Lightlife Delicious Plant Based Dining, A Healthy Life Line

If there were as many meat substitute and plant based culinary products as plentiful as the major fast food chains, would you go there as often?

We probably would if we could easily use their drive through or walk into their public facilities, order and be chomping down in less than five minutes.

Then there is the pricing. They have to be priced comparably to the cooked meat products like hamburgers to make them a staple in our diet.

Well, there is hope. It does always spring eternal.

In contrast to meat production, vegan manufactured products are much easier on the environment as well as our stomachs.

The environmental impact of meat production varies because of the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. All agricultural practices have been found to have a variety of effects on the environment. Some of the environmental effects that have been associated with meat production are pollution through fossil fuel usage, animal methane, effluent waste, and water and land consumption.

Point taken.

As of this November 1, 2018 writing, during this wonderful holiday season, we were looking for a plentiful meat substitute that could grace our table at family gatherings that would not bust our budget and taste yummy good.

We are impressed with Lightlife.

Founded in Greenfield Massachusetts in 1979, Lightlife Foods is a company that produces vegetarian and vegan meat substitutes. It was first founded as Tempeh Works in an old, converted car wash.

In the summer of 2000, ConAgra Foods acquired LightLife Foods, which was generating about $25 million in annual revenue at the time.

The company was so well received and blossoming with success that Maple Leaf Foods bought Lightlife Foods for $140 million and related costs in February 2017.

Lightlife produces sausages, hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs and other meat substitute products that will keep you salivating and full.

Here are a couple of reviews found at Influenster.com:

“This product tastes great and cooks up very similarly to ground meat but without the cruelty, and it’s much better for you! The price is not bad at all for a meat replacement product. A little pricier than the frozen versions, but that is for a reason. My carnivorous husband was happy with it!”

And another.

“LightLife’s Smart Ground is a great way to substitute meat in many meals, like in burritos and spaghetti with “meat” sauce. It’s super easy to use and absorbs flavor well. I’m Puerto Rican, so I use Adobo, “sofrito” and other spices when I make it. I also chop onions and sauté them a bit before adding the smart ground. I buy this regularly for my house and would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to try something different.”

If you prefer to watch and listen on video here are two reviews:

Lightlife Smart Bacon Taste Test (vegan bacon review) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnZ4Vkdnouo

Lightlife Veggie Sausage Review! (Vegan!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjbOcVcYZ38

You guys should check it out. You’re going to love the neighborhood those videos are in because there are other vegan reviewers as well on YouTube.

We are so impressed that we’re going to knock on the door at Lightlife.

They open the door at Lightlife.com and are very forth coming. “Our mission is making eating better accessible and deliciously easy, because the more people love our food, the more good we can do together.

At Lightlife, our passion is delicious food. And because veggie food takes less from the land, each meal is your own, simple way of doing the world, and yourself, a little extra good. Let us guide you on your journey with our vegetarian and vegan recipes.

For more than 30 years, Lightlife has provided quality plant-based foods prepared in the most healthy and sustainable manner. We strive to make it deliciously easy for people to eat plant-based.”

We are starting to feel even better about our decision to eat more vegan meat substitute products. We actually are converting. Slowly, but reading about them inspires us to take more vegan baby steps.

In regards to the environment they add, “Because we believe that what you eat is strongly connected to how you feel and how you live your life, we make foods that help sustain a healthier you and a healthier planet.”

For over 35 years they have contributed 5% of their profits to organizations that support the earth on which we live and healthy lifestyles for people like us.

We mentioned the issue of price earlier and Lightlife is right on top of that.

One of their major goals is to enable people in underserved urban and rural communities to make healthier food choices by increasing affordability and access to fresh, locally grown foods in ways that improve health, generate revenue for small and mid-sized farms and bolster local and regional economies.

The issues of pollution and meat production are well chronicled but often over looked by the public. Having all of those chicken and cow corporate farms that you can see and smell as you drive down the high way are coming at an environmental cost.

The 2006 report Livestock’s Long Shadow, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, states that “the livestock sector is a major stressor on many ecosystems and on the planet as a whole. Globally it is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) and one of the leading causal factors in the loss of biodiversity, while in developed and emerging countries it is perhaps the leading source of water pollution.

The widely respected, environmentally conscience group at Peta brings this subject into a sharper focus. “Raising animals for food requires massive amounts of land, food, energy, and water and causes immense animal suffering.

Globally, animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transportation systems combined. According to the United Nations, a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change.”

Now, try and place this in perspective.

They continue, “It takes an enormous amount of water to grow crops for animals to eat, clean filthy factory farms, and give animals water to drink. A single cow used for milk can drink up to 50 gallons of water per day—or twice that amount in hot weather—and it takes 683 gallons of water to produce just 1 gallon of milk. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef, while producing 1 pound of tofu only requires 244 gallons of water. By going vegan, one person can save approximately 219,000 gallons of water a year.”

Life is certainly about becoming more educated on subject matter that can affect our health and our beautiful planet.

Eating healthier and tastier at a reasonable price is invaluable.

It’s like hitting a triple.

Those are just some of the reasons we are very impressed with Lightlife and their commitment to healthier dining.

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Opening photo, pexels.com Nathan Cowley photo credit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LightLife

https://www.influenster.com/reviews/lightlife-smart-ground-original

https://lightlife.com/news/5-tips-help-you-eat-more-plant-based-diet-2017

http://lightlife.com/

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/