Tag Archives: Vegan Food

The Veg Life, Vegan Tips

Store Crawl #5: Shopper’s Drug Mart

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This article was written 23.08.28, some of the products below may be out of stock, discontinued or otherwise unavailable at your local store. Please check with your own closest location for product availability.

As a drug store, carrying food isn’t Shopper’s primary focus, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that their vegan offerings are not as plentiful as some grocery stores.

Some of their locations don’t even have a grocery section, and the ones that do, well it’s not that big. You can usually get fresh produce, juice/pops or other snack foods and that’s pretty much it.

Oh, and you can also find great deals on Halloween candy! (Though not the vegan kind)

Faux Milk:

  • Earth’s Own Oat Chocolate
  • Earth’s Own Almond Chocolate
  • Earth’s Own Almond Original
  • Earth’s Own Oat Barista
  • Earth’s Own Oat Original
  • Silk Almond Chocolate
  • Silk Almond Original
  • Silk Almond Unsweetened
  • Silk Oat Original
  • Silk Oat Unsweetened
  • Silk Soy Unsweetened
  • Silk Oat For Coffee Vanilla
  • Silk Almond For Coffee Vanilla
  • Silk Soy For Coffee OG
  • Natura Soy Original
  • Natura Soy Unsweetened
  • Natura Soy Vanilla
  • Natura Soy Chocolate
  • Natura Rice Original

Snacks:

  • Smartfood’s Movie Theatre Butter Popcorn
  • Skinny Pop! White Cheddar Popcorn
  • Skinny Pop! Original Popcorn
  • Smart Sweets Cola Gummies
  • Smart Sweets Peach Rings

Chocolate:

  • Lindt Vegan Salted Caramel Bar
  • Lindt Vegan Hazelnut Bar
  • Prana Chocolate Bark Algarve
  • Prana Chocolate Bark No Mylkin’

Other:

  • Hellman’s Vegan Caesar Dressing
  • Hellman’s Vegan Ranch Dressing
  • Hellman’s Green Goddess Dressing
  • Becel Vegan Margarine
  • Magnum Non-Dairy Almond Bar
  • Beyond Meat Burger Patties

Personal Care:

  • Attitude Super Leaves Body Wash
  • Attitude Super Leaves Glowing Body Wash
  • Attitude Super Leaves Shampoo Volume & Shine
  • Attitude Super Leaves Shampoo Clarifying
  • Attitude Super Leaves Shampoo Nourishing & Strengthening
  • Attitude Super Leaves Conditioner Colour Protection
  • Attitude Super Leaves Conditioner Volume & Shine
  • Attitude Super Leaves Conditioner Clarifying
  • Attitude Super Leaves Conditioner Moisture Rich
  • Attitude Super Leaves Red Vine Leaves Hand Soap
  • Attitude Super Leaves White Tea Leaves Hand Soap
  • Attitude Super Leaves Deodorant White Tea Leaves
  • Attitude Super Leaves Deodorant Lemon
  • Attitude Leaves Deodorant Sandalwood
  • Attitude Super Leaves Deodorant Orange
  • Attitude Leaves Deodorant Sea Salt
  • Attitude Leaves Deodorant Herbal Musk
  • Attitude Super Leaves Body Cream Nourishing
  • Attitude Super Leaves Body Cream Soothing
  • Attitude Super Leaves Body Cream Regenerating
  • Pacifica Ceramide Barrier Face Cream
  • Pacifica Glow Baby Vita Glow Hydrating Face Lotion
  • Pacifica Vegan Collagen Hydrating Setting Mist
  • Pacifica Vegan Collagen Lip Balm
  • I Love Cosmetics Mango & Papaya Shower Gel
  • I Love Cosmetics Raspberry & Blackberry Shower Gel
  • I Love Cosmetics Coconut Cream Shower Gel
  • I Love Cosmetics Strawberry & Cream Shower Gel
  • I Love Cosmetics Pink Marshmallow Shower Gel
  • I Love Cosmetics Mango & Papaya Body Mist
  • I Love Cosmetics Raspberry & Blackberry Body Mist
  • I Love Cosmetics Coconut Cream Body Mist
  • I Love Cosmetics Strawberry & Cream Body Mist
  • ONE Condoms Mixed Pleasures
  • Durex Avanti Bare RealFeel Condoms
  • Lifestyles SKYN Original Condoms
  • Lifestyle SKYN Elite Condoms
  • Lifestyle SKYN Large Condoms
  • Lifestyle SKYN Elite Extra Lube
  • Lifestyle SKYN Excitation (Ribbed + Snugger) Condoms

