
Beyond Meat now makes Breakfast Sausages that come in an 8 pack, so I don’t understand why these big ones can’t also. I’m not for sure on this, but the breakfast links also appear to come in a cardboard box, instead of plastic, which again begs the question: why can’t the big sausages come the same?
I know this review may seem like it’s negative, so I want to be clear: I’m in no way trying to trash this product. I think it’s amazing and crazy that Beyond Meat has figured out a way to make plants taste that close to meat products. It’s truly an incredible achievement, and said above, if you’re someone who’s looking to quell your meat cravings without eating the real thing, you would be hard pressed to find a better sausage than these.
These sausages aren’t something I personally will be buying very often, but I’m still definitely recommending them!
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I finally got my hands on this ‘new’ Tim Horton’s sandwich Dec. 2nd, 2019. I was going to post this review last year, but I figured it would be kind of mean/unfair of me to post a review of a food you couldn’t go immediately try. Now though, that doesn’t really matter, since Tim Horton’s (apparently) stopped selling the sandwich in early 2020. So I figure it’s fair game now. Also, I’m glad I was able to try this sandwich before they stopped selling them.
The first thing I want to let you know about this sandwich (and what you can tell from the above picture) is the fact that the English muffin it came on was a hexagon. I wasn’t expecting that, and was mildly surprised when I unwrapped it and saw the shape. For a minute, I actually thought they gave me the wrong sandwich. (I mean, c’mon, how often do non-vegan restaurants make vegan options cool shapes?)
After I got over the shape, the second thing I noticed was how much shredded lettuce they put on it. I know it’s called a Beyond Meat, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich, but seriously? There was so much lettuce! Half of it fell out when I picked it up, and the rest of it almost fell out after each bite.
(Also, look at the difference between the one I got, and the promo pic – that’s bordering on ridiculous!)
Another thing about this sandwich I wish I knew/they said on the website before I bought it, was the fact it was spicy Beyond Meat. It tasted like the type of sausage you get on pizza – it was a very similar heat to the Chorizo sausage crumble that’s on PizzaPizza pizza. Aside from being blindsided, it actually tasted pretty good. I mean, it still mildly freaks me out how close to non-vegan meat Beyond Meat tastes, but it was still good. And even better I imagine for meat eaters who are looking for a close substitute.
While we’re talking about taste, the English muffin was also very bland, and was oddly enough pretty hard, as well. It was a lot more ‘tasteless’ than the English muffins I usually buy. Which sucked, because I thought the hexagon shape would make it taste better than usual. The sandwich was also quite small. My mom got a bagel something-or-other sandwich, and this one was half the size! Very disappointing.
Overall, the sandwich was pretty ‘meh’, and I hate to say it, but I’m actually kind of glad it got discontinued. Don’t get me wrong, I was over the moon to discover Tim Horton’s wanted to try getting on the vegan bandwagon – I just think they missed the mark with this one. Hopefully though, they won’t give up! Get back to the drawing board and see if you can come up with something better! Which I’m sure you can, because my mom was pretty happy with her (non-vegan) sandwich, so I know you guys don’t totally suck in that department.
And hey, if you ever need suggestions, I’ll be right here.
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This article was written 20.11.12, when COVID was still running rampant/wasn’t under control. (At least in Toronto) Please excuse any reference/joke that’s no longer applicable.
Disclaimer: This article contains links to graphic videos of animal slaughter. If you have issues with watching, I recommend not clicking the video links, but I implore you to ask yourself: if you can’t watch, should you really continue to fund it?
I’m gonna be honest, when I started doing this series, I didn’t really have a plan other than making pretty-ish collages of vegan alternatives. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that I should be taking this time to educate the non-vegan, and new vegans, to show them what options there are, so they don’t have to freak out and go through that ‘wait… what am I gonna eat?’ phase.
