Morningstar Farms making a vegan "riblet" now, too.

[flvegan]

I happened upon this at my local grocery. I normally don't peruse the frozen section for anything at this particular store, as it never stocks anything new. Anywho, I had to grab some tater tots, which were right next to that section, and this caught my eye. Naturally, I assumed that like most MF products, it would have eggs or milk (or both) in it. Alas, no! Vegan and not a lot of crap in the ingredients list.

The size is about the same, and the ingredients (now that I've checked) are almost exactly the same. The price was $3.19, and there are two riblets in the box.

My review: it's good. It has roughly the same consistency as the GardenBurger Riblet. The sauce isn't *quite* as good, but it's still very tasty. If I had to choose one over the other, I'd go for the GardenBurger brand. But, in many places it's a tough to find brand, whereas MF has become more prolific in common area supermarkets and hopefully they'll carry them in stores near you.

Ingredients:

MEATLESS RIBLET (SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE WITH WATER FOR HYDRATION, TEXTURED WHEAT PROTEIN WITH WATER FOR HYDRATION, CANOLA OIL, NATURAL HICKORY SMOKE FLAVOR, YEAST EXTRACT, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, METHYLCELLULOSE, SALT, EXTRACT OF MALTED BARLEY AND CORN, SUNFLOWER OIL, NATURAL FLAVORS, CARAMEL COLOR), BARBECUE SAUCE (EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, WATER, MOLASSES, TOMATO PASTE, WHITE VINEGAR, SALT, NATURAL HICKORY SMOKE CONCENTRATE, CARAMEL COLOR, XANTHAN GUM, DRIED ONION, DRIED GARLIC, SPICES).

Product link:

http://www.seeveggiesdifferently.com/product_detail.aspx?id=16331&healthy=42

[stuntcat]

1. I'm gonna look for it, TY!

I've been impressed with all the stuff my Giant has lately :o Used to be the only places that had veggie food or even "healthy" food sections were far away. Now my local Giant might actually carry this.

[RebelOne]

2. My local groceries carry Morningstar, but I have yet see the riblets.

In fact, lately, I haven't even seen the Garden Burger riblets.

[Ignis]

4. You must find the GB riblets.

They are the standard by which all fake meat should be judged. :P

[soleiri]

3. I looked at my local grocer store for the riblets last night.

They carry morningstar, but no riblets.
Luckily I live close to the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Loma Linda,
so there are plenty of stores that carry vegetarian products.
I used to have a good recipe for riblets using wheat gluten, but sometimes I want a quick and easy meal.
Thanks for the info.

[Ignis]

5. Right on!

It's great to see both GardenBurger and Morningstar Farms making more vegan items. The GB riblets are one of my favorite US-made faux meats, so I'm very excited about taste-testing the MF riblets in comparison. :)

And frankly, MF products are pretty ubiquitous at large chain grocery stores, so my chances of being able to find vegan food while traveling just increased.

:woohoo:

Thanks for the heads-up.

[Chan790]

6. I had them for dinner last night...

they were fantastic. A little more expensive here (what isn't?) at $3.89 a box, typically I can get 4 meals out of a pre-packed Morningstar entree (only two out of the riblet) and the sauce seemed to be really sweet (that's not a bad thing but I'd wager that the sugar content and calories are high as a result) so I won't be eating them often...but they're good for a once in a while treat.

I'm really glad for this product because I think I'm the only person sometimes who loathes the Gardenburger riblet.

On a side note, if anybody knows where one can get coupons for vegetarian foodstuffs, I'm all ears. My old supermarket used to print coupons for "the products you buy most" on their receipts (for people in their shoppers/discount club...the one they use to collect info they sell to marketers.) and the new one doesn't. There isn't a huge market here for vegetarian entrees so they never go on sale either. I'm getting tired of doing all my shopping in produce and spending my entire Sundays cooking for the week like my grandma did.

[LeftyMom]

7. Coupons

Mambosprouts has printables: http://coupons.mambosprouts.com/online_coupons

Sometimes individual companies' websites also offer a coupon or two. If I catch these I try to remember to post a link.

The free ad-laden magazines that they have at my food co-op, the ones that are full of articles about the fad food or supplement you need to take, sometimes have decent coupons as well. I usually get a buck off of a bottle of shoyu or something that way.

Some companies also do peelies or on-the-box coupons for other items in their range. For example Gardenburger occasionally has peelies stuck on the box for $1 off of the purchase of two boxes, and boxes of the Soy Delicious bars usually have a coupon for $0.50 off of a pint of Purely Decadent, etc. The Gardenburger peelies tend to overlap with the times our one decent conventional grocer here (Raley's/Bel Air/Nob Hill, but they're only in NorCal and Nevada anyhow) puts their stuff on sale, so I combine the two and stock up on their stuff for $2/box.

[Chan790]

8. You've made my day.

:yourock:

[CrispyQ]

9. The grocery stores around here have those check out coupons

that are based on what you buy, BUT, they are never for the brand that you buy! :grr: So when I buy the vegan Boca chik'n patties I will get a coupon for Morningstar Farms chik'n nuggets.

[veganlush]

13. The kroger store by me has the checkout coupons too..

..They also mark items down pretty regularly as they approach their "best when purchased buy" date. I often get gardenburger coupons at check-out when I buy morningstar products. I'm glad to hear morningstar is offering more vegan stuff too...:applause: :hi:

[Critters2]

10. Their website says 220 calories and 24 grams of sugar.

So, pretty high in sugar, but not bad in overall calories per serving.

[Critters2]

11. Is it a sweet sauce, a smoky sauce, or a spicy sauce?

I like a sweet barbecue sauce, so not so fond of the Gardenburger sauce.

What I really wish is that someone would just sell the riblets, and let you add your own sauce after cooking. There's a family here that sells a locally-made bbq sauce at our farmers market. I put it on vegan burgers, but would love to have it on riblets.

[flvegan]

12. I'd call it sweet.

It's definitely not spicy. Smokey? Eh...I'm not the best judge on bbq. Matter of fact, I doubt a vegan bbq expert exists.