Value for money: Vegetarian sausages

CONOR  POPEreviews vegetarian suasages

Cauldron Cumberland Sausages €2.39 for 276g, €8.66 per kg

These are a fairly new brand and were the ones recommended to Pricewatch by real vegetarians — who, we would imagine, probably know about such things. We were quite fond of them and they actually taste like real, meaty sausages — some of the children involved in the tasting were completely fooled into thinking they were eating the real deal. They are nice and filled with flavour and have a a pleasingly peppery edge.

VERDICT: Nice and, er, ‘meaty’

****

Quorn Sausages €2.54 for 336g, €7.56 per kg

We didn’t hold out much hope for these and despite having had a flavour revamp we found them to be depressingly dry and tasteless. The texture is very meaty which makes us think they’re designed for veggies who actually like meat. They have a slight flavour of dried mixed herbs but other than that, they are entirely unmemorable, save perhaps for the price — they are the cheapest option we found.

VERDICT: Dull

**

Tesco Cheese and Leek Sausages €2.09 for 220g, €9.50 per kg

These are a real find, mostly because Tesco has not tried to recreate the taste and texture of meat sausages at all and has instead gone down the potato croquet route. In reality the only thing connecting these with sausages is the name on the packaging. They are covered in crispy breadcrumb and made with onions, leeks, cheese, potatoes and chick peas. They are also quite delicious in an entirely non-sausagey way.

VERDICT: Gorgeous

****

Linda McCartney Sausages €2.49 for 300g, €8.30 per kg

Given that this is arguably the most famous vegetarian brand on the market, you might expect them to be pretty good. Well, you’d be wrong. They have a weirdly gristly texture, are unnervingly pink and it would appear that a huge effort has gone into making these look and taste like cheap sausages. They were also way too salty for our taste.

VERDICT: Disappointing

**

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