Whether you are a fully fledged vegan convert or are just looking to reduce your meat intake as part of your healthy parent lifestyle, this Squeaky Bean review is for you. Squeaky Bean are an award winning company that have created are an entirely vegan friendly range of ready-to-eat deli meats, fried chicken, and fish substitutes with the recent addition of the much anticipated Squeaky Bean bacon style strips. We were very kindly sent a selection of their products to try, including the new Squeaky Bean Crispy Bacon Style Strips and below you can find out what we thought as non vegans.
Squeaky Bean Crispy Bacon Style Strips
These bacon strips look similar to crispy bacon, it even has two colours to emulate the fat. They are made completely from plants and can be eaten straight from the packet or heated up in the microwave for 20 seconds on 180 if you want to add them to your full English or have been craving a bacon butty. We decided to put hem to the test and try them both hot and cold.
The fist thing we noticed was the smell, it has a very strong bacon smell which really adds to the authenticity of the product, great if you are someone that misses or wants to replace actual bacon. Secondly, the taste can only be likened to one thing, bacon frazzle crisps! This isn’t a bad thing, far from it, in fact it means the team at Squeaky Bacon have mastered the bacon flavour, these bacon style strips taste more like bacon than bacon does!
I loved the fact it was ready to eat and can speed up the whole process of making lunch. Personally, we all preferred it heated up which isn’t exactly a hardship as it takes 20 seconds. We had ours as bacon butties with the obligatory brown sauce (red for the kids) and I can honestly say we would have it again. It was really flavourful, very tasty and so quick to make. As part of my healthy journey I have avoided things like bacon butties but the Squeaky Bean version felt guilt free and I enjoyed it just as much.
The Squeaky Bean Crispy Bacon Style Strips are a big yes from us and they only cost £2.75 a packet in Sainsburys which isn’t dissimilar to the price of bacon.
NYC Pastrami
The NYC pastrami is high in protein and low in saturated fat and of course is suitable for vegans. It is really nice and does taste very similar to regular pastrami. The best way to eat this is by creating a mouth watering NYC pastrami bagel, just slightly toast the bagel, add your pastrami, a little bit of mustard and loads of pickles and you’re good to go. Delicious!
Squeaky Bean Applewood smoked ham style slices
The third product we were sent to try was the applewood smoked ham style pieces and again this was another win for us. It didn’t necessarily taste like ham but it was delicious and worked well on sandwiches with some salad and a touch of mayo. The texture is slightly drier than pre packed ham (but not too dry) which I actually preferred and it stayed fresher for longer than ham usually does.
Overall I was really impressed with the Squeaky Bean products. All of the ones we tried were quick and easy to use, full of flavour and as close to the real thing as I have ever tried. The fact they are high in protein and low in saturated fat also makes them a healthier option than your usual meat products so whether you are specifically looking for vegan food or just a healthier option the Squeaky Bean products are a great choice on your healthy parent journey. They are also really versatile as can be eaten on their own, with a beet salad or salad of your choice, used in pack lunches or if you’re feeling very creative used to create an impressive meat free charcuterie board. Perfect for when you’re entertaining.
The Squeaky Bean range is available from most supermarkets including Sainsburys, Tesco, Asda and Ocado.