Plant-Based Mince Now 29% Cheaper Than Beef at Tesco as Meat Prices Climb
https://vegconomist.com/studies-numbers/plant-based-mince-29-cheaper-beef-tesco-meat-prices-climb/
Posted by James_Fortis
Plant-Based Mince Now 29% Cheaper Than Beef at Tesco as Meat Prices Climb
https://vegconomist.com/studies-numbers/plant-based-mince-29-cheaper-beef-tesco-meat-prices-climb/
Posted by James_Fortis
26 Comments
You’ve got breed a cow and feed a cow for months before you can turn them into mince. A slaughtered cow only contains 3% of the calories it consumes. It does make sense for plant based alternatives to be cheaper.
Plus it’s better for the environment. A total win win situation.
Maybe they could invest in taste and only be 10% cheaper.
Some brands do alright but others are very poor, the quality of quorn is terrible.
I have never seen such wild swings in pricing than Beyond Burgers in ASDA. Week to week, it’s like they roll a dice between £2.50 and £5.00 to decide what a pack of two patties is going to cost. They’re delicious, but they’re not £2.50 per patty delicious.
“New analysis from [Good Food Institute Europe](http://gfieurope.org/) finds cost gap widening between plant-based and conventional meat products amid drought-driven supply pressures.
[Plant-based mince](https://vegconomist.com/topic/mince/) is now 29% cheaper than beef, lamb, and pork mince at Tesco, according to a price comparison conducted by nonprofit think tank GFI Europe across January, February, and March 2026. Plant-based meatballs showed an even wider gap, coming in 41% cheaper than their conventional counterparts, while the average cost difference across mince-based products was 33%.
The analysis compared 33 products, including burgers, meatballs, and mince across 18 plant-based and 15 animal-based options. Brands included in the comparison ranged from [Tesco](https://vegconomist.com/organisations-and-brands/tesco/) own-label lines to Linda McCartney, Quorn, and Beyond Meat. Beef burgers remained the exception, coming in 9% cheaper than plant-based alternatives.
The price gap has widened partly due to rising costs across conventional meat. Average supermarket beef prices were up more than 10% in the week ending 25 April compared with the same period last year, with lean beef mince rising by nearly 23%. Lamb was up 5% and pork 1.4%, according to [data from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board](https://ahdb.org.uk/news/consumer-insight-red-meat-retail-performance-25-january-2026). Chicken prices rose 8% last year and are expected to climb further.
The increases reflect elevated input costs across the livestock sector. Animal feed costs have risen following poor grass growth caused by last year’s drought, pushing farmers toward more expensive cereal-based feed. Disruptions to fertiliser and fuel supply linked to conflict in the Middle East have compounded the pressure…”
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It’s a shame the increased need for plant based meat will increase the number of vegetarian abattoirs. Those poor soy cows :'(
I could demolish a Linda McCartney Mozzarella burger rn
Wtf is this post? I tried to follow the article links to the studies and it just links to their own website again or to other home pages of websites mentioned, even if you Google the so called studies you cannot find them.
They always seem to price the soya products similar to mince but I doubt they cost that amount to grow
It breaks my heart to see animals sold so cheaply. Bad enough that they live in misery and then die to be sold for a few quid.
I hope such a price difference happens in the States soon! Love that they are so successful and cheaper.
Ive switched to quite a vegetarian diet over the last couple of years. I make curries chilli’s and even Spag Bol without meat. It’s probably a lot healthier too. I don’t really buy cod or haddock either and get bags of frozen pollock instead.
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Haven’t tried Beyond mince, but Quorn mince is about the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten. I’d rather rawdog a tin of surstromming than eat that again
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How many processes to turn the chemical mixture into something edible?
Vivera plant based mince is delicious, imo it’s indistinguishable from beef mince.
Big fan of plant based burgers and meatballs but just don’t feel the same love for the mince.
IMO Bolognaise is just not the same with it.
Yet it probably still won’t be enough to convert people over. Plus who wants to eat heavily processed chemical slop when beef mince is one ingredient.
Not a vegetarian, but the Linda Mcarthy mince is the single best substitute. It has bite to it, like the real thing. Qourn is absolutely awful.
The Beyond Meat burgers are pretty convincing when served in a bun with all the trimmings
I know this article is about plant based meat but it’s surprising to see no one considering cultured/cultivated meat as an alternative option. Whilst I appreciate it’s currently unavailable in the UK, I see it as a much better option than plant based alternatives and slaughtered meat.
There needs to be greater awareness and investment in cultured meat. Yes, whilst technically a UPF, I wonder whether it would in fact be a healthier alternative to slaughtered meat. For those unaware, cultured meat is the proven process of growing REAL meat, without the need for killing the animal, all whilst using less land/energy etc. the issue is scaling and costs. It’s currently approved in the US and Singapore but there is a lot of miss information on cultured meat.
Please let this be a sign that BYND will stop Bing a bag I hold!
This stuff is good enough to fool meat-eaters. I know because multiple times I’ve seen it done 🙂
Usually Beyond is very expensive so good to know it’s currently a budget choice – I still only get the burgers when they are on sale.
Not a fan of vege mince personally but I eat a lot of other vege stuff. Vege scotch eggs and vege cocktail sausages are pretty good
A glimpse of the direction of travel. Today it’s geopolitics, but over the next few decades climate pressure will likely push meat, especially beef, into “treat rather than staple” territory for most.
It’s all just flipping bizarre. A normal veggie burger is so ridiculously tastier than pretend meat products. If you’re veggie, do that. What’s the point in pretending you’re eating a dead animal?
I’m not veggie by the way.