Hopefully if you’ve stumbled upon this article on the vegan section of a website, you already know what’s wrong with eating meat, but just in case, here’s a quick refresher:
As you hopefully already know, you have to kill an animal to be able to eat it’s dead body. Sooo, not to be ‘that’ vegan, but yes meat is murder! (There’s a reason why it’s a popular chant!) And, as we (hopefully) all know, murder is wrong.
Slaughterhouses are giant murder factories. Animals go in alive, and come out chopped into pieces wrapped in plastic. As if murdering them wasn’t enough, the animals are also often traumatized, by either being abused, or by hearing their friends and family (yes, animals have friends and family!) being killed in the next room, or both. ‘Oh, Ater’ you say, ‘but animals don’t know what’s happening! They’re not that self-aware.’
Well, how about you look at this picture, and I mean really look at it. Are you still gonna try to tell me that’s not fear and sadness in that animal’s eyes? Does that expression look like the expression of someone who doesn’t know what’s going on? What if I told you this is a picture from a video that was shot in 2015, and this animal has been dead for 5 years. Now do you care? What if this was a picture of a dog, instead of a pig – would you care then? Why?
If you believe dogs have souls and deserve to live, so should other animals. Not all animals are as smart as dogs, but does that mean they deserve to die? What if we did that with people? Dogs on average are about as smart as 2 year olds, so what if we just killed everyone not as smart as that. Does that sound even remotely like an okay thing to do?
And, while we’re on the subject of intelligence, pigs have actually been shown to be more intelligent than dogs. So… why is it okay to eat one, but not the other? Tell me, truly, what’s the difference?
2. Humans as a whole are so overly murdering animals, it’s crazy. Seriously, the shear number of animals that are being killed every minute is insane to think about. In fact, why don’t you check out this site, and watch the numbers go up. That is a lot of lives that are being lost. On average, humans kill 3 billion animals every day. Yes, you read that correctly 3 billion animals die every day!
To put this into perspective, on 9/11, roughly 2,900 people died. That was enough to change basically the world as a whole, and there were many changes enacted to make sure something like that never happened again.
That is only 0.0000966% of 3 billion. But for animals, nobody cares? What if we killed that many people everyday? At the time of writing this article (20.11.12), there are 7.8 billion humans on Earth. If we were to kill humans at the same rate we killed animals, the human race would be extinct in 17 days.
17 days!
And this isn’t even mentioning all the terrible environmental factors that slaughterhouses, and needless breeding of animals has on the planet.
But, in the interest of keeping this short, let’s move on.
So, now you know meat is terrible, and you’ve agreed to stop funding murder – awesome! But, now you may be wondering, what else is there to eat?
Well, thankfully, there have been amazing strides in the vegan movement in the past couple of years, and it’s easier than ever to stop eating meat!
Starting from the top left corner, going clockwise:
Beyond Meat Beyond Burgers
Gardein Beefless Strips
Gardein Beefless Ground
Gardein Chick’N Patties
Gardein Chick’N Scallopini
Gardein Turk’y Cutlets
Gardein Stuffed Turk’y
Tofurky Veggie Roast
Gardein Porkless Bites
Beyond Meat Beyond Sausage
Tofurky Italian Sausage
Yves Veggie Dogs
Yves Veggie Ham
Yves Veggie Bologna
Gardein Fishless Filets
Gardein Crabless Cakes
Seitan
This collage show only a small sample of all the different vegan friendly ‘replacement’ meats currently available. Basically any meat you want to eat has a substitute. And, these are just some of the convenience foods available. There’s also tofu, tempeh, or heck, even vegetables, such as mushrooms or jackfruit can be used as a meat substitute. (Depending on the dish, of course)
All it takes is a little know-how to make kick-ass faux meat dishes. Or, instead of trying to replace meat directly with substitutes, you could also try making different dishes. Expand your meals from being meat-centric, to include ones that put veggies in the spotlight.
