Redcon1 MRE Lite - Dutch Apple Pie 🍎🥧
My martini glass decorating skills need some serious work
The closest thing I have to “military” experience is playing Call of Duty on my PC - and I’m not even that good…
Rather than enlisting, a far more appealing option is to incorporate some supplements from the military-themed brand Redcon1 into my civilian life. Specifically, their MRE Lite - a protein powder made from beef and other whole food sources.
And now for the most important question of the day - does beef protein taste like steak? Let’s take a look…
The Product Summary
📋 Product: Redcon1 MRE Lite
🥛 Type: Animal Protein
👄 Flavour: Dutch Apple Pie
💰 Price: £34.25
⚖️ Weight: 2 lbs
🥄 Servings: 30 servings
The TLDR
Very interesting protein powder made from whole foods (beef, salmon, chicken, eggs, brown rice, and peas) that tastes excellent. Should be a very good alternative to whey for anyone with digestive issues with or generally looking to avoid dairy. A little on the pricey side with no option to upsize to a 5 lbs tub in Europe, so you may want to stock up when Redcon1 run their (relatively frequent) sales
The Macros
🔥 130 Calories
💪 24g Protein
🍬 4g Carbs (2g sugar)
🛢️ 2g Fat (1g saturated)
The Brand
Redcon1 is an American brand founded by supplement industry entrepreneur Aaron Singerman. The branding has a distinct military look and feel, with all of their products donning a similar matte black label with yellow text. Interestingly, Redcon1 offer a “100% money back guarantee” if you’re unhappy with the “flavour, effectiveness, or quality” of a product. I’ve personally never used a money-back guarantee, but it’s nice to know Redcon1 are confident in their products.
In addition to supplements, Redcon1 also own a gym in Florida, and have a pretty cool youtube channel that features their athletes training, dieting, or generally hanging out. And speaking of athletes, Redcon1 has an impressive roster of hench boys and girls, including Brian Shaw (4x World's Strongest Man), and the late UK bodybuilder Luke Sandoe.
I personally find Redcon1’s brand very cool, but think some of the product names are a little confusing. I get the whole military thing, but come on, what are “11 Bravo”, “Boom Stick” or “RPG” supposed to be?! Go on, tell me without looking at their website, I’ll wait…
The Formula
In the meantime, let’s look at their aptly named MRE Lite product. Not to be confused with Recon1 MRE meal replacement, the MRE Lite product is an animal based protein product with minimal carbohydrates and fats. In this case, “animal based” means a combination of beef, salmon, chicken, egg, brown rice, and pea protein.
First and foremost, why choose an animal protein product? Well, the most obvious reason would be if you were lactose intolerant, or generally looking to limite your dairy intake. I understand that some followers of the paleo diet also opt for animal or wholefood proteins - thought I’m not sure I understand the premise. The Paleo (or the caveman) diet is meant to replicate the dietary practices of humans from the stone age. This typically means vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, and meat, and therefore excludes dairy, grains, processed oils, etc. I’m not sure our stone-age ancestors would approve of protein made in labs, but I won’t judge…
The way it’s supposed to be. Source: Bizarro comics
Speaking of protein manufacturing, I was very interested to learn that beef protein (one of the main protein sources here) is made by boiling cuts of beef in huge vats to produce a protein and amino acid rich liquid, which is then filtered and dehydrated into powder form. This is important, because this means beef protein is not the same as “ground up steak in powder form”, and what you’re getting is actually a by-product of meat. This is unlike say brown rice protein, which is made by adding enzymes that separate protein from carbs and fat, before undergoing dehydration.
While there is a lot of research on the effectiveness of whey protein, research into beef protein is comparatively lacking. One paper that compared gains made from taking either whey or beef protein fonud that test subjects in both groups experienced the same gains in strength and lean body mass - meaning beef is no more effective than whey.
My take on all of this is, don’t worry too much, and use a wholefood protein blend if you’re avoiding dairy. Supplements are meant to help round out a well balanced diet, and most of us don’t need to be athlete-level precise with our nutrition. So get the majority of your macros from real foods, make sure you can stomach your powder of choice, and don’t stress too much about the protein source.
If on the other hand, you are an athlete concerned with maximising performance and intent on optimising every gram of protein - I’d suggest consulting an information source that isn’t an online blog.
