Vegan food substitutes? Help Please?

sapper on Sun, 4th Jul 2010 9:40 pm 



whole foods is the best place here in ri, maybe you have it there as well. many of the supermarkets now have a health food section. best bet is to pick up a vegan cookbook.
good luck

Lostjackkatesawyerboonecharlie2 on Sun, 4th Jul 2010 10:10 pm 



Boca Burgers are yummy. They’re soy.

mockingbird on Sun, 4th Jul 2010 10:58 pm 



While are substitutes for all those foods, you don’t really need them. Earth Balance non-hydrogenated spread is a pretty good substitute for butter. Vegan Gourmet makes a decent, meltable cheese substitute. There are numerous things you can substitute in recipes to take the place of eggs. But, you can have a varied, balanced vegan diet even without all that stuff (I used to be a cheese maniac but I’ve been so busy trying new recipes that I haven’t craved cheese at all and I’ve only barely tried the Vegan Gourmet cheese I bought… it’s probably going to go bad.) Where I live you can get tofu, soymilk, Earth Balance, soy yogurt, and meat analogs at pretty much any grocery store. The vegan cheese was harder to find, but Whole Foods has it.

If you don’t know how to plan healthy meals, I recommend getting a good book on vegan nutrition. Once you know what nutrients you need and where to find them, you can plan meals that give you what you need. “Becoming Vegan” by Davis and Melina is a good one. For recipes, I recommend “Vegan with a Vengeance” by Moskowitz.

justin ohio on Sun, 4th Jul 2010 11:54 pm 



Many Boca burgers are NOT vegan so do read the labels carefully. You will want to get a vegan cookbook because you will end up eating the same thing alot if you don’t. Eventually you get the hang of it and you find your favourites. I tend to eat the same things but I cycle them. I don’t always have time and money to buy the pre-made stuff or make an extravagant meal. Mexican, Chinese and Italian are three of the staples. All can be modified easily and inexpensively to add variance. Some people may see this as limited but I look at it as there are only so many animals they can eat and only so many burger joints to choose from. Again, a vegan cookbook will surely help you to make the transition.

SA38 on Mon, 5th Jul 2010 12:01 am 



Tofutti makes a lot of vegan soy products including cheeses.

Eggs – a good sub for a recipe is: 2 TBSP corn starch, 3 TBSP water, 1/2 tsp baking powder – mix in a bowl, add liquid ingredients and then mix in solids and bake. I cook with this all the time- you can also get Ener-G egg replacer. Don’t try to sub into a recipe with many eggs, but for 1-2 it will work great.

You should get all you need using soy and beans in your recipes without counting grams of protein – take a vegan multi vitamin if you want but don’t worry overall.

mookiemonkee on Mon, 5th Jul 2010 12:18 am 



For egg subs, you can use Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of real eggs in any baking goods recipe. If you prefer “scrambled eggs”, you can use firm tofu and foss it in the pan. You can add whatever veggies you want (I use tomatoes, mushrooms, and sometimes spinach) and use some seasongings. I use a bit of turmeric powder to give it its yellow-ish tint.

For butter, Earth Balance vegan buttery spread is the best out there.
http://www.earthbalance.net/product.html

For cheese… eh, that’s a tough one. You’ll find that there is no real good cheese sub out there… at least none that I’ve tried. The best for mac n’ cheese-like dishes is Vegan Gourmet. The nacho flavor is my favorite… and my son loves it, too. There’s this recipe on vegweb.com made with nutritional yeast that is pretty good, too. I made a mac n’ cheese dinner the other night with some sliced roma tomatoes, brocolli, and asparagus… we devoured the whole thing Just experiment with the different brands… but be weary as most cheese subs still have casein and whey, both milk derivatives.
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7057

If your diet includes a variety of grains, nuts, beans, fruits, and vegetables, then you don’t need to worry about getting all the vitamins you need. Protein is very easy to obtain on a vegan diet… beans, nuts, and most grains are loaded with them. For iron, beans (pinto, garbanzo, navy) and green leafy veggies are the way to go. For calcium, kale, broccoli, and almonds. Soy and rice drinks are fortified with calcium, vitamin d (obtained by getting sunlight), b12, and other vitamins.

For recipe ideas, go to vegweb.com.

Best wishes

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