Quorn v Meat

chrisfreelander54

Been having a think latley, as our diet contains a lot of red meat, lasagne, spaghetti Bol, burgers, etc, due to the fact that we visit our local abbatoir to stock up and they fact that these are the meals we enjoy.

We also eat chicken, and some fish, but as mentioned above its mainly red meat.
I have seen people mentioning quorn in recipes instead of mince, is this something that can be cooked in a slow cooker in the same way we would cook mince and is it a better alternative?

Are there any pros or cons to cooking with quorn?

As regards to taste, is there a lot of flavour and is it distinct as my son can get a little fussy with food sometimes?

Where is the best place to buy, as we do all our shopping @ ALDI, and I'm not sure I've seen any quorn in there?

Regards
Chris.

PLRFD

There is no taste with Quorn it takes flavour from the things you cook with it,personally i don't like the texture.

zaxdog

We love Quorn and I often make spag bol in the slow cooker with the mince. Always comes out beautifully :j

Farmfoods and Lidl often do special offers on Quorn products.

LadyDee

chrisfreelander54 wrote: »

Been having a think latley, as our diet contains a lot of red meat, lasagne, spaghetti Bol, burgers, etc, due to the fact that we visit our local abbatoir to stock up and they fact that these are the meals we enjoy.

We also eat chicken, and some fish, but as mentioned above its mainly red meat.
I have seen people mentioning quorn in recipes instead of mince, is this something that can be cooked in a slow cooker in the same way we would cook mince and is it a better alternative?

Are there any pros or cons to cooking with quorn?

As regards to taste, is there a lot of flavour and is it distinct as my son can get a little fussy with food sometimes?

Where is the best place to buy, as we do all our shopping @ ALDI, and I'm not sure I've seen any quorn in there?

Regards
Chris.

Make your son a cottage pie or spag bol with Quorn mince and he'll never know the difference. Chicken-style pieces in curry - he'll think it's chicken.

One thing - don't over-cook. It cooks very quickly. Always on so-called offer somewhere - 3 for 2 etc. The price has risen a great deal over the last year or so as they've taken to advertising it as an alternative for meat-eaters as opposed to food for vegetarians!

outtawork

my cholesterol is too high, my doctor suggested cutting down or out red meat. I can't tell the difference in shepherds pie or bolognese, you have to add the quorn towards the end of cooking.I buy the asda chicken style pieces for stir fry and curry, haven'y tried casserole yet. Tesco are selling quorn mince 500g £1.55 at the moment.

rinoa778

I like to fry garlic, onion, peppers, add tin tomatoes, packet of Quorn and one of those fajita spice mixes. You can either serve with rice/pasta and cheese, make into lasagne or just eat it like stew served with bread to go with it.

I buy it more for the nutritional quality. I think the texture is similar to meat but it doesn't taste anything like meat. I think Quorn sausages taste more similar to sausages than Quorn tastes like mince.

Blackpool_Saver

Quorn chicken style tastes like chicken, Quorn beef style tastes like beef etc, they do a copy bacon and cold meats, I love it, you really can sub it for any dish

James_Lahey

My daughter is a veggie which I fully encourage, I will not buy her quorn products beacuse -

"Quorn, in fact, is a highly processed food made in giant laboratory vats from a fungus (Fusarium venenatum) which is a mold, not a mushroom. An expert on Fusarium fungus, David M. Geiser of the Pennsylvania State University Fusarium Research Center, told the FDA that calling the Fusarium fungus that is the basis of Quorn foods a mushroom is like “calling a rat a chicken because both are animals.”"

http://www.foodrevolution.org/askjohn/35.htm

That's from a quick Google but there is plenty of info out there if you look (which I did when dd first became veggie.) Iirc it's incredibly processed just to make it possible for humans to digest then they add nutrients, vitamins etc. so the packet looks to be a similar profile to meat.

Just my 2p but I'd stick to other meat alternatives if you feel you need them (although if you are buying decent quality meat and also eat a balanced diet, I can't see it being essential.)

VfM4meplse

Try it once OP before you fill your fridge or freezer.

Quorn makes me violently and repeatedly sick within 3 hours of ingestion (have re-challenged twice and don't plan to eat it a fourth time) and this is common to a percentage of the population.

Tiglath

Quorn makes me very ill too - hideous cramps and diarrhea.

cjalynch

Yes it can have that effect on some people, I use it for OH and kids but don't personally like it that much.

Our local Aldi does sell the Quorn mince in the freezer section at £2.49 for a 350g (?) bag- the smaller, not family size one.

It has no apparent fat in when cooking so you need to add oil to fry it, no flavour to the actual textured 'meat' except what you or the manufacturer can add to it. The mince is fine in chilli, shepherd's pie, stews etc. but I do find the chicken, sausages and bacon have a more 'distinctive' flavour.