 


Sally Hansen Good. Kind. Pure. Nail Polish:

  • Essential Oil Island Coconut
  • Nail Hardener
  • Base/Top Coat
  • Almond Milk
  • Aquamarine
  • Black Stone
  • Blue Moonstone
  • Blueberry Tart
  • Cashew Butter
  • Cherry Amore
  • Coral Calm
  • Crystal Blue
  • Eco-Rose
  • Frosted Amethyst
  • Fruity Papaya
  • Golden Quartz
  • Honey Harmony
  • Laven-Dear
  • Lavender Haze
  • Light Lychee
  • Love You Lotus
  • Matcha Love
  • Mint Refresh
  • Mystic Topaz
  • Natural Spring
  • Opulent Opal
  • Passion Flower
  • Peony Origins
  • Pink Cardamom
  • Pink Cloud (Sheer)
  • Pink Moon
  • Pink Sapphire
  • Pinky Clay
  • Pomegranate Punch
  • Powder Room
  • Precious Stone
  • Raisin’ The Bar
  • Red Rock Canyon
  • Roasted Chestnut
  • Rock Steady
  • Simply Stone
  • Smokey Quartz
  • Sun-Tastic
  • Sweet As Sugar
  • Toasted Toffee
  • Warm Cacao
  • White Tea (Sheer)
  • Natural Red

Like this article? Check out other Store Crawls here!

The Veg Life, Vegan Tips

Vegan Fast Food: Starbucks Edition

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In Canada, Starbucks is known as being the coffee company that tried to take over Tim Horton’s corner of the market with their “weird” offerings and too many choices.

While it’s true they have a lot of coffee customization, it turns out this is a good thing!

Almost all of their coffee offerings you’re able to swap out cow’s milk for a plant alternative (soy, almond and coconut are some of the most popular) and their iced coffees you’re usually also able to just say “no whip”.

As if that wasn’t amazing enough, some locations also have vegan foods available!

Starting in the top left-hand corner, moving clockwise:

  • Hot Coffee
  • Iced Coffee
  • Hot Tea
  • Iced Tea
  • Plain Bagel
  • Sprouted Grain Bagel
  • Everything Bagel
  • Cinnamon Bagel
  • Beyond Meat, Cheddar & Egg Sandwich (minus the cheese and egg)
  • Avocado Spread
  • Steal Cut Oatmeal
  • Lentils & Vegetable Protein Bowl with Brown Rice
  • Apples, Peanut Butter & Trail Mix Snack Box
  • Seasonal Fruit Blend
  • HIPPEAS Organic Chickpea Puffs
  • Spearmint Gum

The following products are also vegan, but I wasn’t able to find pictures of them:

• Classic Oatmeal
• Hearty Blueberry Oatmeal

I also reached out to Starbucks Canada (23.06.08) to find out if the following products were vegan, as their website didn’t have the ingredients listed. Unfortunately they didn’t get back to me for these specific products, so I recommend reading the packaging, or calling/asking your local store before purchasing:

  • Starbucks® Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans
  • Squirrel™ Classic Almonds
  • Squirrel Brand® Crème Brûlée Almonds
  • Salted Almond Chocolate Bites
  • Justin’s® Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
  • Butter Gourmet Popcorn
  • Crispy Apple Chips
  • Perfectly Salted Kettle Potato Chips
  • Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips
  • KIND® Nuts Cherry & Dark Chocolate Bar
  • KIND Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bar

Not all these products may be available at every store location, either. But it’s nice to know you’re able to get something other than a customized drink if you want to.

Like this article? Check out the rest of the Vegan Fast Food series!

Product Review, The Veg Life

King’s Vegan Shrimp Review

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I first tried the King’s Vegan Shrimp way back in September of 2021. It was a new product at Good Rebel, and though I don’t enjoy the taste of seafood – and I didn’t like their Simulated Chicken Leg – I figured venturing outside my comfort zone is good (once in a while) and decided to dip my toes into their shrimp. (Pun intended?)

The package came with a lot of shrimp in them – probably over 20 pieces, which was great! Finally a vegan product that comes with more than a “single serving” amount of food! I’d recommend King’s on that alone, but we both know that’s not the only thing to consider before buying a product.

Not only did the bag come with a lot of pieces, but the shrimp themselves were also bigger than I thought they’d be. I’d say they were about the same length as my palm (which is 6 inches – I only know this because I measured it for a previous article) which I believe are bigger than actual shrimp? I ended up cutting them in half (or smaller) when I cooked with them.

