Redcon1 MRE Ready to Drink Protein Shakes Taste Test & Review

Video Transcription

Brad:
What's going on, guys? This is Brad and John with the BestPriceNutrition YouTube channel. You can check out our website, BestPriceNutrition.com.

Brad:
Today, we are going to go over the brand new Redcon product that came out. It is the MRE RTD, RTD meaning, ready to drink. It is 40 grams of protein. It's a real whole food, they're saying. And it's MRE, meal ready to eat. It's based off of their MRE actual tub product that came out a long time ago.

Brad:
Have you used any Redcon stuff?

John:
I don't believe I've tried any of their proteins besides the MRE bars. But this has turned into a big spin-off product. We had the MRE. Then there's the MRA light. We got the MRE bars, which I don't know if you saw this, but they just announced a whole new Redcon coming in early February. Now we got the RTDs, here. I love these. Man, I think RTDs always have a better taste and texture than powder.

Brad:
Yeah.

John:
I think the RTDs...

Brad:
They do. Because when they come pre-made, you can add all, the thickeners and different stuff than you can in a powder. As far as the flavors go, there's the standard chocolate, vanilla, and then there's Stawberry Shortcake?

John:
Strawberry Shortcake, or strawberry?

Brad:
Strawberry Shortcake.

John:
Strawberry Shortcake.

Brad:
Then there's Blueberry Cobbler.

John:
This is kind of interesting. I was just reading the "strawberry," but this is going to be the whole...

Brad:
Yeah.

John:
The whole shebang

Brad:
I think something we tried recently, when it's cake or shortcake, or something, sometimes you can taste like the butteriness of an actual cake mix.

John:
Yeah.

Brad:
So, I hope that's in there.

Brad:
As far as the nutrition effects, something we saw, or John found out the other day, there's actually two servings in a container. But even with the two servings, it's really not that bad. You get 40 grams of protein. There's four calories in a gram of protein. So, 40 times four is 160. 160 calories out of 230 calories, this is mainly protein. So it's actually pretty good.

John:
I'm really surprised. Normally when companies split something that should be one serving into two, it's to hide how many calories or how much fat is in that. Man, this is a meal replacement. So, at 230, that's not bad at all. A lot of protein shakes I drink are 160. So, I'm not sure why they did the two servings, because there's really nothing to hide here.

Brad:
Yeah. And I don't know who's drinking a half on one of these. I'm sure once you get going, they're just going to go down. Yeah. 40 grams of protein for a full thing, six carbs for the full deal. Four net carbs, six grams of fat. It is actually really, really clean.

Brad:
As far as the ingredients, MREs whole thing, the meal ready to eat, is that they've all been whole food. So this isn't just a pure isolate or anything like that. The regular MRE is... Where is it? It is beef protein, chicken protein, salmon protein, egg albumin, pea protein, rice protein. It's actually dairy free, oddly enough. And I want to say, that's what this is going to be, too. So, if you look at the protein in here, it is also beef protein, isolate pea protein, brown rice protein, and egg white protein. So again, it should be dairy free.

John:
You know what? I think this is going to be the first animal-based protein that I've tried. And something that I've heard about these is, with some of the animal-based protein products people are like, "Kind of weird having beef chocolate." I've heard that this one tastes awesome.

Brad:
Yeah.

John:
And just another thing we were looking at, talking about prior to starting this video, we were looking at the supplement facts of both the RTDs and the original. And this is a heck of a lot leaner than the powder, here.

Brad:
For sure. It's way leaner. And it's almost... I'm not going to say, pure protein, but it's obviously a protein supplement. The carbs aren't really a factor. The fat's not really a factor. When you look at the actual MRE tub, per serving, which is four scoops, you are looking at six grams of fat, okay, 47 grams of protein, but you're going to get 67 carbs. So this truly is like a full meal replacement. You're getting carbs. You're getting protein. You're getting everything involved, in there. I think this is probably more based off of the MRE bite, which is essentially this minus the carbs. So, that's what this is.

John:
I know we're talking about the RTDs. We're about to take it, give these a try. It's been a while since I tried one of the bars. I don't know if you've tried them recently, but I heard, I don't even know if you want to call it a reformulation, I've heard they've improved the taste and texture without changing the ingredients or the macros. So I'll have to try another. I was always a fan of them, but have to try out another one of these.

Brad:
Yeah. I always liked the old ones. I had no problems with them.

John:
Yeah. I thought they were good.

Brad:
So let's try these out. Let's start with the strawberry, go light to dark. Something that's supposed to do with wine, or something?

John:
I believe so.

Brad:
Yeah. Same thing.

Brad:
So on the back, 40 grams of protein, low, zero grams of sugar, animal-based proteins. I'm surprised they're not advertising dairy-free. Just want to make sure.

