Any vegetarians/vegans in here?

[Liquid_Entity]

I think the initial shop to get all the cupboard stuff is but having looked at recipes it is of course cheaper.

Had a recipe to make black bean burgers yesterday. Went to sainsburys to get the black beans and nothing. Some dry ones in a pack that needed cooking. Didn't have time for that so bought ready made soy burgers. Really tasty but I want to make my own so seems lots of prep needed and time haha.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I think the initial shop to get all the cupboard stuff is but having looked at recipes it is of course cheaper.

Had a recipe to make black bean burgers yesterday. Went to sainsburys to get the black beans and nothing. Some dry ones in a pack that needed cooking. Didn't have time for that so bought ready made soy burgers. Really tasty but I want to make my own so seems lots of prep needed and time haha.

quorn burgers are all rank apart from the southern fried chicken. linda mc cartney stuff is all rank. fry's stuff is really good but only morrisons stocks the range. their burgers are literally the best fake meat burgers you can get whereas quorn taste like cardboard and are really thin. as for bean burgers you can pretty much buy them anywhere and they are decent.

 

[Begbie]

Have been cutting down a lot recently, I'll never stop eating meat but I am trying to limit it.

My go to breakfast has been bulgar and quino (sp?) with veggies thrown (onions, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes) in and either some pesto/spices or a veggie stock. Normally with an egg or two thrown in.

It's easy, I can cook it in bulk and its delicious.

I also made some veggie burgers and quinoa black bean chilli both outstanding.

Those veggie burgers changed my views on, beef only!

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/miso-burgers-mint-pomegranate-slaw

But I pickled some veg to go with it.

 

[D.P.]

Hey, suggested to my wife last night I fancy going veggie/fish during the week and only having meat dishes on weekends. This should work out well as we love a roast on a Sunday. I am concerned though with costs of eating in the week as it seems sometimes twice the price on a veggie meal when you take in to account all the ingredients. I get that most will be 2nd or 3rd time use but we do budget our shopping to £50 - £60 a week for a family of 3 (3yr old boy)

Can anyone share a typical weeks meal planning so I can get some ideas of what we can eat as we got so many recipe books but never know what to do. I like the sound of that black bean chilli someone mentioned at the top.

Cheers

I'm a little confused because a vegetarian diet is mostly far cheaper than buying meat.

 

[Liquid_Entity]

I posted a further comment suggesting initially it is to buy all the cupboard items. I have no doubt grains, lentils and veg are cheaper in the long run. Loads of recipe books and when I look at ingredients lists they're usually as long as my arm and we usually never have any of it. Once stocked I'm sure we'll be fine.

 

[kaptainmarc]

forgot about this thread, I am now over 1 year meat free

i do eat a lot of met replacements mainly for ease of getting protein in with soy based products.

linda mcartney pulled chicken and duck has been a saviour.
icelands chickless strips are bang on for curries etc

and for when i just want to eat junk food (too often), tesco "sausage rolls" and "chicken nuggets" and vivera fishless fingers and shawarma kebab

this years plan is to get to grips with cooking good tofu.

wont be going back to meat again, no need for it

 

[Jasoncmor]

I'm not a vegan / vegetarian / pescatarian etc, but am always looking for ways to include more fruits, veggies, and other stuff into my diet, and i'm trying to find ways of eating less meat, and just be more healthy in general.
I like to make my own products where I can, if I have the time etc, like butter for example, a lot of our foods are full of unhealthy preservatives, chemicals, etc and I believe they have a negative effect on our bodies, I also grow my own fruit, veg, herbs, legumes etc, to firstly save money, but secondly to reduce the amount of pesticides and other chemicals that are ingested through store bought produce.

Breakfast is easy enough, I normally go with a smoothie (1 scoop whey, frozen blueberries, banana, oats and almond milk) and some poached eggs on avocado toast and it's a decent meal.

I make a very similar smoothie to this, I add LSA - lin seeds (flax seeds), sunflower seeds & almonds and sometimes a bit of natural maple syrup for extra sweetness.

Edit. Also I add chia seeds to the smoothie.

 

[Jasoncmor]

i have the same issue with products being mislabelled in supermarkets.

like butter with olive oil.

then you read the ingredients. they also added rapeseed oil as it's cheaper. so i'm not actually getting butter with olive oil. but butter with mainly rapeseed oil and a tiny hint of olive oil. so i choose to buy plain old 100% butter instead.

same goes for a lot of spreadable butters. none of them use just healthy oils. rapeseed is in everything.

Its very easy to make your own butter, all you need is some double cream and an electric whisk, and you'll have your own freshly made butter in 15 mins or so.

 

[Maccapacca]

My daughter has been talking about veganuary. Now I'm not trying to put her off but who on earth chose January as the best month? Not any of the summer months where fresh ripe local produce is available? No someone picked January where you have to fly in veg from all over the world or eat local potatoes, carrots and parsnips, sort of defeats the object doesn't it of impact to the environment.

Anyway rant over, she's going to do a summer month so would be good to get some ideas.

 

[Kanpai]

I’ve been transitioning from vegetarian to vegan since the beginning of the year and I’ve been feeling a lot better health wise since cutting out a lot of dairy such as milk and cheese.

After two weeks of no milk I had some in a cup of tea and felt quite sick afterwards and it only ticked to me it was withdrawal symptoms from the milk.

Have replaced milk with soya and unsweetened almond milk and I can happily live with these.

