I was fairly late to the party when it comes to this product. Released in the Spring of 2019, it wasn’t until 2020 I spied it on the shelves of my local grocery store. Actually, I should say freezer cabinet, the product is kinda hidden away in the freezer section of the store in question. I tend to leave it in the refrigerator overnight and it defrosts easily.
At a glance it looks similar to real beef, albeit its much paler and greyer in comparison. In its raw defrosted format it is mushier that beef too. It has little to no odor at this stage either. So far so good.
You can use the product much like you’d use ground beef, think burgers, meatballs, meatloaf, kofta etc. With such a range of great vegan burgers on the market I haven’t tried to make my own burgers yet, but if you wanted to make your own vegan garlic burger for example, this would be a great product to choose.
To date I’ve used the Lightlife in tacos and meatballs only, and I prefer the latter the most. The meat retains that mushier texture I mentioned, even after it’s been cooked. In tacos the meat doesn’t quite firm up. Because of this I prefer something like the MorningStar Farms crumbles for tacos. For meatballs (and meatloaf too I suspect) it’s great to cook it at high heat for an exterior crisp, and soft middle.
Compared to the Beyond Meat ground (which is currently the main competitor) the Lightlife has a very neutral flavor. The Beyond products have a very defined taste profile that’s unique to their brand, and inevitably you’ll either love or hate it. If you fall into that last camp, the Lightlife is worth investigating for its relatively mild taste.
Is Lightlife Plant Based Ground good?
We’re giving this the thumbs up. In our local stores, the Lightlife is materially cheaper than the Beyond Meat ground. Beware the slightly softer texture of the meat and work with that in mind and you should be great!