My Thoughts On The Gardien Soup Part 1

By: Megan  

   Recently, the brand, Gardein, has released four different vegan soups with mock meat in them. I believe this is one of the first brands that has put mock meat in a soup to be canned. I tried the be'f and vegetable soup and it was pretty good. I used to eat my great-grandmothers vegetable beef soup all the time and of course, nothing will ever be able to live up to that, but it was a good classic soup. The soup was $2.99 a can at Kroger which is pretty expensive compared to other vegan soups. The soup is 230 calories which is pretty good for a meal. The serving also contains 1110 milligrams of sodium and 14 grams of protein. The protein for the number of calories is pretty good, but the sodium is absolutely terrible. The daily intake of sodium should be around 2,300 milligrams give or take and that is almost half of it in one meal. In my opinion, this would be something good to eat half of and half of a grilled cheese with. Now onto the flavor. It was very tomatoey and tasted a lot like the liquid was just tomato juice. I was nervous to taste the mock meat and thought it would resemble the texture of beef more, but it tasted exactly like the meatballs that the Chef Boyardee brand uses. It was not a terrible flavor, I just was not expecting it. I added crushed-up saltine crackers to the soup and it gave it a more desirable texture and flavor in my opinion. I think this would be a good pre-made meal for college students or people who live a busy life, but this is one of those foods to only eat every once in a while. Overall, the soup is good it is just a little too high in sodium for me and a little on the pricey side.