I am embarking on a plant-based diet (for health reasons, not to lose weight) (following the "How Not To Die" book and cookbook)

[nutritionfacts.org]

This is quite a big leap for me. I rarely eat meat but do (as of now, did) eat quite a lot of fish.

I'm determined to give it at least three weeks to see if it makes a difference.

Just wondering if anybody has any fairly simple but tasty recipes which don't take too long to prep and cook? I'm finding it a bit overwhelming in terms of all the new ingredients and recipes, particularly as on bad days I am too tired to do much.

I'm OK for breakfasts, it's the other meals I'm struggling with. Beans and veg heated up in a saucepan with a few herbs and spices are going to get a bit boring after a while, I suspect ......

Hi,

I'm no vegetarian but I don't eat a huge amount of meat...there are plenty of recipes on the internet(for free)but you can always try making nutritious veg soups, curries, pasta sauce, chillis...alot of the recipes you prob did before can be used if you just replace the meat part with something like mushroom, aubergine,courgette,quorn...it doesn't have to be too complicated...good luck!

Cheers

Bruce

Thanks Bruce!

Interesting site with good recipes [www.pickuplimes.com]

Thanks, hopefully unrelated but as soon as I went on to that site my laptop completely froze up

Looks like the 'Massive Bacon Sandwiches' from Franklins are off the Menu then

Am a fan of the Minimalist Baker [minimalistbaker.com], especially for sweet stuff
Anna Jones is wonderful [annajones.co.uk] (this daal is the business [annajones.co.uk])
Also recommend The Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer
Have found some good stuff on the Virtual Vegan site [avirtualvegan.com]
Meera Sodha for the Guardian (and her Fresh India cookbook) [www.theguardian.com]

Loads of vegan inspiration on instagram, if you're on there.

The closest thing I've found to meat for something that isn't super processed but you can easily just fry and have with veg on the side is smoked tofu, so I always have some in (usually the tofoo stuff). I also always keep lots of tins of beans that go well in salads (esp flageolet) and can pull together a hearty bean salad in about 5 minutes. Chickpeas also your friend.

For treats/trashy food - the Fauxmagerie for "cheese" in Brixton village, the amazing vegan build your own hotdog at Meatliquor, Vivera fake chicken pieces and burgers, Linda McCartney Sausage Rolls, Honest Burgers B12 burger.

Prep helps - e.g. make loads more than you need when you do cook something and then freeze it for when you're too tired to faff about making daal...

Gave up meat years ago, dairy and eggs about two years ago, and fish/seafood in Jan. Not bored yet. I could go on for ages, if you get stuck and want more recipes just ask. My triumph is an extremely good and completely vegan quiche (the trick is to mix gram flour and tofu...).

Manjula’s Kitchen has good veggie Indian recipes.
She doesn’t eat garlic / onions, so you may wish to add that yourself .

DulwichFox Wrote:
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> Looks like the 'Massive Bacon Sandwiches' from
> Franklins are off the Menu then


Sadly, yes!

Thanks all! Very useful, you are all stars!

I'm particularly intrigued that MeatLiquor has a vegan option.

Haven't been there for ages, but I'm sure they didn't have that when they opened, did they?

We make quorn tikka masala and it's great! takes literally ten mins, serve with rice (10 mins) or naan bread (3 mins in oven). We use the quorn fillets and cut them up rather than the quorn pieces and buy a jar of sauce.
Cheap, easy, fast an nutritious and you can add any veg you like.

There are so many sites - it really depends on the types of food you like/ want to try..... just go online and look around.

Nothing wrong with the site Sue, must have just been bad timing!

MrsMcC Wrote:
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> Nothing wrong with the site Sue, must have just
> been bad timing!


Yes, I didn't really think the site could have crashed it! Well, not crashed exactly, but the cursor disappeared and the up and down keys didn't work either, so I was a bit stuck.

Googled it on my phone but none of the supposed solutions worked.

