Kids are for some unknown reason addicted to chicken nuggets, I was the same while young. Unfortunately many parents choose frozen chicken nuggets full of preservatives. Trader Joe’s now offers soy nuggets (new to our store) that are healthy alternative to frozen chicken nuggets.
Unlike traditional chicken nuggets, soy nuggets are all-natural and contains no preservatives. The soy nuggets can safely be served to your children unlike chicken nuggets. It is common knowledge that if not properly cooked or cooled, chicken can turn infectious to the consumer. This raises questions in my mind of how healthy are frozen and pre-heated nuggets after sitting in a warm locker close to four or more hours…
Why choose soy over chicken nuggets?
1. Soy does not have bacteria growth potential such as chicken nuggets.
2. Soy does not contain additives such as hormones and/or antibiotics which are fed to raise chickens.
3. Soy does not have additives such as MSG or sodium erythorbete which are usually added to chicken to preserve.
4. Soy has no potential of salmonella infections such as chicken nuggets had a few years ago.
5. Soy has no potential of containing beef waste such as chicken nuggets did in 2003.
Trader Joe’s is not the first soy nugget that my family has had to test out. Since we enjoy other brands occasionally we decide to test out this new frozen product for just under $5.00. One serving of chicken nuggets at McDonald’s is around the same price.
The packaging states that the soy nuggets can either be warmed up in the microwave or conventional oven. We chose to cook the nuggets frozen in the toaster oven for the same duration and temperature as the conventional oven suggests. When complete, the nuggets were a nice golden brown and slightly crisp o the outside.
Due to the breading the nuggets smell similar to chicken nuggets and kids easily are fooled by the appearance, as long as you don’t tell them. Unfortunately the taste is not similar. Unlike other soy nuggets that taste like chicken nuggets these do not fool the taste buds. In addition, the texture is slightly off and makes the experience a little less than pleasant. Inside the chicken nuggets, the ‘chicken meat’ looks and feels more like oatmeal. The texture is hard to get past and deems a bad alternative to real chicken nuggets.
All in all, the price is convenient and the fact that it can be found at Trader Joe’s is more than nice. Unfortunately the texture rather spoils the whole experience when eating plain without any condiments. Trader Joe’s Soy Nuggets are a healthy alternative if you eat your nuggets with ketchup, mustard or any other condiment. For my family we were not so interested in doing for a second serving but the healthy substitute idea was promising.
