Heat and Eat—or Why I Love Spreadsheets

Is it just me, or have supermarket freezers been flooded with meat alternatives over the past year?

The Impossible Burger in the US and Beyond burgers, which are also sold in Israel, helped kick off this seemingly endless wave.

Now it seems every food company wants in on the hottest trend in the business: meat alternatives.

Everyone wants to make burgers out of plants, and we shoppers get to enjoy a huge selection and competitive prices.

But some meat alternatives have more to offer nutritionally than others.

To make sense of the options, I put together a quick comparison of several products I found online. Then, naturally, I plugged the numbers into an Excel spreadsheet.

I compared the following values per 100 g (3.5 oz) of each product before cooking:

Calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, saturated fat, sodium, and protein source.

I didn't evaluate ingredient counts, preservatives, food coloring, or how heavily processed each product is.

The table ranks products by their calorie-to-protein ratio, so you can find the options that deliver more protein for fewer calories. A lower score means fewer calories per gram of protein—not a lower price.

These didn't make the comparison because I couldn't get their nutrition information:

• Frozen products from Rainbow (an Israeli plant-based food brand). They hadn't bothered to list nutrition facts on their website, which is a shame.
• Prepared products from Green Giant. They hadn't sent me the information I requested.

Once I get those numbers, I promise I'll add them and update the comparison.

This isn't sponsored content. I put this comparison together on my own initiative, using the manufacturers' published information.

If you spot a data-entry error, please get in touch and I'll update the comparison.

This comparison isn't health advice or a recommendation to buy any particular product.

Meat Alternatives Compared