Maybe if you were going to use them for breaded shrimp the size would work better, but if you want to use them in a dish (and not make them the star) you’ll probably want to cut them into smaller pieces.

(This is them cut)

Once the shrimp were cooked, they had almost a rubbery texture. I’m not sure if it’s the way that I cooked them, the product itself, or if that’s what actual shrimp’s texture is (I’ve been vegan 7 years and hadn’t had shrimp for easily a few years before that), but I thought that could’ve been better. I think they were going for chewy and not that classic soft tofu texture, but it just missed the mark for me.

I’m kind of on the fence with this product. On the one hand, I’ve definitely had worse products (cough Amy’s Curry cough), but I’ve also had products I enjoyed more. I might get them again once in a blue moon, but truthfully, it was a struggle for me to finish the whole bag. Ironically, this is one product I think could benefit from having a smaller size bag.

Bottom line, I won’t tell you to rush out and buy it, but if you’re curious (or someone who enjoys the taste of seafood) I’m not going to stop you.

Like this review? Check out more here!

I post new product reviews on the 13th of every month!

Product Review, The Veg Life

Sno Crunchy Raspberry Ice Cream Bar Review

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I first discovered the company Sno around Christmas 2022 when I saw an Instagram ad for their holiday themed tree-shaped ice creams. The ad caught my attention for two reasons: the first being that it was a vegan ice cream brand I hadn’t heard of, and the second was because the ad stated for each box sold, they would be planting a tree!

I promptly took a screenshot of the ad and vowed to check them out after the holiday season was over. (Read: once my bank balance went back up)

I ended up buying my first box in January but unfortunately by then, the Peppermint Trees were no longer available. I was only slightly disappointed by this, though since I’m not really one for the mint/chocolate combo.

I decided instead to try their Triple Caramel bars, but alas, the store was sold out. That’s how I ended up with a box of their Crunchy Raspberry Ice Cream Bars.

Though these weren’t my first choice – and I’m pretty sure I’d like the Caramel bars better (if any of the stores by my house ever stopped being sold out) – these bars were better than I thought they’d be!

I’m also not the biggest fan of fruit with chocolate, so while I probably won’t buy this specific product again, I’m excited to try their other offerings!

As soon as you open the packaging, you’re hit with the scent of raspberries and chocolate. It also doesn’t smell like that artificial raspberry flavour, it smelled like actual, fresh raspberries. It actually momentarily brought me back in time to when I used to eat Pop-Tarts.

True to the name, the chocolate shell was pretty crunchy, and it also had bits of raspberry stuck to it. The chocolate I don’t think was dark – I didn’t get that usual dry-out-your-mouth thing I normally get when eating dark chocolate, but it also didn’t taste like it was mylk chocolate or anything. The raspberry chunks weren’t anything special, just bits of frozen raspberry. Tasted exactly how you’d expect them to.

The ice-cream itself was soft, and also a nice light shade of pink. The raspberry flavour was a lot more subtle in the ice-cream than it was with the chunks in the shell, though you could definitely still tell what flavour it was.

The box only came with 3 bars, but was also only $5.97 (Loblaws), so it’s comparable to other vegan ice-cream bars on the market. They also don’t only make bars, they also have a few different flavours of ice-cream sandwiches available, and even a couple pints.

And, perhaps the most important thing? They’re Canadian.

Like this review? Check out more here!

I post new reviews on the 13th of every month.

Product Review, The Veg Life

Field Roast Italian Sausage Review

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This article was written 23.03.08, I’ve since learned these sausages have undergone a name change! They’re now called Field Roast Italian Garlic and Fennel Sausage. They’ve also got a new look.

Out of Field Roast’s limited sausage flavours, these Italian sausages were my favourite.

I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but at some point ‘Italian’ started to mean ‘spicy’, so I’m less eager to try Italian flavoured foods now.

That said, these sausages are pretty good! They actually remind me of the Tofurky Italian sausages (which are now also spicy?), though if you can definitely tell the difference between them.

For starters, these sausages are definitely spicier than Tofurky’s. That’s not to say they’re overtly spicy – someone with a higher spice tolerance might not even be able to taste it – but with the Tofurky ones, you don’t get the spiciness until you go to swallow. These ones, you can tell they’re spicy while you’re chewing.

