So I've had a lot if success helping my wife eat more vegan meals so i come to you for any recommendations. Would be nice if they arent super expensive but I will accept all recommendations, thank you comrades!!

  • DirtbagVegan [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I don't buy a lot of cheese/meat replacements and mostly save them for special occasions. Chao and Violife are both great across the board. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they have some store brand stuff that's really good and more reasonably priced than what you can get at your average grocery. Field roast makes some pretty tasty seitan products, but you can also make seitan at home that's very tasty. Morningstar Farms has been transitioning some of their old stuff from vegetarian to vegan and they have good stuff and are widely available and pretty reasonably priced. Tasty stuff if not realistic.

    For DIY:

    My favorite easy vegan cheese for something like mac and cheese or nachos is this or something similar.

    Seitan can be time consuming to make, but you can make a lot and freeze it and just brown it in a saute pan when you are ready to eat. Once you've got the basic you can tweak the seasoning to your liking

    • grisbajskulor [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Do you stay away from cheese/meat replacements for nutritional reasons? I'm not always super imaginative so I often just go for fake ground beef.

      • DirtbagVegan [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I try to stay mostly whole foods as a matter of health, so that definitely is part of it, but they're also just pricier than vegetables and grains. I also have been working on minimizing waste where possible, so packaged, heavily processed foods don't fit the bill very well.

        I do like them, of course, but they're "sometimes foods."

        If you find yourself falling back on ground beef subs for creativity reasons, a good healthier option is a quick cooking lentil like a red lentil cooked in veggie broth and add some soy sauce. Sauteed mushrooms are also really good for sort of meaty umami flavor profiles.

        • grisbajskulor [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Funny you mention that, this past week I've used mushrooms and lentils more than ever. Thanks for the tips!

    • quartz242 [she/her]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      Yes they are super expensive and you are right with those assessments, appretiate the seitan recipie! 😃