A couple of years back I went on a semi ‘clean eating’ or lower carb way of eating and some of that involved swapping up standard rice for cauliflower rice. I’ll admit the low carb choice did not last long, but having cauliflower rice stuck with me a lot longer than giving up bread or potatoes…. so when I saw CauliRice as a product and interest in blogger reviews I was keen to give this product a shot.
I’d had a couple of packets of this stuff in my cupboard for a little while now, and used my first one last night when I decided to make a home made chili. I don’t know how important rice is for you, but for me it tends to be filler type food when I have a chili or thai curry rather than being something I eat a ton of on a regular basis.
Making your own cauliflower rice is pretty easy but can be messy. You can either manually chop a cauli up as small as you can or if you have a blender you can pop larger chopped chunks in there. I just have a nutri-bullet type thing so that really isn’t good for cauliflower and I’ll admit I had gone back to having normal rice rather than my cauliflower buddy. Laziness, I guess. We always have rice in the cupboard and it lasts for so long…replacing rice with cauliflower means ..well…buying a cauliflower each time as you can’t store them for weeks at home and I have gotten very slack at meal planning so rarely know what I’m having for dinner on any one day.
The above is what makes CauliRice packets very helpful as the cauli comes in a sealed packet, you can keep it in the cupboard and it stays fresh for up to 12 months with no preservatives. Imagine keeping a cauliflower in the fridge or cupboard for 12 months? No ta! But these packets make it an actual option, and you don’t have to flap around prepping the cauli. There are a few different flavours but I had the original – my chili had enough going on by itself and I didn’t want to distract from it!
Cooking is very easy, chop the top off of the packet where indicated and pop in the microwave (still in the packet) for 2.5 – 3 minutes depending on your microwave setting. Then once it’s cooked chuck it (tidily) on your plate and badda-bing …done! Most enjoyable.
Taste-wise it was a bit different to my home made cauliflower rice, but nothing too far off and I was soon chowing down on my chili as happy as Larry (reports received are that he is very happy) all gluten and carb free too. Plus, the cauliflower rice has 75% fewer calories than your standard white rice and is one of your 5 a day. I’m rubbish at that so definitely need the help.
I’m not sure on what the standard portion size is supposed to be, but I had the whole 200g pack to myself and it was great! I do like to stuff myself when it comes to dinner though. Unfortunately the sun had started descending by the time I had finished cooking so I don’t have any snaps of the rice actually on my plate, but it doesn’t look too exciting…these google images may help or it looks like it does on their website (link at the bottom of this page).
What does this cost? It’s £1.49 standard price on the CauliRice website, but then you have to pay for postage too. Supermarket prices range between about £1.90 and £2.05 vs about £1 for a standard cauliflower…so the question is how much do you like the convenience and long life storage ability of this rice! I’m yet to try the other flavours so can’t comment on those (same price) but I can genuinely say I would consider having at least one of these in my cupboard as a reserve. I will still go with a fresh cauli sometimes, but it’s nice to have back up or something to use when I’m feeling in a “bung it in the microwave” minimal cooking type mood.
I’d imagine these would be handy for take-to-work lunches as they are a no mess option and the flavoured sachets would make it more interesting with Mediterranean, Indian Pilau and Spicy Chicken options available. I have a few more at home so may give this a crack. I do like this product though and am pleased to be able to spread the word!
Cauli Rice Original 200 g (Pack of 3)
Update: The Spicy Chicken was pretty vile in both taste and smell. I thought I’d try it for a healthy lunch snack but I managed 3 mouthfuls, wasn’t impressed so put the bowl down… went back for a 4th and the result made me throw the rest of the bowl away. Spicy chicken is definitely a no no.
Forked by Stefpuff
See all posts by Stefpuff
Twitter: @cauliricetweets
Instagram: @cauli_rice
fork my piehole 