Instead of trying to replicate steak and potatoes, why don’t you try making stuffed bell peppers? You can replace the ground beef or chicken (or whatever meat you’d usually put in the rice) with lentils, or mushrooms. Add in some of the usual suspects (corn, broccoli, carrot, etc.) and BAM! You’ll have one seriously hearty dish on your hands. I guarantee you that you won’t even notice the lack of meat in the dish.
There are tons of veg-centric meals just waiting for you to try them. So why not give it a whirl? And if you need some help? No worries! There are tons of vegan cookbooks, blogs, Youtube channels and even Instagram accounts out there for you to draw inspiration from. One of my all time favourite Youtube channels is HotforFood. Lauren is a master in the kitchen, and makes all kinds of breaking-vegan-stereotype dishes. She has recipes for burgers, mac n cheese, gravy, and even a vegan ranch dip! In a lot of her videos, she also explains why she uses certain ingredients, instead of keeping you guessing.
When I first went vegan, I watched a lot of her videos, and learned a lot from her videos about combining certain ingredients to get certain flavours. So go ahead and give it a try! There’s never been a better time to test out new recipes. (Not like you’re leaving the house, anyway)
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I want to start this off by saying that at the time of writing this post (20.04.07), the COVID-19 shut down of practically everything is still in full swing, so this store crawl is going to be a bit different.
Since I wasn’t actually able to go through and crawl the physical store, this will be a crawl of Metros’ online store. This means that not only may there be vegan items not listed, but that due to the virus and panic buying, they may not list items that are sold out, either.
I actually debated about scraping this post and doing a different one altogether, and to maybe back burner this series until things get back to normal, but then I figured in the midst of what’s happening, it may be more important now than before to keep the series going, as you may not be able to get groceries delivered from your favourite store, and knowing what other stores are offering without doing the research yourself (which takes hours, btw) would probably be helpful.
Also, I want to note: Since this is an online version, instead of listing the foods by section, I’m going to be listing them by brand.
I’m also not going to list the fruit, veg, grains or most snacks that are vegan friendly because seriously, how long do you want this post to be?
Earth Balance
Soy Free Traditional Spread
Original Traditional Spread
Creamy Peanut Butter & Flaxseed
Creamy Coconut & Peanut Spread
Yves
Lunch Meat:
Salami
Turkey
Bologna
Ham
Pepperoni (I know it’s not technically a deli meat, but the official Yves website lists it here)
Not-Dogs:
Jumbo Veggie Dogs
Meatless Veggie Dogs
Yves Mediterranean Harissa Sausages
Spicy Italian Veggie Sausages
Ground Round:
Original Ground Round
Italian Ground Round
Mexican Ground Round
Other:
Veggie Burgers
Souvlaki Veggie Skewers
Veggie Chick’N Tenders
Veggie Breakfast Links
Veggie Breakfast Patties
Broccoli Bites
Falafel Balls
Lightlife
Original Veggie Bacon
Veggie Chicken Tenders
Smoked Veggie Hot Dog Sausages
GF Vegan Burger
Beyond Meat Beyond Burger (don’t know why, but online they were listed together)
Tofurky
Italian Sausages
Polish Style Meatless Kielbasa Sausages
Marinated Roast Ham
Holiday Roast and Gravy
Daiya
Cheese/Sauce:
Plain Cream Cheese
Chive and Onion Cream Cheese
Mozzarella Slices
Cheddar Slices
Smoked Gouda Block
Cheddar Block
Mozza Style Cutting Board Shreds
Cheddar Style Cutting Board Shreds
Mozzarella Sticks
Cheddar Sticks
Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac
Deluxe Alfredo Style Cheezy Mac
Deluxe Veggie White Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac
Deluxe Cheddar Style Sauce
Deluxe Alfredo Style Sauce
Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing
Homestyle Ranch Salad Dressing
Blue Cheeze Salad Dressing
Frozen:
GF Supreme Pizza
GF Margherita Pizza
Cheeze Lovers’ Pizza
GF Classic Pepperoni Pizza
GF Mushroom and Roasted Garlic Pizza
Crunchy Chocolate Fudge Ice Bar
New York Cheezecake
GF Chocolate Cheezecake
Key Lime Cheezecake
Amy’s Kitchen
Frozen:
California Veggie Burger
Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza
Thai Red Curry
Pad Thai
Organic Veggie Loaf While Meal (listed as Veggie Loaf and Vegetable Meal)
Black Bean Enchiliada Whole Meal (Enchiliada with Spanish Rice and Beans)
Quinoa & Black Beans with Butternut Squash & Chard
Dairy Free Bean & Rice Burrito
Black Bean Vegtable Burrito
Cans:
Organic Split Pea Soup
Organic Lentil Vegetable Soup
Organic Vegetable Barley Soup
No Chicken Noodle Soup
Organic Medium Chili with Vegetables
Organic Spicy Chili
Silk (All Silk products are vegan!)