If you were to stab these with a fork and hold them up, they’d definitely sag, but they wouldn’t break like the Tofurky ones. Their firmness is somewhere between the Tofurky and Beyond Meat sausages. This also means they’re fairly soft to bite through. Their firmness is about on par with firm tofu.

They also don’t have a ‘skin’ you need to break through, so if realness is something you’re looking to avoid, you’ll want to grab these over the Beyond Meat ones.

These Field Roast sausages are also pretty light colour. Similar to their Smoked Apple and Sage flavour, they’re more grey-brown than dark ‘meat’ brown.

With only 4 to a pack, their $8.99 price (Good Rebel) is a tad on the expensive side, but if you wait until they go on sale, or buy them as a special occasion instead of a staple, that shouldn’t be a problem.

All in all, these sausages get the job done and are sure to satisfy your craving, even if they won’t fool a meat eater.

Like this review? Check out more here!

I post new reviews on the 13th of every month!

Product Review, The Veg Life

Lightlife Smart Bacon Review

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When a product comes in a package that has Buzz Lightyear on it, you know you’re in for a treat.

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For this one, I let my non-vegan friend try some, to see how it compared to ‘real’ bacon, and let’s just say he was less than impressed. He said it “wasn’t even close” to the real thing, and that he didn’t like it at all. Said something akin to it tasting like wet cardboard.

But don’t fret fellow vegans – I liked it! This one tasted very similar to the Yves Veggie Bacon. It came with a comparable amount of slices (I didn’t count, but it was definitely more than 5) and had that familiar subtle smoky taste with that soft veggie deli slice texture.

If you cooked it in oil then patted it dry with a paper towel, it even got crispy! I wasn’t able to get a full piece crispy – part or half stayed floppy – but I’m chalking that up more to user error than a structural integrity problem.

This bacon also didn’t have an overtly bacon-y smell. You know the one I mean – it’s the one that the Beyond Meat products have. The one that’s a taaad too close to the real thing for comfort?

You definitely won’t fool any non-vegans into believing this came from an animal, but it should definitely satisfy your vegan craving without issue!

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Product Review, The Veg Life

Babybel Plant-Based Cheese Review

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That’s right, everyone!

The vegan movement has gained enough traction that even Babybel is getting on board! They’re one of the biggest snack cheese brands so this is a huge win.

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Whether you think they’re doing it just for clout, or you believe they’re genuinely turning over a new leaf, there is no denying that this new vegan Babybel cheese is great. Not only is it a win for the vegan movement, but it also tastes pretty good!

Babybel says the vegan wheels are supposed to be mozzarella, and I’d say it’s true. Or at least, they taste like the other vegan brands mozzarella. Didn’t have that overpowering cheddar flavour, but you could also tell it wasn’t as ‘plain’ as Monterey Jack.

The cheese also had a good consistency – it wasn’t too hard or too soft – the texture actually reminded me of firm, uncooked tofu. I think it was a little weird the cheese itself had dimples in it. But I’m not sure if that’s something the non-vegan Babybels have as well.

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I don’t think the dimples affected the taste, mostly just the look. I wasn’t expecting the wheel to be dimpled, so it threw me for a minute. They were deep enough you could feel them with your finger, but not super deep.

The vegan Babybels also come in a paper bag that isn’t resealable. I didn’t have a problem with not being able to reseal the bag, I just folded the top over like a chip bag and left it in my fridge. Each wheel was also wrapped in plastic, and the iconic Babybel wax. Though since these ones are vegan, instead of the classic red, the wax was green!

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The Babybel website’s FAQ section unfortunately couldn’t tell me what type of wax the cheese was wrapped in – just that it was food safe. (Though they don’t recommend eating it)

Them calling the product Plant-Based even though they’re certified vegan set off a little alarm bell in my head, so I ended up reaching out to the company directly. Lucky the company got back to me (23.01.27) and told me “the green wax that wraps Babybel Plant-Based is the same as the one used on our other Babybel products and is certified vegan. The wax is made from a blend of paraffin and microcrystalline waxes and colouring, which specifically contains no Bisphenol A.”

So there’s no need to worry – the cheese and wax is certified vegan! (Though I do think it’s a little weird the wax on the non-vegan cheese is also vegan)

Another good thing about the vegan pack is they’re comparable in price! A non-vegan pack of 6 Babybels are $4.77. By comparison, the vegan one came with 5 wheels and was $4.47.

It sucks we get one less, but since they’re still pretty new, who knows? If there’s enough demand for them, Babybel might decide to eventually add a bigger pack to their line up!

Like this review? Check out more here!

