RedCon1 MRE Lite: Dairy-Free Protein Powder That Doesn’t Suck

Even when Aaron Singerman’s wrong, he’s still right.

MRE Lite is a dairy-free protein supplement,
not a true “meal replacement”. And that’s good news!

We all know the story – RedCon1‘s seen incredible growth over the company’s short life, as highlighted in our 2017 RedCon1 Recap.

Aaron Singerman’s brought innovative and practical products to a market where consumers are constantly searching for exciting new products to expedite their fitness goals. No doubt, a dairy-free protein supplement can fit into that category… and finally someone’s made one that’s enjoyable!

Have you jumped on the MRE train yet?

When the MRE meal replacement hit the market last year, it separated itself from other meal replacements by using real food and being dairy-free — but not being afraid to use artificial sweeteners (this is analyzed like crazy in our recent MRE Bar post). They stumbled on something big — a lactose-free product that’s not afraid to actually taste good, because it isn’t vegan!

Yet MRE has a ton of carbs and calories inside, and not everyone needs that all the time. As a result, Aaron Singerman and RedCon1 delivered MRE Lite.

But hold on a second…

This is a dairy-free protein powder! Not a “meal replacement”

Take a look at the tub in the image above, and you’ll see something plastered all over the bottle: “MEAL REPLACEMENT”.

Hate to say it, but this is one of those rare times where we have to disagree with Aaron Singerman and the squad at RedCon1.

There’s no official definition for the term “meal replacement”, but we typically think it needs to have at least 10g of carbs and/or fats, depending on the type of diet targeted. MRE Lite has neither of those.

Instead, we’re positioning this one a little bit differently: as a “Dairy-Free Protein Powder that Doesn’t Suck and Isn’t For Hippies”!

This is actually good news!

But we’re not complaining here. RedCon1 doesn’t need two “meal replacements”. They’ve clearly spotted a market gap for lactose-free food that actually tastes good – so why not give something to those living the low-carb life or anyone who needs a different and new kind of protein supplement?

And that’s exactly what MRE Lite provides. So if you were scared when you saw the words “meal replacement”, thinking there’d be another 20-50g carbs inside, fear not and check the macros discussed below first!

Now that we know what we’re getting into, here’s RedCon1’s prices with the current coupon (sign up to get alerted when coupons drop):

The RedCon1 MRE Lite Nutrition, Ingredients, and Analysis

Here’s how Redcon1’s website describes MRE Lite:

“MRE Lite will deliver the same great taste and excellent source of whole foods as our original MRE formula, but with much lower carbohydrates for the person keeping a close and watchful on his or her macronutrients. That means if you’re dieting and on restricted calories, you too, can enjoy the wonders that MRE can do for your physique.”

We joke that the name MRE Lite sounds like a six-pack of light beer you’d find at your local gas station, but RedCon1 does you one better. MRE Lite could be the Whey Protein replacement that consumers have been searching for. Let’s examine why:

• Nutrition:

  

  You might have been expecting ‘meal replacement macros’, but that’s not the story. This is a dairy-free protein powder!

  MRE Lite is drastically lower in calories, carbohydrates, protein, and slightly less in fats. A serving of MRE Lite comes out to:

  • 134 calories
  • 24 grams of protein
  • 4 grams of carbs (only 2g sugar)
  • 2 grams of fat

  Compare that to the standard MRE serving which contains a stunning 525 calories, 74 grams of carbs (5g sugar), 47 grams of protein, and 4 grams of fat!

  Now you can see why we’re calling MRE Lite more of a protein supplement – whether you’re low-fat or low-carb, it’s actually quite clean!

• MRE Lite Ingredients / Label

  Gone are the days of a meal replacement with 50 grams of cheap carbohydrates, all coming from maltodextrin/sugar! With this, you jump at the chance for a post workout protein shake from real food sources including beef, chicken, salmon, and eggs… as opposed to protein coming strictly from whey/dairy.

  The label description from Redcon1 states that MRE Lite has:

  Beef, Salmon, Egg, Chicken, Brown Rice and Pea Protein, Coconut Water, MCT Oil, and Cinnamon.