Brad:
So the whole ingredients, water, the protein blend, alkalized cocoa powder, sunflower oil, maltodextrin, MCT, dipotassium phosphate. And then you just get some thickeners, sea salt, and sweeteners. All right. Cheers.

Brad:
Tastes like strawberry milk.

John:
It's good. Yeah.

Brad:
Yeah. That is good.

Brad:
I don't get the shortcake, at all, but that's definitely good strawberry.

John:
Yeah. I can maybe get a little bit of the shortcake in the backend.

Brad:
Yeah.

John:
I don't taste any kind of weird animal. It's not very sweet, or not overly sweet or sugary, which is kind of a good thing.

Brad:
Yeah. I feel this is probably the best strawberry protein I've ever had. Because usually strawberry protein's super thin and gross. But, like you said, if you can pre-do an RTD, it comes out thicker.

John:
It's more like a milkshake consistency.

Brad:
That's good. I like it.

John:
[inaudible 00:05:57] strawberries in here, and-

Brad:
Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. That's really good. I like that, a lot. Yeah, usually strawberry's just very, "Meh," but that was actually very good.

John:
Yeah. I don't know if I've ever tried a strawberry protein before.

Brad:
I was so stoked on them the first time I saw them, and I got isoflesh strawberry and it was just the worst protein I ever had. It might be better now, but it was just so lame.

John:
Curious to see how the chocolate stacks up against the strawberry.

Brad:
Yeah.

John:
Go to the little there, for me. I just came back from lunch.

Brad:
All right. Here's chocolate. Cheers.

Brad:
Really light flavor.

John:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I was expecting a really of strong, sweet flavor.

Brad:
A richer one.

John:
Yeah, really toned... It's not bad. Very toned down, though.

Brad:
You know what I think it's actually perfect for, which is probably what it is, whenever I'm leaving the gym, if you want to do a protein shake, you don't really want something super heavy.

John:
Yeah.

Brad:
I feel like that's what this is. It's thick, but the flavors not too crazy.

John:
What do we got sugar wise? Zero sugar. Okay. So that's why it's a not super sweet.

Brad:
And then it uses ASK, they call it, ASA sulfate potassium and sucralose are the sweeteners.

John:
Okay.

Brad:
Yeah. It's not bad. If you're super into chocolate and you love chocolate, this probably isn't what you're going to want. But if you are just trying to pick out anything that's going to be pretty palatable, I'd say either of these. I think I like the strawberry one, more.

John:
You know what I like about the toned-down flavor is, sometimes it's nice to have... Sometimes I'll drink a protein shake after dinner. It's kind of my dessert.

Brad:
Yeah. I do that.

John:
And sometimes you like that. But, like you said, other times you get out of the gym, you're not really looking to have a big old dessert in your belly.

Brad:
Yeah. I think these are definitely more of like a functional thing where you're using it for the protein after gym. You buy it from the gym, drink it on your way home.

Brad:
I would say, my little two cents, if you're going to do these, don't buy these and just keep them in your fridge. That's kind of dumb. If you're ever going to keep something at home, get a powder. Or if you just hate the taste of powders, get the RTDs. But if you like the taste of powders, as opposed to these, they're just so much more expensive, unless you can find a good deal on these, I guess. But these are... How much are these?

John:
I just put them up on the side [crosstalk 00:08:31].

Brad:
I want to say they're $39.99. If you can find a good deal on these, I'd say do it and keep them in your fridge. But if you're paying... It just doesn't make sense to be super expensive for the RTDs if you do a powder for like a fraction of the cost.

John:
I actually buy RTDs on a regular basis. And what I do is, if I'm at home, I'll mix up a protein shake. If I want to take something on the go or throw it in my bag, I'll bring one of the RTDs. And these have a pretty long expiration date on them. So...

Brad:
You're usually taking yours around with you, though.

John:
Yeah.

Brad:
You're on to go with them. Yeah. So, where would you rank these, as far as flavor goes? Which one of these did you like more?

John:
I think I probably like strawberry more.

Brad:
Yeah. You know what? I'll try to mix them up.

Brad:
Chocolate strawberry.

John:
Chocolate strawberry?

Brad:
I think that could be good. Or it could be bad. I don't know.

John:
And these literally just came in. So, we got these up on the side, I think, what, yesterday. So, if anybody is looking to try these, these are up and available for sale. And even though this is the channel of BestPriceNutrition, our sister sites, Supplement Warehouse... I should say our sister stores, for anybody in the Chicagoland Area, Supplement Warehouse or Capitol Nutrition, stop by. We got these cold in the fridge. And so, if somebody wants to try one before committing to a case, they can always pick up one, too.

Brad:
Yeah. Overland Park. Schererville, Indiana. And then Mokena, Illinois. So, if you're by any of those, stop by, we have them.

Brad:
Yeah. I think that's about it. You got anything else?

John:
I got nothing else.

Brad:
All right. Thanks guys.

John:
Later guys.