Okay, so I might be biased but as 8+ year vegan the price barrier is such a cop out. My grocery budget went DOWN after I stopped buying meat. My girlfriend and I eat for a whole month for about $350, breakfast, lunch, dinner. There is more to vegan diets than those lame impossible/bocca/gardiens prepackaged frozen junk, I literally never buy any of it.
Tofu, beans and rice are cheap as hell. Like, of course prepared food is expensive but if you learn the basic easy ways to prepare it yourself you will save a ton. I use this recipe a ton as a base and then change the spices a bit for the specific dish. This site also has a ton of easy basic recipes.
Of course I agree that meat subsidarys are the real problem, but I flat out refuse to accept “veganism is expensive” as a legitimate claim.
I’m a big fan of TVP.
It’s really cheap, you can keep it on your shelf for an eternity, and you just cook it for a few minutes, then you can use it where you’d use meat.
So, for example, you can get them in meatball-shape, which I just throw into the water when my noodles are almost done cooking.
It’s also quite chewy and if you get it in steak-shape and you sear it like a steak, then the Maillard reaction will make it taste quite a lot like a seared steak.
As a long-time vegetarian, I had to gag when I first made it like that, because at least my body was convinced that I was biting into meat.
Thanks for the foundational recipe. i can certainly see the avenues on where you can take it. i’m not vegan but i have changed my diet a lot recently and i’ve seen that same effect. focused on proper portions and staples like rice and beans and my food bills go down. 350 sounds like a dream, but its gonna take a lot more discipline in my household to get there.
On this topic nobody gives a shit about tofu and beans, they care that an inferior tasting, but ecological superior product, is more expensive to the point where normal people will not or even cannot choose it en masse yet.
This is such a self report. Tofu tastes great, you just haven’t been around people that know how to cook it. Of course people are allowed to have different preferences but to unilaterally dismiss tofu. When it can taste like literally anything, one of one of the most versatile ingredients known to humanity, just makes you sound sheltered. I have been regularly asked if I made a non-vegan dish for the potluck because they mistook tofu for meat. It’s not commonly prepared in America or Europe, but to say “normal people don’t like tofu” just makes the content of Asia laugh.
Okay, so I might be biased but as 8+ year vegan the price barrier is such a cop out. My grocery budget went DOWN after I stopped buying meat. My girlfriend and I eat for a whole month for about $350, breakfast, lunch, dinner. There is more to vegan diets than those lame impossible/bocca/gardiens prepackaged frozen junk, I literally never buy any of it.
Tofu, beans and rice are cheap as hell. Like, of course prepared food is expensive but if you learn the basic easy ways to prepare it yourself you will save a ton. I use this recipe a ton as a base and then change the spices a bit for the specific dish. This site also has a ton of easy basic recipes.
Of course I agree that meat subsidarys are the real problem, but I flat out refuse to accept “veganism is expensive” as a legitimate claim.
Yep, and cooking is easier and safer (I don’t need to worry about cross contamination)
Being vegan is way cheaper and that’s not even accounting for the massive subsidies the meat and dairy industries get, from our taxes.
I’m a big fan of TVP.
It’s really cheap, you can keep it on your shelf for an eternity, and you just cook it for a few minutes, then you can use it where you’d use meat.
So, for example, you can get them in meatball-shape, which I just throw into the water when my noodles are almost done cooking.
It’s also quite chewy and if you get it in steak-shape and you sear it like a steak, then the Maillard reaction will make it taste quite a lot like a seared steak. As a long-time vegetarian, I had to gag when I first made it like that, because at least my body was convinced that I was biting into meat.
Yesssss! It only goes with everything! I like soaking it in broth and then mixixng it in to a mac’n’cheese recipe.
Tofu / rice / beans are the chicken thighs (cheap meats) of vegan meals. Impossible steak-tips and such nake sense as the upper end (they’re good af)
🫳
🎤
Thanks for the foundational recipe. i can certainly see the avenues on where you can take it. i’m not vegan but i have changed my diet a lot recently and i’ve seen that same effect. focused on proper portions and staples like rice and beans and my food bills go down. 350 sounds like a dream, but its gonna take a lot more discipline in my household to get there.
On this topic nobody gives a shit about tofu and beans, they care that an inferior tasting, but ecological superior product, is more expensive to the point where normal people will not or even cannot choose it en masse yet.
This is such a self report. Tofu tastes great, you just haven’t been around people that know how to cook it. Of course people are allowed to have different preferences but to unilaterally dismiss tofu. When it can taste like literally anything, one of one of the most versatile ingredients known to humanity, just makes you sound sheltered. I have been regularly asked if I made a non-vegan dish for the potluck because they mistook tofu for meat. It’s not commonly prepared in America or Europe, but to say “normal people don’t like tofu” just makes the content of Asia laugh.
Like truly, I linked recipes for a reason.
I think they’re talking about immitation meat, not tofu…