  As discussed in our MRE and MRE Bar posts, RedCon1 is using beef protein as in “beef off the bone”, not the drastically inferior collagen-based powder that’s sometimes found in some other beef proteins.

  Bonus points to Redcon1 for utilizing a healthy fat source, too. We’re all about MCT Oil for a healthy saturated fat, and there’s probably not much room for anything left from the beef/salmon/egg parts – and given that it doesn’t smell like those, most of the fat is likely from MCT.

  Dairy-free doesn’t need to suck!!

  The “other” ingredients are Natural Flavor, Cellulose Gum, Cinnamon, Salt, Sucralose, and Ace-K.

  

  Our favorite MRE Lite flavor may just be Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, which came out a bit later!

  This part is the secret sauce. All too often, the market has assumed “dairy-free” customers to automatically be “naturally-sweetened” or “vegan” customers. Not necessarily true! RedCon1 spotted that disconnect and fills the gap.

  Some people simply want animal-based, dairy-free protein that still tastes good! Pure beef proteins were basically a flop, but the MRE family is clearly not.

  Unlike the original MRE, this product has no yams, sweet potato, or dextrose. So as a protein powder, the label is quite strong considering the quality of the ingredients you’re putting into your body, but one complaint consumers may have is that there’s no amino acid profile listed. We’d love to see what all those protein sources really provide compared to whey.

  With MRE Lite, you’re still getting the whole food sourced protein of the original MRE, simply less carbohydrates and fats than the original MRE.

• Taste and Flavors

  What is “real food”?!

  Some readers may be getting huffy with all the “Real Food” talk on this post. After all, whey protein is technically food, right?

  Without getting too detailed, where both MRE and MRE Lite here differ from other products is that they have a blend of actual whole foods like blueberries, yams, oats, sweet potato, salmon, beef, chicken, eggs, etc… rather than their competition that’s loaded with cheap whey concentrates loaded with sugar or other less-than-desirable nutrient sources.

  Don’t get twisted upside down here. The “real food” and “meal replacement” talk here is all a matter of semantics. The real point is that we finally have an animal-based, lactose-free protein powder that doesn’t suck!

  The product launched with Blueberry Cobbler, Banana Nut Bread, and Dutch Apple Pie, but by the time you read this, there will be more flavors listed below:

  Singerman posted on his Instagram that “MRE Lite tastes just as good” as MRE. Team PricePlow has had nearly all current flavors of MRE (outside of dutch apple pie which we hear may be the best!) and we’ve been nothing but highly impressed with the taste. You won’t find many people disagreeing either – it’s mostly about finding what flavor will be best for you.

  For MRE Lite, time will tell how the taste translates to a far lower calorie shake. The salmon and beef could be masked in a high calorie product… can they here? We assume RedCon1 wouldn’t put anything out unless they nailed it.

  What we love about MRE, MRE Bars, and MRE Lite is that they come in more “fruity dessert flavors” and not the traditional chocolate or vanilla based flavors.

Low Carb Friendly… but you may want more fats

Low carb diet friendly, eh? Maybe it’s time to get back in testing mode!

MRE Lite is “low carb friendly”, although we haven’t checked ketones and blood sugar with it (yet). This is good news for those who utilize a low carb diet and wanted to use the original MRE but couldn’t due to higher amounts of carbohydrates.

One idea with MRE Lite is to add even more MCT oil, though, which may keep your diet balanced in the high-fat direction you need. Remember, you want to use the protein to build and repair your muscles, not use it as a costly energy source. Low carb dieters not wishing to lose too much study may want to add extra fats.

If loving animal protein is wrong, then we don’t want to be right

Long story short? Singerman strikes again. Anyone surprised at this point?

“You’re damn right I strike again!”

Overall, it looks like Redcon1 may have set a new trend for low calorie protein shakes. It’s only a matter of time before this model gets copied, and accusations start flying on YouTube!

So while we disagree with this whole “meal replacement” business for MRE Lite, we sure as hell don’t disagree with the idea behind the product.

And as much as we like to tease about our web browsers and phones getting invaded by the brand, RedCon1’s success isn’t just because of marketing (which they’re clearly the best at right now). For us, it’s innovative products like MRE Bars and MRE Lite, where the brand did something different that nobody else could be bothered to try.