Strong Roots is a proud, Irish company that focuses on fresh produce frozen for our enjoyment. The ingredients are of the freshest variety with a focus on sustainability. Their product line is entirely vegan with a range of products from frozen, take home dinners, to crispy, plant-based & vegetable nuggies. When I spotted their line, I snatched a box and after trying it, went back and grabbed every other frozen meal that they had. As someone who lived in Ireland for just about 2 years, I felt a special connection to a proud, Irish & vegan product line. 

Please disregard the poor lighting in the photos below. They were both taken at night and the lighting is pretty horrendous. On the left, we're looking at the White Ban & Tomato Lentil Stew. Loaded with protein packed beans & lentils, it was light but also super delicious. On the right, the Black Lentil Dahl. The colour of the dahl was striking and as you can see, it too was chalk full of protein packed ingredients that also provided a good amount of fiber. 

BUY BUY BUY! As I said, it's not often that the entire line hits it out of the park, but these dinners were fabulous! I do a lot of my own cooking, but knowing that there's a good quality, nutritious frozen option available to me is absolutely wonderful. I currently have two of them in my freezer and I expect I'll always have one or two in the freezer for those nights where I just want something quick, or an easy meal to bring a long with me to work.

Don't miss out on this line, trust me! I'm keeping my eyes out for the rest of their products which I hope to source sometime soon. Their vegan mac and plant-based nuggies are on my radar. I linked their page below! Take a peek at their website, learn about their history / story, and peep their products / availability. Honestly such a fabulous line you guys!

Right out of the package, I was concerned over the smell. Almost immediately, I was struck by the odour and was worried that not only would it not taste like Spam, but wouldn't taste good at all. Visually, it was kind of giving sliced Spam, so I got to work on getting it fried up like mom used to make. I cooked it according to the package, which suggested frying it from frozen on both sides for 5 to 6 minutes. As it cooked, the smell was persistent, but I think I kind of convinced myself I was smelling spam. I don't know lol. Anyways, one thing I did not love was that it was producing a red like liquid, almost mimicking blood. Spam never bled. Spam was about as processed as anything you could imagine, so the "bleeding" felt wholly unnecessary.

It certainly got very golden brown and crisp which was enticing. I slapped on some cheddar because I don't keep creepy American cheese in my household, and melted that on top. I quickly grilled some bread but didn't grill it long enough, that's my own problem. I slapped the cheesy fried Spam on my bread and gave it a healthy drizzle of yellow mustard. How'd it taste?

GIVE IT A TRY BUY - There were a few things I didn't love. First of all, the smell out of the package was unfortunately off-putting lol. I didn't appreciate the bleeding, which felt incredibly unnecessary to me. I also couldn't understand why there were only 5 pieces in the package. 5? I needed three for my sandwich, so you're kind of left with an uneven amount. That didn't make sense to me. 

Now, what I did love was the nostalgia, and once everything was put together, the flavour of the sandwich was actually pretty delicious. Would I buy it again? If I had a hankering for my mom's fried spamwhich, I'd definitely buy it again, but I don't think it would be something I always have on hand. If you were a SPAM lover back in the day, I'd urge you to give it a try for nostalgia's sake.

Omni Foods is a Hong Kong based company with a variety of plant-based products ranging from seafood to pork and beefless burgers. This was the only product I've seen from them thus far, so I'll keep an eye out for others. Peep the link below to their page and take a peek at what they offer and where to find it!

omnifoods.co/hk-en

B Y P A S S - Ugh, it pains me to give this one a no, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. I wasn't getting any of those familiar Pho flavours, instead, it was mostly kelp and the spicy Togaroshi. Also, as stated, the noods were undercooked, but if I had cooked them longer, the broth would've been entirely soaked up leaving me with no broth and just a big old bowl of barely cooked noods.

I love their message and they have quite an extensive product line, so I'm not writing this company off entirely. I'll definitely be on the lookout for some of their other products and we'll see how those ones pan out.

Visit oceanshalo.com/ to learn more about the Ocean's Halo products and their commitment to sustainability.

