Will this replace 10$/lb steak? – no Will this reduce the amount of ground meat you consume, saving money and reducing animal fat intake? – yes Will anyone notice? – probably not as long as you don't totally replace the meat with TVP.
I recently purchased both the Augason Farms Emergency Food Beef & Chicken so will be post the same review for both as the only difference is the flavor and color. While the word “Emergency” is in the product name, this appears to be standard TVP [textured vegetable protein]. I purchased this not for emergency food (which can be a good idea) but rather to both save money with hamburger reaching $3.50/lb, and to cut down on the amount of animal fat I consume. This appears to be a good quality product, and can replace one-half or more of the animal products with little or no change in the flavor or texture.
If you make meatloaf the chicken TVP does a good job of replacing the veal in the mix. The beef TVP does a good job of replacing up to about ½ of the ground beef used in chili or tacos, and most people won't notice a difference. Will be trying chicken salad next, and possibly tuna salad.
The main problem I had was finding the proper way to reconstitute, and how (much) meat to replace in my usual recipes. The web has plenty of information [Google on TVP for > 8MM hits] but most of this is vegan with total meat replacement, as was the TVP cookbook I got from Amazon.
My suggestions are for Wal-Mart to include information on how to reconstitute, how [much] to substitute for meat in existing recipes, some example recipes, and to include this as a standard store item now that meat is getting so expensive.