It was fine after I turned it off and on again

Ive been vegan almost 2 years and my go to book is BOSH it gives you a list of all the things you need to have in the store cupboard. Initially it is expensive to buy all the spices etc but once you have a stock of them you can rustle up a meal in no time, everything I've tried from the book is a winner. I would never go back to meat now as I realise that it does nothing to enhance the flavour of a meal. As for lacking iron and protein , the ones all the non vegans seem to think you must be lacking, I have just had a full body check up and all my levels are normal and cholesterol has gone down to 3.2 . I am also in remission from cancer ( no, I'm not claiming it was because of plant diet) I just want to give myself best chances.

Thanks, I will investigate Bosh (and Quorn!) as well

I’m not sure if Quorn is soya basically, but the idea of inventing ‘veggie’ food when it should be (wait for it) VEGETABLES always struck me as funny.

I would second the recommendation for The Green Roasting Tin! Fresh India by Meera Sodha is also great.

In terms of general advice, I’d recommend investing in a tofu press - makes tofu nice and firm allowing it to soak up flavours (and stop resembling scrambled eggs!)

Tofoo say you don't need to press theirs, and it does seem to be quite firm without it. What I'd really love to find is a plastic free source of tofu though, so if anyone finds one, please share!

KidKruger Wrote:
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> I’m not sure if Quorn is soya basically, but the
> idea of inventing ‘veggie’ food when it should be
> (wait for it) VEGETABLES always struck me as
> funny.


Not sure if Wiki is the best source of info, but for what it's worth:

[en.wikipedia.org]


I've tended to avoid quorn in the past because of the fungi/mould aspect ..... will need to do some further research. Don't recall it being mentioned in the "How Not to Die" book (now my bible .....)

For an easy and tasty substitute, I use lentils, usually tinned green sometimes mixed with the more expensive black beluga ones instead of mince in cottage pie and bolognese. Just add them in after you've cooked up the usual mix of onion/garlic/celery (personally I don't add carrots as they are pure evil)

mrsparker Wrote:
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(personally I don't add
> carrots as they are pure evil)



Crikey, what have you done to upset carrots?

katanita Wrote:
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> Tofoo say you don't need to press theirs, and it
> does seem to be quite firm without it. What I'd
> really love to find is a plastic free source of
> tofu though, so if anyone finds one, please share!


Yeah, Tofoo is already quite firm - I can never seem to find it in the shops though! You also can use the particular press I had to make your own tofu, which I’m not quite brave enough to do yet but might help on the plastics front.

I’ve just bought Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour - her other books are great so have high hopes for this as a solely plant based one...

KidKruger Wrote:
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> I’m not sure if Quorn is soya basically, but the
> idea of inventing ‘veggie’ food when it should be
> (wait for it) VEGETABLES always struck me as
> funny.

Yeah... but.. just because someone has decided to go veggie/vegan doesn't mean that they might not occasionally miss an old favourite meat dish. It probably isn't something you'll eat every day, but now and again, why not.

Seitan seems to be used a lot these days.. tried some a while ago, it kind of reminded me of doner kebab meat.

I successfully use red lentils. Tinned lentils are expensive. Red lentils are very inexpensive and easy and fast to cook. They pretty much turn to mush, but are great for Bolognese style sauces, chillis, soup and Dahl. Can even make pate with them.

I think brown lentils are much nicer than the ordinary green ones. I will cook those from scratch. The dark Green Puy lentils are great but expensive.

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> For an easy and tasty substitute, I use lentils,
> usually tinned green sometimes mixed with the more
> expensive black beluga ones instead of mince in
> cottage pie and bolognese. Just add them in after
> you've cooked up the usual mix of
> onion/garlic/celery (personally I don't add
> carrots as they are pure evil)

Another good source of protein is quinoa. I hated it for ages but recently learned that you're meant to rinse it before cooking otherwise it can be bitter and this has made all the difference. Love the stuff now. Can get it in bulk at 2 Girls Cafe, Peckham, the red quinoa is good to bulk up salads etc and has a nice nuttiness.

Ah thanks, I've been looking for somewhere local which sells red quinoa.

I tried to go plant based/vegan for 9 months after family members had been but my iron levels went a bit haywire.

Time to make Sloe Gin again soon, that’s plant based

Seabag Wrote:
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> Time to make Sloe Gin again soon, that’s plant
> based




Yep! So's cassis!

Anyone know where I can get fresh turmeric locally (ish)?