Soy:
Organic Unsweetened Soy Beverage
Organic Original Soy Beverage
Chocolate Flavoured Soy Beverage
Soy Beverage For Coffee
Almond:
Original Almond Fortified Beverage
Unsweetened Almond Fortified Beverage
Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Beverage
Vanilla Flavoured Almond Beverage
Dark Chocolate Almond Fortified Beverage
Berries and Acai Flavoured Dairy Free Almond Yogurt
Peach Flavoured Dairy Free Almond Yogurt
Vanilla Flavoured Dairy Free Almond Yogurt
Strawberry Flavoured Dairy Free Almond Yogurt
Hazelnut Flavoured Almond Beverage For Coffee
Dairy Free Almond Coffee Whitener
Coconut:
Original Coconut Beverage
Unsweetened Original Coconut Beverage
Almond and Coconut Blend Beverage
Vanilla Flavoured Unsweetened Coconut Beverage
Original Coconut For Coffee
Vanilla Flavoured Coconut For Coffee
Unsweetened Vanilla Dairy Free Cultured Coconut Yogurt Alternative
Unsweetened Plain Dairy Free Cultured Coconut Yogurt Alternative
Berries and Acai Cultured Almond Milk Yogurt
Cashew:
Original Creamy Cashew
Unsweetened Creamy Cashew Beverage
Vanilla Flavoured Creamy Cashew Beverage
Gusta:
Vegan Montrealaise Wheat Sausages
Vegan Espanola Wheat Sausages
Vegan Italiana Wheat Sausages
Pizzaroni Vegan Seitan Stick
Gardein
Chicken:
7 Grain Crispy Tenders
Crispy Chick’n Patties
Chick’n Sliders Mini Burgers
Chick’n Fajita Bowl
Teriyaki Chick’n Bowl
Beef:
Sweet and Tangy BBQ Wings
Beefless Ground
Beefless Tips
Patties:
Chipotle Flavoured Black Bean Patties
Spicy Breakfast Meat Free Saus’age Patties
Breakfast Meat Free Saus’age Patties
Sweets from the Earth
GF Flourless Cashew Flavoured Cookies
Nut Free Cupcakes
Blueberry Cheesecake
Chocolate Fudge Cake
GF Vegan Chocolate Cake
GF Vegan Espresso Cheesecake
Ben & Jerry’s
Non-Dairy Peanut Butter Half Baked
Non-Dairy Cherry Garcia
Non-Dairy Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Non-Dairy P.B. and Cookies
Non-Dairy Coffee Caramel Fudge
Okay, I know that seems like a lot, but considering they’re a pretty big grocery store, this actually isn’t that much. It just looks like it all listed out.
Anyways, I hope you found this helpful, should you need to do some digging around your non usual digs for vegan food, at least this way you know you’ll be able to find some pre-made stuff.
Which I know isn’t everyone’s favourite, and I’m actually trying to move away from it, myself, but it’s better than starving.
I got to try this sandwich back in February (it was actually during my birthday week) and I’m glad to say I loved it!
