We are always looking for medium-term storage food (3-5 years), and recently picked up a few Loma Linda products to test them out, including these “Swiss Stakes”. Yeah, that’s not a typo.
First up? Loma Linda “Swiss Stakes”.
The “Swiss Stakes” are not actually meat, they are vegetarian textured vegetable protein smothered in vegetable gravy. They have the look and consistency of commercially produced meat patties that one would find in a $1 microwave dinner.
They also resemble meat products that are served in a lot of school lunch programs.
Available through “natural market” stores and online, they are pretty darned expensive for what you get… a 13-ounce can contains four patties and a small amount of gravy at a price point (at the moment this is published) of $7.99 via Amazon (cheaper if you buy it through the pantry program, and cheaper if you can find it locally because of shipping costs).
Spice ‘s thoughts on the nutritional value of the Swiss Stake:
Not bad really. Better than your average veggie burger. About the same protein as most veggie burgers at 9 g. That’s way less than a meat burger; the biggest nutritional loss when comparing meat burgers to veggie burgers. Some fiber, not much fat, lots of B vitamins. Pretty salty though.
Salty’s overall “Swiss Stake” take:
Well, umm… yeah, not so much. I’ve eaten worse, but… yeah, not so much. It wouldn’t have been so ‘meh’ if I didn’t actually eat it, look at it or pay for it.
Spices’s overall “Swiss Stake” take:
I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. The texture wasn’t as good. We had it with mashed potatoes and veggies for a shepherd’s pie/comfort food sort of combo, and it was quite suitable. Would also do well over noodles, particularly if you had a jar of gravy to heat with it. (We keep a stock of jarred gravy, as storable meat substitutes often benefit from the help.) It’s not great and it’s not cheap, but it’s a pretty good, very storable meat sub that’s dead easy to prepare and would be quite welcome after a couple of days of various ‘with meaty crumbles’ dishes. One thumb up.