Usually when you give up meat, people squawk at you about ‘bacon!’, ‘steak!!’, and ‘sausages!!!’, but, in my experience, those aren’t things I’ve struggled with leaving behind.

Indeed, for someone who gave up meat two years ago – and is trying hard to take strides towards cutting out dairy and eggs entirely – the one thing I miss most is simply convenience. Oh, and a good meal deal.

Cheese sandwiches are sad enough before you leave them in a fridge all day, and don’t even get me started about vegan options in the sandwich game. Cold, flavourless, soggy veg within a slice of stale brown bread does not a lunchtime make.

A good, hearty chicken sandwich is high on my list of most missed foodstuffs, so I jumped at the chance to taste these Tofurky gamechangers. Whole Foods Market in High Street Kensington were kind enough to grant us an early tasting of the full new Tofurky sandwich range – here are our thoughts:

TLT (Tempeh, Lettuce, Tomato)

A veganised take on the classic BLT, with Tofurky’s tempeh ‘fakon’ strips replacing the meat, this one needs a little more work.

I’ve cooked with the tempeh strips (which you can buy separately) before, and they’re tricky to get right – they’re always been perfect in a pasta, not so much for a sarnie.

The same holds true here – they don’t quite have the same structural integrity as ‘real’ bacon, and it’s lacking a little in the salty punch you get from a decent rasher too. Unlikely to sway a meat eater, that’s for sure, but if you’re really missing the acronymed classic, you’ll likely want to stock up.

Ham Style Salad

This one surprised me, I’ll be honest. Maybe it was the luminous orange of Tofurky’s ‘fake ham’, or maybe it’s the slithery, slimy ham that a supermarket ham salad sandwich usually entails (even when I ate meat, I steered clear of those), but I certainly wasn’t expecting the smokiness on offer here.

More flavourful than the TLT (perhaps due to the surprise spreading of wholegrain mustard inside), it’s certainly piqued my interest.

Chick’N and Sweetcorn

Onto the big guns – this one’s a winner. The ‘fake chicken’ is surprisingly tangy and incredibly peppery – it tastes quite a lot like a good rotisserie chicken, rather than the cold, eerily uniform lumps of chicken breast you tend to get in a meaty supermarket sarnie.

The vegenaise has a good sharpness to it too. I’m an ardent sweetcorn hater (don’t get me started) and honestly, expected that to be a dealbreaker, but the Chick’N here is so good that I even scoffed the little yellow bastards.

Chipotle Chick’N

Bloody hell. What a sarnie. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve veered off the ‘classic sandwich’ path with this one, but this might be one of the best pre-made sandwiches I’ve ever had, meaty or otherwise.

That chipotle chilli dressing packs quite the punch, and as an unashamed spicy food bore, that’s the gold medal for me.

It’s a sort of slow-burning spiciness that – when combined with that day-glo colour – reminds me of the homemade deli fillings I used to pile high in my school sandwiches.

This one’s definitely gonna be added to my regular lunchtime rotation. Might have one for dinner, too.