I had to do some other shopping before I was able to sit down and eat it, so the sandwich was a bit smushed when I finally got home and was ready to dig in. (This is also why I’m using the official picture)
First thing I want to say, was while I was ordering, I wasn’t too excited to try it. The Subway I went to was pretty small and busy (I inadvertently went there around the lunch rush) so I felt very rushed.
Unlike when I tried the Beyond Burger at A&W, it was slower and I was able to ask some questions before completing the order. I had asked an employee specifically about their marinara, and while he didn’t seem sure, I was able to check the website when I got home, and am happy to report the marinara is vegan!
I told them to hold the cheese (obviously), and then for veggies, I got: lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, green peppers and tomatoes. I had some Daiya Smoked Gouda at home that I added as well.
The sandwich itself was pretty substantial. I got a footlong, and I’m happy to report they gave me 9 meatballs. (5 on one half, and 4 on the other) I’m not sure how many were ‘supposed’ to be placed in there, but the worker didn’t count them out either. He just took a scoop of the meatballs (covered in marinara sauce) and rolled them out onto the bread.
Honestly, when he did that, it looked kind of gross. Just splatted on the bread… But I’m glad my first impression was wrong because it was actually pretty good!
Aside from the mess, the taste was good. The Beyond Meatballs tasted similar to the A&W Beyond Meat Burger, (which didn’t surprise me because it’s the same company) and they weren’t too big or too small either. They’re about the size of a loonie, which I think is a good meatball size. I believe they’re the same size as the Gardein Meatballs, too. I’m glad they weren’t too small, like almost every other pre-packaged vegan food is. They had what I’m going to call the ‘typical’ Beyond Meat taste.
A friend tried one of the meatballs and they said ‘you could fool a meat-eater with that. Seriously.’ I personally can tell it’s not real meat, but maybe that’s because I don’t eat it anymore? My palate is now fine-tuned to veggies!
The marinara sauce was a little on the herb-y side, and it kind of reminded me of the Roads’ End Savoury Herb gravy. Y’know how some herb-y heavy sauces have that ‘light’ taste? It was like that. They also put way too much sauce on my sandwich, it leaked out all over the plate. But that’s the risk you take when getting a meatball marinara, I guess.
I’d definitely recommend adding your own vegan cheese to it, as the Daiya cheeses’ smoke-y flavour lent itself well to the over-all taste. I’d definitely get this again, but I wouldn’t put cucumbers on it. It’s not that it was bad, but it was definitely one of my least favourite parts.
The sandwich itself was $11-something, and the combo with drinks and chips I got it for $16. That’s actually a pretty good price for a vegan sandwich. Especially because of how filling it is – not in that I’m-so-full-I-can’t-move-and-feel-gross way, but in a highly satisfied way. It’s pretty bang for your buck, if you ask me.
If you want something non-saucy, the website and posters do say there is a non-marinara meatball version, though I didn’t see it out in the trays. (Though this might have been more because I was rushed and am too short to see over the counter)
So the Beyond Meatball Marinara, have you tried it? What’d you think? Let me know in the comments below!
Ah, pizza. One of my favourite foods on the planet. It’s hard to go wrong when you’re giving me pizza. Perfectly acceptable to eat for every meal – it has all the food groups, y’know.
Frozen pizza is good, but it’s more of what you settle for when you can’t get to the real thing. It usually does the job and fills/satisfies, but is nothing compared to it’s freshly prepared counterpart.
Or at least, that’s what I hear non-vegans describe it as. I don’t know if maybe it’s the novelty of being able to buy a frozen pizza instead of making my own at home (which I still do) or perhaps Daiya just has a stronger frozen pizza game, but I’ve never had that ‘this is gross’ feeling when eating a frozen pizza. All the frozen pizzas (which, to be fair isn’t that many) I’ve tried have been pretty good. This one is my favourite that Daiya makes.
It was also the first way I tried Beyond Meat and I gotta say, even frozen and mixed with other toppings, I loved it. Since tasting it at A&W in burger form, I’m definitely a fan. While I don’t want to say the Beyond Sausage is the one reason it’s my favourite Daiya pizza, I’m not gonna lie – it definitely helped.
