Redwood Foods is a fabulous company that produces a full range of totally vegan products including sausages, burgers, cheeses and cold meats. They’ve just added a small range of ready meals to their offering too. I do make my own burgers and sausages but I wholeheartedly recommend their products if you don’t. Even if you do it’s sometimes handy to be able to pick up a ready bought product if you don’t have much time to cook. My favourite Redwood products are the melting mozzarella, the chorizo and the tempeh rashers. I’ve yet to try the cheese with bacon bits but I see it raved about on lots of websites and discussion forums. I also like the fishfingers on a white bread sandwich with loads of margarine and ketchup!
I was lucky enough to receive a package of new products from them. I haven’t tried them all yet. The ready meals are so useful because they keep for ages and don’t even need to live in the fridge. I’m definitely going to keep one in my desk drawer at work for those emergency days when you forget your lunch and don’t fancy the plain baked potato from the canteen. Matthew tried the chicken style madras last week when I was out. The house smelt lovely when I came in and he said he enjoyed it; obviously not as much as a fresh home made curry but better than anything you could buy in a supermarket (they nearly always have hidden milk in anyway).
The picture above is the Southern Fried Chicken style pieces. You don’t get many in the box but they’re pretty tasty and make a good quick Friday night meal when you get in from the pub. I also tried the hot dogs chopped into some home made baked beans (from American Vegan Kitchen) and they were excellent – nice and smoky. I’ve still to try the soy free cheese, the Southern Fried Chicken burgers and the other 2 meals – chicken cacciatore and sausage and chorizo casserole.
Cooking the Vegan Books 
I just tried the Southern Fried Chicken Burgers this weekend. They’re good – not exactly chickeny, and a bit pricey for only 2 (I only bought them because they were half off), but a good quick replacement when you can’t be bothered to make seitan. I’ve never seen any of the meals – I hope Real Foods gets them in soon.
Overall I love the Redwood company – I’m so thankful their products exist and I wish they were more widely available in supermarkets. Instead we’re presented with a world of Quorn (yuk) and Cauldron (blegh) products.
I have to say though that I was completely underwhelmed with the madras curry and the chorizo casserole… which makes me not want to try the chicken cacciatore. I’m surprised they didn’t focus their product development on something like grated vegan cheese?
I hope to try some of the other products soon – and might order direct from their website because the prices seem quite reasonable. The Cheatin’ Beef and Turkey style roasts are some of my all-time favourite Redwood products!