Product Review, The Veg Life

Pizza Oggi’s Mini Calzones with Cauliflower Crust Review

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Happy New Year, everyone!

Hope you all had an amazing, relaxing holiday and are ready to get back into it. First article this year is this product review!

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I’ve never heard of this brand before, but decided to go out on a limb and try their product. After all, I like pizza, so how bad could a calzone be?

I first tried these mini calzones on 22.12.14, and I was immediately surprised by how big they were. Considering they were supposed to be ‘mini’ they were a lot bigger than I thought they’d be. One calzone was roughly the same length as my hand (tip of middle finger to palm).

The box itself was relatively small, and 1 box also only came with six. This surprised me, because they were listed under the Appetizers section, and I naively assumed it would come with more, since when I hear ‘appetizer’ I immediately think of a party.

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Don’t get me wrong, these would absolutely still work for a party, but you’d need more than one box. Or, you could cut the calzones into bite-sized pieces, but that might defeat the purpose of eating a calzone.

They also cooked a lot faster than the box recommended. Though my oven burns hotter than most, I was still surprised at just how fast these cooked. The boxes instructions say to cook them at 425 for 12-15min, or until golden. (And to flip halfway through)

I cooked them at 400 for 6min, then had to turn the oven down to 350 for the last 6min because the outsides were starting to look burnt. After the second 6min cooking time, I took them out and they were done! So if your oven tends to burn hotter like mine, I’d recommend doing 350 for the entire cooking time, unless you like calzones extra crispy.

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Once they were cool enough to bite without burning my tongue, I went ahead and divided them between me and my non-vegan friend. (He agreed to help me out with product reviews when he was able to)

My first impression of the calzones was that they didn’t smell very ‘deep’ like regular pizza. It’s hard to explain, but if you’ve ever had pizza, it’s almost like you can smell every layer: the dough, sauce, cheese (or lack thereof) and toppings. These smelled more like… nothing.

I’m not sure if it’s because the dough was made out of cauliflower, or if it was a lacking of spice in the sauce, but when I held it up to my nose, it was almost like there was nothing there.

Which is very weird considering how many things were in it!

These calzones had: cauliflower crust, Beyond Meat Italian crumbles, vegan cheese, potatoes, bell pepper, peas, mushrooms, onions and more! Which is great for a food to have that many veggies in it.

But not so great for the taste.

Not that the taste was bad, but I definitely wouldn’t have said they were calzones. Calzones are supposed to taste like pizza, right? Just in a not-quite-pocket shape. These… didn’t. These calzones tasted closer to samosas, Perogies, or even a veggie Jamaican Patty.

They tasted like veggie soup in a wrapper, essentially. And speaking of the wrapper, neither me nor my friend could tell it was cauliflower dough. Even though the box proudly exclaimed it was made with a cauliflower crust, we couldn’t tell at all. In fact, if the box didn’t tell us it was cauliflower, we wouldn’t of guessed. It was that close to ‘real’ dough.

Though it’s clearly listed in the ingredients, you also couldn’t really taste nor see the vegan cheese. There were maybe 3 dots of white mozzarella. The inside of the calzones even looked more dry and crumbly than a calzone is supposed to.

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And sure, you could argue that maybe that’s my oven’s fault for almost overcooking, but even if it did dry them out, the pizza flavour was still missing. My friend agreed. They were great! But neither of us would’ve labelled them as ‘calzones’.

So, the big question: should you try them?

If you like the taste of samosas, Perogies or veggie Jamaican patties, then yeah, absolutely!

But if you’re craving something pizza flavoured? I’d skip this one.

Like this review? Check out my Product Review page for more!

Product Review, The Veg Life

Gardein Chick’n Noodl’ Soup Review

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This is the last post of 2022!

I’ll be taking the last half of this month and first half of January off from posting. I’ll be back Jan. 13th 2023, (9am, ET) with the first short story (and product review) of the new year!

Hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday season, and get well rested for 2023!

Now that the winter weather is in full swing, I thought what better product to review than a soup?

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Now, I’m going to be honest, I’m not that big of a fan of soup. I hardly ever eat it (Mr. Noodles not included). I think it’s a little weird as a food. It’s practically just juice with chunks in it.

I’m a much bigger fan of stew. Food should be solid, or fork-able. If I wanted to drink something, I would just get myself a beverage.

That said, I decided to take a chance on this soup, because I’m a big fan of most of Gardein’s other products. And let me tell you, I’m very glad I took the chance!

