If you’re offering, im always looking for good cheese, yogurt or dairy substitutes
Honestly, I’ve stopped chasing substitutes a while ago. Giving up meat and dairy is going to be a lifestyle change, that’s why people struggle so much with it. You can’t expect to just sub in imitations and keep eating the same foods. They’re not close enough to fool anyone, and they’re usually expensive and unhealthy.
The best way eat vegan is to fill your diet with minimally processed legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Learn to cook a few staple meals from cultural cuisines where animal products are expensive (most cultures outside US/Canada and Western Europe) and you’ll realize how much great food you can make with a few simple ingredients and one or two pots. A huge number of them fall into the same basic formula, so if you learn one, you can easily make them all. Plus, it’s much, much cheaper than eating meat.
I’m not vegan but I do eat 95% vegan because my wife is and I agreed to buy and cook solely vegan in the house. I come from a culture with plenty of (accidentally) vegan home cooking already, so it wasn’t hard at all. But those substitutes are gross to me. Apologies to those who like them.
Could you share some suggestions for the 1-2 pot recipes with a variation or two to demonstrate? I’ve started stocking up on oatmeal and frozen fruit, then frozen veggies that I season in the air fryer. Outside of that things like hummus, green bean casserole and chili are my go-tos. I’m not exactly a great cook but I’m trying to experiment more slowly replacing other simple shit like pizza rolls, bacon and eggs, etc. Especially if I can do large quantities to freeze and save leftovers
Sure. I posted the “formula” these recipes below:
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Fry hard veggies in oil until soft - can be onions, leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes etc.
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Add spices, soft veggies, and/or pastes and stir to form a sauce - tomatoes, peppers, garlic, ginger, etc.
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Stir in your beans/chickpeas/lentils/peas. Most beans should be cooked, lentils and peas usually can be dry/raw.
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Add water, bring to a boil, and simmer. Amount and time depends on if you want a soup, stew, or just some sauce.
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Add leafy greens and anything that should be dissolved - spinach, kale, lemon, vinegar, sugar, cilantro etc.
So here is a really simple one I make at least once a week, as you can eat it hot or cold, with or without rice. It makes a great packed lunch. You can make the beans or chickpeas ahead of time or use a 30 oz can, but cooking them is much cheaper. Either way, make sure you rinse them off. I put in 1 cup dry beans/chickpeas (makes 3 cups cooked) in my Instant Pot with 4 cups water for 25 minutes for beans, 35 for chickpeas, instant release. Then I use the pot to cook the meal.
Also, you can chop and freeze most hard veggies (carrots, leeks, onions, celery, ginger, garlic). They aren’t as good as fresh, but it’s a lot more convenient if you have to cook after work.
This recipe is really flexible so I’ll just tell you what I do, but the ratios are all preference:
1 large onion, finely chopped
Equivalent amount of carrot, quarter slices
3 cups cooked pinto beans or chickpeas
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
3 tablespoons tomato or red pepper paste (I use half of each but red pepper paste can be hard to find in US grocery stores)
Juice of 1 lemon or white vinegar
1.5 tablespoon sugar
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Optionally, bay leaves, paprika, and parsley
Step 1: frying hard veggies. Heat up a medium or large pot (stainless is best but any material will do) and add enough olive oil to fully cover the bottom and a bit more. It might be more oil than you think you’ll need. Fry your onions until soft.
Side note about onions: you can cook them quickly in 5-10 minutes at medium-high heat. They are ready when soft and translucent. But if you have the time and want a complex flavor in your dish, you can cook them for up to 20-30 minutes at low heat. Always salt them to help draw out the water.
Either way, add the carrots when the onions are almost done (2-3 minutes left).
Step 2: make the sauce. Add your garlic and let it cook a bit until fragrant. Add black pepper and optionally a couple of bay leaves and paprika. Stir for 30 seconds to let the spices bloom and then add your tomato/pepper paste and stir continuously until a sauce forms. About 1-2 minutes. The oil should be reddish.
Step 3: add the beans. Just stir them in and make sure they are covered in the sauce.
Step 4: water. Add 3 cups water (less if you’re in a hurry) and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Step 5: anything that should be added to the water. Add the sugar and lemon/vinegar. This is really to taste, so you can add more when it’s almost done if it needs it. It should be just a little sweet and tangy. You can also add leafy greens like kale or spinach, but I don’t add them if I plan on eating it cold later.
Let it simmer until it’s a very beany stew (not a soup), but at the very least 10 minutes. It should be a little watery. Check the flavor and add salt, pepper, sugar, lemon/vinegar, or olive oil as needed. Parsley makes a great garnish.
This can be eaten hot or cold, with or without rice. Will keep about a week in the fridge.
I’ll reply below with a lentil soup recipe that’s more or less the same thing.
I live in the US, so depending on where you live these may or may not be available to you.
Cheese for me depends on the application:
On a pizza, I like Miyokos liquid mozzarella. I’ll often get a chain pizza with no cheese, add a little on top and bake for a bit.
Melted in a quesadilla, etc., I’ll usually go for daiya.
Cold on something like a burrito bowl, I like Violife or Vevan. Violife also makes a great feta.
For parmesan and blue cheese dressing, I’ll usually go with Follow Your Heart.
For cheese sauces and mac and cheese, I like to make cashew cheese sauce.
My favorite non dairy for drinking and baking is oat or soy, I just like to make sure it’s not sweetened.
I started making my own yogurt in an instant pot with cheap Asian grocery store coconut milk and vegan cultures, and it’s fantastic.
Hope this helps!
Well milk is easy. Just get soy milk or almond milk as a drop-in replacement. There’s even weird ones like cashew milk. Depending on where you are at though that might be too expensive compared to dairy milk.
Oat milk is really good too and is usually cheaper than almond milk, at least where I live.
I normally prefer soy for flavor, with oat as a close second.
For nutritional value, I think soy is the top, followed by pea, and oat way behind.
For environmental impact/needs, I think soy and oat are also among the best.
Soy milk is a miracle food and we should embrace it.
Where I live, soy milk is less than half the price of cow boob milk. Perks of living in East Asia, I guess.
I bought a 936 mL (1/4 gallons) carton of soy milk today, and it was only about US$1.1 (NT$35). Very affordable.