The difficult one for me will be cheese. I don’t want to try the vegan alternatives as I think if I can train myself to not want cheese the alternatives are not really the most healthy of choices either.


On another note, papa johns just launched their vegan pizza range today.

Edit: been making blueberry matcha smoothies for breakfast lately and they are awesome.

1 cup frozen berries
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup matcha green tea powder
2 spoons of oats
1 ripe banana

Blend for 1 minute and you got yourself a pretty healthy shake.

 

[nantucket66]

My wife is lactose intolerant and it's sometimes easier for her to be vegan, as opposed to just dairy free. She can medicate if she gets stuck, but she only does this as a last resort.

I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but we have had some brilliant vegan meals out, there's a decent vegan restaurant scene in Newcastle and we've a handful of great cookbooks - Mildreds and Bosh are a couple off the top of my head, but we've got a few more. I do love a good steak and all that, but I'll happily do vegan most of the week if I'm cooking.

 

[D.P.]

I posted a further comment suggesting initially it is to buy all the cupboard items. I have no doubt grains, lentils and veg are cheaper in the long run. Loads of recipe books and when I look at ingredients lists they're usually as long as my arm and we usually never have any of it. Once stocked I'm sure we'll be fine.

But that is the same either you cook with meat or not. That cost is fixed if you are cooking to the same quality.

A vague curry has the same spices and soon as a meat curry, but you have replaced expensive lamb or whatever with chickpeas, lentils, spinach etc.

 

[D.P.]

I've been slowly cutting down meat and dairy, without replacing with fake meat or highly processed substitutes.

It's been fun and I think I am looking weight despite eating more.

 

[Jasoncmor]

Edit: been making blueberry matcha smoothies for breakfast lately and they are awesome.

1 cup frozen berries
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup matcha green tea powder
2 spoons of oats
1 ripe banana

Blend for 1 minute and you got yourself a pretty healthy shake.

1 cup of matcha? Are you sure? It's quite expensive stuff considering the amount you get.

 

[SPG]

Never mind that, its bloody cups, my cup is the size of a small moon....

Worthy of a ban tbh. Metric or BAN !!

 

[Kanpai]

1 cup of matcha? Are you sure? It's quite expensive stuff considering the amount you get.

Never mind that, its bloody cups, my cup is the size of a small moon....

Worthy of a ban tbh. Metric or BAN !!

Sorry my bad guys LOL, 1 spoon of matcha powder.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

Hey, suggested to my wife last night I fancy going veggie/fish during the week and only having meat dishes on weekends. This should work out well as we love a roast on a Sunday. I am concerned though with costs of eating in the week as it seems sometimes twice the price on a veggie meal when you take in to account all the ingredients. I get that most will be 2nd or 3rd time use but we do budget our shopping to £50 - £60 a week for a family of 3 (3yr old boy)

Can anyone share a typical weeks meal planning so I can get some ideas of what we can eat as we got so many recipe books but never know what to do. I like the sound of that black bean chilli someone mentioned at the top.

Cheers

any pasta dish with loads of veg and/or quorn mince is easy.
make top crust pies is also really good, as you can chuck anything in them and they will be mostly great.

 

[mark43]

While I don't plan to cut out meat completely, I've recently decided to massively cut down on the amount of meat I consume. Its a bit tricky initially to suddenly come up with different meals, but I'm managing and it makes a nice change to try new things. Glad I came across this thread anyway, some good suggestions in here and will keep an eye on it.

I was also thinking about switching to a milk alternative which I see has been talked about a bit here, but not really sure. There was something about it on the TV the other day and a nutritionist was pointing out that most of them lack a lot of the nutrition that's in milk, she essentially said unless you're lactose intolerant or vegan you'd be better off just sticking with milk.

Another thing I've been thinking about is maybe switching my lunch to Huel, that's possibly more about laziness and saving money, but interested to know if anyone else has used it to replace some meals. Maybe slightly off topic, but it is vegan.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

While I don't plan to cut out meat completely, I've recently decided to massively cut down on the amount of meat I consume. Its a bit tricky initially to suddenly come up with different meals, but I'm managing and it makes a nice change to try new things. Glad I came across this thread anyway, some good suggestions in here and will keep an eye on it.

I was also thinking about switching to a milk alternative which I see has been talked about a bit here, but not really sure. There was something about it on the TV the other day and a nutritionist was pointing out that most of them lack a lot of the nutrition that's in milk, she essentially said unless you're lactose intolerant or vegan you'd be better off just sticking with milk.

Another thing I've been thinking about is maybe switching my lunch to Huel, that's possibly more about laziness and saving money, but interested to know if anyone else has used it to replace some meals. Maybe slightly off topic, but it is vegan.

Load of rubbish about milk.

Milk is designed to make a small calf from 45lbs to 500lbs.

A human is only supposed to have milk for like 6-12 months or whatever it is then can do without it perfectly well for life.

Calcium is a myth vitamin d is far more important for healthy bones. Obviously some calcium is needed but not that much

 

[SPG]

Yes a human can do well.... we also like creamy stuff and taste.

Milk is just that.. milk nothing more nothing less apart from a bit of pasteurisation it has no detrimental health effect.

Now lets go onto the wonder plant milks... Almond 2%, water, gums, Rapeseed oil and everything else they throw in their.

Wonder milks are one of the biggest marketing jobs on the 21st century.

Besides i love cheese, like the taste of milk and would prefer to keep our farmers in a job instead of a some nut jobs in a lab making milk from a pea.