TVP: The Wonder Food

Simply put TVP is amazing; this versatile foodstuff travels easily, is packed full of protein, cheap, can be easily used as a ground meat substitute, and is all around just awesome.  For those of you who do not know what TVP stands for, it is Texturized Vegetable Protein, or simply put, dehydrated unflavored vegetable protein crumbles pretty much consisting of soy.  Now you may be asking yourself "Why is that so great?  It sounds awful!" but let me tell you all of the benefits of TVP as I see them

A) Protein: It is hard to find vegan friendly, especially meat substitutes, that are packed with lots of protein and TVP is an excellent solution.  Some people, especially men, may be concerned about eating too much soy, but as long as you are not abstaining from soy TVP is an excellent way to get protein since the product itself is almost entirely pure protein.  Calorie for calorie TVP packs a protein punch.

B) Cheap: For those of you who have never bought TVP it is extremely cheap pound for pound, something I very much appreciate as a poor college student.  I can usually find bulk TVP for the price of around $1.40 per pound, which is quite a lot when you consider how light TVP is.  To get a rough idea of how much one pound of TVP is, imagine half to three quarters of a plastic supermarket bag filled.

C) Versatility: Admittedly I use this like a substitute for ground meat, especially in recipes where one would normally use ground beef.  While TVP on its own is rather flavorless, when rehydrating TVP one can use any kind of flavoring either on its own or in combination with water to rehydrate and flavor the TVP.  My personal favorites are a combination of 1/2 water, 1/2 bbq sauce for making things like sloppy joes and roughly 3/4 liquid smoke and 1/4 water for making ground beef for recipes like chili.

D) Awesome: Frankly, I just think it's an awesome food because it's cheap, keeps forever, and I can use it for so many things.  And although I've never tried it, considering that this was one of the things my parents ate the most when they backpacked for days on end decades ago, I can't think of anything bad about TVP.

Curious about TVP?  Check out these websites!
All About TVP

What Is TVP? Definition and Recipes