Enriched with protein and iron, made of natural ingredients and with easy-to-follow instructions on the back, HuVa meals have been created for people willing to experiment with their daily diet and try new flavours from all over the world.
Dee Collins: At university, because we were always on a limited budget, we often used textured soy protein to make our mince dishes go further. In those days, TSP was very bland and required a number of herbs to make it palatable so it was interesting to try out the HuVa range of plant-based meals that were recently introduced to the New Zealand market.
The HuVa meals come in dry mixes – all you have to do is combine the contents with water and add a few extra ingredients such as chopped tomatoes, corn kernels, beans, lettuce, etc.
Each meal has been developed by nutritionists and is enriched with protein and iron and contains natural ingredients. I have to confess that initially I didn’t get the right ‘texture’ with two of the dishes and, with a bit of experimenting, found that adding grated carrot helped considerably.
My favourite meal was the Chilli Con Carne which I served on brown rice, with a squeeze of lime juice and sliced tomato and avocado. The Asian-flavoured San Choy Bau was quick to put together and worked well with grated carrot and chopped capsicum.
Chilli Con Carne 
San Choy Bau
The HuVa meals are a handy standby for those days when you don’t feel like cooking or if you are heading out on a tramp and looking for an effortless meal to prepare. Each meal feeds up to four people and is good value at RRP $9.00 (available from Countdown nationwide).
Kseniia Spodyneiko: Honestly, anything in a dry mix format reminds me of instant noodles and it’s hard to overcome the stigma of meals that require water to become edible. Though it’s just my perception and with HuVa, has nothing to do with the reality, as these meals are natural, enriched with nutrients and are absolutely healthy.
The first two HuVa meals I tried were Hemp & Spinach Falafels (loved the grassy, earthy aroma, by the way!) and the Burger Patties. The simplicity of the recipes that included only two ingredients – the mix itself and water – is what lured me in. I’m sorry I hadn’t seen Dee’s review prior to cooking though as the grated carrot idea might have fixed the problem of both products being too ‘flaky’ and not sticky enough to form proper shapes.
What I quickly figured out though is that every meal requires way more water than is stated in the recipe. With that knowledge, the Chilli Con Carne turned out A+ and me and my husband devoured it like it was the last meal of our life.
I’m now curious to try their soups. I’ll sell my soul for a good Potato & Leek Soup, so fingers crossed!