As I twirled my noods on my chopsticks and excitedly brought them to my face, the smell had me ready to jump for joy. That's when I tasted my noodles and immediately knew that this was going downhill quickly. Where was the flavour? There was absolutely NO FLAVOUR WHATSOEVER. I think a good comparison would be like, a cup of steamy tea. You know how tea often times has this aromatic smell, but when you take a swig, it's basically hot water that smells like it wanted to have flavour? Same same here. This broth tasted like absolutely nothing. No flavour whatsoever despite the aromatics of the broth itself. I didn't really know how to help it as it already had 30% of your daily sodium in one cup, so I was incredibly hesitant to pummel it with salt. On top of this however, where was the flavour of the anise or the ginger? There was absolutely nothing.

What I was now looking at was a bowl of veggies and noodles in hot, flavourless water. I was so disgusted with the situation that I tried to eat the veggies for the sake of not wasting them, but every bite was like crisp veggies sitting in boiled water. I couldn't do it. I strained and discarded everything. Lesson learned here you guys; either I take the time to test real recipes until I perfect my own, or I leave it as something that I enjoy going out for and leave it at that. This broth SUCKED!

On first glance, they were kind of thin, but as an addition to my breakfast sandwich, they were just the right size. They were a pale green colour and looked a little frosty if I'm being honest, but I was still excited to try them. I heated up some oil in a non-stick skillet and got to frying them. I fried them until golden brown on both sides which also brought out more of that gorgeous green colour. Once they were fried up, I melted some cheddar on them and assembled my breakfast sammie.

What I'll say is I really appreciated the flavour of the patties themselves. Despite being up against melty cheese, salsa, egg, hashbrown, and pickled peppers, I could really taste the patty. It had a vegetal quality that I found quite delicious and it reinforced the use of vegetables in the patties.

I gave the sloppy joe mix a taste before assembling and admittedly, there was a spice that was unfamiliar to me, much the same as there was in the plant-based chili. I didn't mind the flavour / spice, but it wasn't something I thought of when thinking about sloppy joes. I'll also say that beans wouldn't be a traditional sloppy joe addition, but because we're doing plant-based, I actually appreciated the extra texture / protein. Outside of that, pretty much everything else was identical to what I'd expect. It had that tomatoey flavour with a hint of sweetness, a nice texture / thickness, and the smell was bang on. As a ready to eat product, it really doesn't get any easier for quick, weeknight eats.

B Y P A S S - This product is the epitome of why home made is always better than prepackaged. This risotto was offensive, stunk like old, musty cupboards, and lacked any flavour whatsoever. As I stated, to contain blue cheese and taste like licking a dusty cupboard shelf is strange and honestly, offensive. This was by far the worst thing I've put in my mouth in 2024, and that's a very confident guarantee. Stay away from this grotesque product you guys, I'm serious. The time saved is hardly worth the repulsive flavour and stench lol Don't buy this!

Right off the bat, I was struck by how clean the ingredients were. Hemp seeds, cane sugar, chia seeds, beans, all things I not only can pronounce, but are familiar ingredients. No fillers, no freaky ingredients here. I was also pleasantly surprised by the sodium content. I've seen in upwards of 40% or more in a single serving when it comes to canned products. Sprague keeps the sodium at a respectable level without sacrificing flavour or quality.

BUY - I can't believe I'm actually suggesting purchasing canned chili, but here I am doing so! Look, homemade is always best, but in a pinch, I'd highly recommend Sprague's Plant-Based Triple Bean Chili. I enjoyed the quality of the ingredients, lack of preservatives or fillers, and frankly, it tasted great. I used it on some chili dogs and I'll tell you, best chili dogs I've had in ages. I'm super excited to test out some of their other products and will touch base with you guys when I do!

Visit the Sprague website to learn more about their incredible story and to peep their product line and availability!

SPRAGUE - www.spraguefoods.com/

With that being said, I'm not sure I enjoyed the patties as  "burgers" necessarily. I found that the burger as a whole ate dry, but the patty itself was delicious and didn't read as being dry. Was it the buns I chose? Would a different bun have made a difference? Did I not use the right toppings? Would some juicy tomato have helped? I'm not really sure, but I don't think I loved them on buns. With that being said, they were really tasty and I'd definitely eat them again, but maybe in a different format. I could see these crumbled up on a salad, served as a component for a falafel bowl of sorts, in a pita even, but not on buns.