This soup had big chunks of chick’n (the pieces were roughly the same size as their Meatballs), had pretty big pieces of carrot and celery, and there was a decent amount of noodles, too. My can only had 6 pieces of chick’n total, which I guess I could let slide since they were pretty big, but for a soup that is called Chick’N Noodle, you’d think there would be more. That could entirely vary by can, though, so don’t let that be a reason you write this soup off before even trying it.

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The can also made a full bowl, which I was admittedly impressed with – I was half expecting it to be a little under, if anything. The can itself is pretty small, it’s the same size as the Amy’s Kitchen soup cans.

Because I don’t eat soup all that often, I don’t really have much to say in terms of how good it is specifically as a soup, but compared to the Chunky Soup Hearty Chicken I used to eat before going vegan, it definitely stacks up!

One thing I didn’t like about this soup – or any soup that has noodles in it – is how soft the noodles are. I understand that’s what happens when noodles are left soaking in liquid for a long time, they get super soft. And I’m not sure if that’s something others would say is a plus in their soup, but as for me, I like my pasta to have a little bit of a bite to it.

This soup definitely gave me classic chicken noodle soup vibes, and even though I’m not that big a fan of soup in general, I could definitely see myself enjoying this during the cold winter months.

On occasion.

Like this review? Check out more here!

Product Review, The Veg Life

Que Pasa Sweet and Spicy Ranch Chips Review

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I first discovered this brand in 2019, when I was pleasantly surprised by finding their Nacho chips in a No Frills.

As I explained in that article, I was having trouble at the time finding the chips at my favourite grocery stores. Even No Frills seemed to stop carrying the brand after the day I’d discovered them.

After perusing their website, I discovered they had thankfully not only didn’t discontinue the Nacho flavour, but had others as well! And, perhaps the best news, is that all their flavours are vegan!

Being cautiously excited at discovering a new vegan company, I set my sights on trying some of their other flavours. The next flavour I was interested in trying was their Sweet and Spicy Ranch chips. But just like the Nacho flavour, I couldn’t find the Ranch anywhere.

Not content on giving up, I discovered VeganSupply sells a variety of Que Pasa’s chip flavours, but as my luck would have it, they were sold out when I tried getting a bag. This irritation brought me to March of this year (2022), when I decided to try a new-ish wellness website called Well.ca.

I discovered that not only did Well carry supplements, personal products and other wellness products, but they also had quite an array of vegan foods available! In this order, I decided to get a few other products I wasn’t able to find elsewhere that I was planning on using in future reviews. This included Watermelon La Croix, Dandelion Tea, these Ranch chips, and a few other items.

To my great pleasure, I received 0 notices about the Que Pasa chips being out of stock, and actually (finally) got my hands on them when the order arrived.

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Now, I’ll be honest, I was so excited to see a chip bag that said Vegan Ranch on it, that I completely missed the Sweet and Spicy part of the name.

Luckily for me, I spotted the full name before digging in, so I was able to ration my taste test appropriately. The bag I bought was the same size as the Nacho ones had been, and while they were slightly more expensive (Well had them listed for $4.79, but No Frills had them for $3.49), I was more than happy to pay the difference considering I was having so much trouble finding them.

These chips were also more sweet than spicy for me. Being the detail oriented flavour taster that I am, the first chip I tried, I licked some of the flavouring off to get a more complete profile.

Keeping in mind I haven’t had actual ranch flavoured anything in… probably close to 15-ish years, I personally didn’t think these chips tasted ‘ranch-y’. They at least didn’t taste like the vegan Ranch dips/salad dressings I’ve gotten used to. The flavouring actually reminded me of being closer to maple syrup than ranch.

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The heat also didn’t come until swallowing, but luckily it wasn’t too overpowering. There was a little tingle in the back of my throat, but I was able to eat a few at a time without feeling the need to reach for water. There was also no sweating happening, unlike when I eat Sweet Chili Heat Doritos.

I’m not usually a big fan of contrasting flavour profiles in the same dish/food. I just got used to chocolate covered pretzels not too long ago. That said, I really thought the sweetness of the chip when chewing really helped to balance out the heat experienced when swallowing.

They complimented each other nicely, and while I would’ve loved these chips more if they didn’t have that kick at the end, I also can’t say they weren’t good. I will say that even though the Nacho ones were spicier, if given a choice, I’d probably pick the Nacho flavour over these ones.

Have you tried these Que Pasa Sweet and Spicy Ranch chips? How’d you like them? Let me know in the comments!

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