The pizza minus the Beyond Sausage is pretty uneventful – it’s Daiya cheese with veggies. If you like Daiya cheese and veggies, you’ll like it. Although, for some odd reason many vegans don’t like Daiya cheese, so I guess don’t buy their pizzas then?
I would personally like there to be more crust, but even still, it’s one of my favourite thin crust pizzas. It’s not so thin where it flops under the weight of the toppings and doesn’t even rip when you bite it (looking at you Pizza Nova), but it’s definitely not a thick crust.
Another thing I would say they could improve on, is that the toppings go all the way to the edges of the pizza – there’s no crust handle! How am I supposed to hold the thing? Underneath like a madman? No. Give us that edge to hold onto – it would definitely make dipping it in say, HotforFoods’ Ranch dip easier.
(This picture isn’t the supreme pizza)
All in all, this pizza is pretty good, not overly floppy, has a decent amount of toppings and it’s a good size for being a ‘one person’ pizza. I usually cut it into 8 slices and eat half now and save half for later. (Or sometimes I just eat it all) It’s definitely my favourite out of the pizzas I’ve tried from Daiya. I would recommend you try it if you haven’t already.
Update: Beyond Burger will be back in A&W’s starting Oct. 1st!
I’m so happy this is available in Canada now – and it’s all thanks to A&W! If you haven’t heard the news, A&W recently added the Beyond Burger to their menu and Canadians went crazy! The only bad part is that they sold out in a month. While I’m happy it was doing so well, I am a bit worried about the momentum it’ll lose. Beyond Meat set up a newsletter, letting people subscribe to get notified for when the product is back, but I’m worried the initial spark of interest will die and they’ll lose sales. (Not to mention all the would-be buyers they’re missing while trying to get it back in stock) On their site, they do say that this time when it comes back, it’ll be back for good. Let’s hope so.
The first thing I’d like to say, is that you have to order the burger without the mayo/mustard sauce, to make it actually vegan. That sucks, I know – why add a vegan burger if you have to customize it to make it vegan? Once you request that though, it’s smooth sailing.
My initial impression of this, was that it tasted exactly what I remember beef tasting like. Now, it’s been a few years since I’ve eaten meat (3 years in Feb!) and even longer since I ate ‘real’ beef, so my memory of it might not be the best, but it was definitely close – my non-vegan friend tried it and even said the same thing: it tasted so close to beef we thought they might’ve mixed up the order.
Personally, I don’t see myself getting this very often – that’s not to say it’s bad – it has good texture and is definitely filling – it’s just a little too beefy for my taste. I always find it odd when a plant-based food tastes eerily similar to an animal product. I don’t what it is, or why, but it’s just kinda… weird. Give me a mushroom burger that tastes like mushrooms: hell yeah, I’m game! It’s made of plants, I expect it to taste like it. And, yes, I know that meat usually only tastes that way because of the spices (aka plants) that are put on it, but still.
I don’t know if it’s because I watched Earthlings (which I highly recommend, but it’s graphic) and I’m forever gonna associate meat smells/tastes with those images – so much so that during Thanksgiving when my mom cooks the turkey overnight, or my family cooks beef burgers indoors (or any other really ‘smelly’ meat), it physically makes me nauseous. I rewired my brain, I guess, with the smell/flavours association.
I will say though, that after having it a few times (I was able to try it three times before they sold out), it did start tasting less like beef and more like plants. I think perhaps after the initial shock wore off (like my first time eating seitan) my brain was able to pick up the flavours/spices better and I was able to enjoy it more.
If you’re a vegan who misses the taste of beef, I’d definitely recommend you check this out! If you’re more like me, and try to stay away from the products that taste exactly the same, I’d say you’d probably want to stick with the mushroom burgers. But I definitely think you should try it at least once, just to see what all the hype is about. (Also, it’s the only way to buy the Beyond Meat products in Canada)
