I first tried this new Gardein soup back in November of 2020. Yes, I’m that organized.
Since I only do 12 product reviews a year (one each month), it’s actually not hard to try more new foods than reviews to post. So instead of trying new foods and not reviewing them, I just write down what I think every time I try something new, and then I always have content. And, since I write the full review from my notes, it’s almost like not even doing work, since I’ve already done the hard part. (Thanks past me!) So yes, just like story WIP’s I also have a lot of vegan food reviews piled up/backlogged.
But, not to worry because you guys will get to see them all! Eventually.
Actually, one hard thing about keeping reviews for future years is the product I was planning on posting the review about is no longer around. Sometimes it’s been pulled from certain markets and is only available in specific countries or a few times, it had been discontinued all together.
Anyway, let’s get to the part you actually came here to read.
If you’ve been around for a while – or read some of my other Product Reviews – you’ll know I’m not that big on soup – but this one was actually pretty good!
It was a tomato based soup that had thick ring-shaped pasta, green beans, black beans, chickpeas and of course, faux sausage pieces. The can that I got was mostly pasta. It seemed to be lacking in beans and there were only 3 pieces of the faux sausage. Granted they were pretty big pieces – about the size of one of their Meatballs (notballs), if you cut it in half – but still. Since they put the word ‘sausage’ in the name, I think there should’ve been more than three. At least do five.
The soup in the pot
The piece of saus’ge, with a carefully placed ring-shaped pasta on top for size comparison
But, I know there’s not a worker sitting in the assembly line counting out pieces by hand (or at least, I hope that’s not happening), so maybe your can or if I buy another one, there’ll be a better mix of ingredients.
As I’ve said before, I have a pretty low spicy food tolerance, so I’m not sure if minestrone soup is supposed to be spicy, but mine was a little bit. It was enough to notice, but not enough to burn my throat/upset my stomach.
It also wasn’t very filling. It was pretty tasty, but I wouldn’t call it ‘hearty’. Though I’m not sure if that’s a soup thing or a this soup’s thing. So, take that with a grain of salt if you wish. If you wanted to stock up for winter, I’d keep a few cans on hand, but don’t max out your budget on them.
Speaking of budget, they also weren’t that expensive. The 425g can was $5.49, which is comparable to other soups and even the Daiya cheese blocks. (At the time of buying)
I’m not entirely sure if Gardein still makes this soup, to be honest. I checked Vegan Supply as I was writing this review (24.01.11, hello from the past!) to compare the 2020 price, but it didn’t come up. I also checked Gardein’s own website with the Store Finder and it crossed out Toronto, Canada and the closest that came up on the map were a bunch of stores in Detroit, USA.
I usually like to end my reviews by telling you to go try the product yourself, so Detroitians (is that what people who live in Detroit are called?) and probably other USA residents, feel free to check out this soup! People in Canada and other countries, see if you can find it. Just, don’t look too hard.
It was good, but not scour-the-Earth good.
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