The rest of the ingredients are fairly standard, with the MCT oil powder providing some healthy fats and coconut water powder providing some electrolytes. The whole affair is sweetened artificially by sucralose and acesulfame K (Ace K), so this might not be suitable if you’re avoiding fake sugars. Finally, it should come as no surprise that a beef / salmon / chicken blend is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans…
Full ingredients list below:
Whole food protein blend (beef protein isolate, salmon protein, chicken protein, egg albumin, brown rice protein, pea protein), natural and artifical flavours, MCT OIL, natural and artifical flavours, milk creamer (for texture), cellulose gum, coconut water powder, cinnamon, MCT oil powder, maltodextrin, salt, sucralose, acesulfame K
The Mixability
I’ve never had whole food proteins before, and to be hoenst wasn’t sure what to expect. I was therefore pleased to find that the powder itself is very similar to whey protein, with no discernable difference in weight or consistenct. The protein powder itself mixes incredibly well, and I had zero clumping issues mixing this up in shakers or in a bowl with a spoon.
However, I did notice that the shake is slightly thicker than what I would expect from whey protein. Not unpleasant in any way, just quite noticable. I ended up using about 250mls of liquid for every scoop of MRE Lite.
The Taste
So what did this taste like - steak? Chicken & Rice? Mixed grill gone wrong?!… Thankfully, none of that. The product is delicious, and there is absolutely no hint of beef / chicken / salmon / food.
Although I’m not sure what makes an apple pie “Dutch”, the flavour is very good overall. I would probably describe this as having a distinct (not overpowering) cinnamon flavour, with a noticable hint of apple. If I’m being picky, I’d say the apple pie flavour is missing the taste of the buttery pie crust. Descriptive accuracy aside, this isn’t really a problem, and mixing with milk really amps up the creaminess (if that is your thing).
The flavour is not overly sweet - although as mentioned I did tend to mix this with a lot of liquid. Overall, I think the flavour is very pleasant and should appeal to most. This may or may not be your all-time favourite flavour, but you definitely won’t hate it either.
The Flavour Longevity
With the standard caveat that I only tested a 2 lbs tub, I’m going to say that the flavour aged very well. Apple and cinnamon are really mild, inoffensive flavours anyway, so I’m relatively confident that even a 5 lbs tub would be quite easy to finish.
I used this in the height of (British) summer, and while I wouldn’t quite describe the apple pie flavour as “fruity”, it was noticably more refreshing to drink than say a “creamy” chocolate or vanilla shake.
The Versatility
Surprisingly, the apple pie flavour didn’t lend itself too well to other uses. I tried blending this with a banana and some almond milk, and the result was not bad, but certainly not fantastic either. The cinnamon-apple taste also didn’t work too well with summer fruits like strawberries and blueberries, which makes it hard for me to reccomend this as a smoothie ingredient.
I did find that the flavour works quite well with oatmeal. One of my go tos was mixing a scoop of this into some overnight oats with a spoonful of almond butter - which balances out the cinnamon and sweetness. Give it a go!
The Pricing
This is the one area which puts MRE Lite at a disadvantage vs. other products - it’s on the expensive side.
At £34.25 for 30 servings, this works out to just under £1.15 per scoop. While this is a high price to pay per scoop, I’ve always said that while 2 lbs tubs of protein provide less value-for-money, it is a much smaller financial and time commitment. Particularly on a product like this (where I was unsure whether I’d like wholefood protein), I actually find the option of a smaller tub very helpful.
And here is the problem - the option to size-up isn’t there, at least not in Europe. Recon1’s EU website does not carry the 5 lbs MRE Lite (their US site does), which means we’re stuck paying £1.15 per scoop, an undeniably expensive price.
One mitigating factor is that Redcon1 often run 20 - 40% sales on their website, so you could pick this up for anywhere between £21 - £27 on sale, bringing this in line with comparable products from Ghost, Optimum Nutrition, etc. If you want to try this without any particular urgency, it might be worth waiting for a sale.
Full disclosure: I get a lot of the supplements I review at wholesale prices (in this case from Powerbody). While I am very happy to buy this product during a 20% sale, I would think twice about paying £34.25 for any 2 lbs tub of protein.
The Verdict
Having never used animal protein or anything from Redcon1, I was positively surprised by how much I liked the MRE Lite. The flavour is good, and this product would be a great alternative to whey for anyone who has issues with dairy.
The only downside is that the product is quite pricey, and Redcon1 haven’t yet released the 5 lbs tub in Europe (this is available on the US site), which could in theory make this a competitive product.
If I didn’t have a billion other products to review, I would not hesitate to try some of the other flavours on offer - snickerdoodle, blueberry cobbler, or s’mores, anyone?