Attention vegans and vegetarians: advice sought!

Well I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be looking for advice on giving up meat (as well as other animal products) but I think it's worth at least cutting back and replacing some of my animal protein with veggie protein where I can.

I just read a diet book disguised as a vegan convert book and they successfully hooked me into at least giving some of their suggestions a try.  Only problem is this book was printed in the US for the US market and all the recommendations they included for specific brand names of vegan products were for the US market.

SO - my question to anyone experienced in this area is:  what specific brands and product types of veggie-based protein can you recommend to me?  Apparently there is a huge variance and not all brands and specific items are created equal!

In terms of being able to follow up any recommendations, I have fairly easy access to Tesco, Waitrose, Somerfield and Sainsburys.  I've never made the trek to Whole Foods Market in the Kensington area and can't foresee making that a regular journey, but if needs must, maybe I will have to try and change my habits a bit more.

Thanks in advance!   

Do you mean meat substitutes? If so, I would stay away from most Quorn products, they taste a bit funny to me. The only one I use regularly is the Quorn Pieces (fake chicken) which are useful for soups, stews & stir fries.

There are loads of nice veggie sausages & burgers out there. I love the Morrisons sausages, also Tesco spinach and ricotta sausages, and Realeat. Actually all the Realeat products I've had have been very nice - mince, veggie bacon etc.  You can get them from Holland and Barrett and other health shops, as well as some supermarkets.

Also check out Cauldron brand - available in most big supermarkets, they do various kinds of tofu as well and burgers, pates, sausages and more.

I'm not a veggie so take any/all of my advice with a grain of salt - probably best to take my advice with a grain of salt generally (and some pepper too - preferably chillies)...

DH and I have been trying to work at least two vegetarian meals into our weekly menus - cutting back on meat, as you say, and also we've been eating less fish for concerns about fishing sustainabilities.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of the fake meat deal (Quorn, etc) - my take has always been if you want meat that badly, eat some - the real thing.  Lol!

Anyway, our veggie meals - we just make them out of vegetables & grains, etc.  Here's an example:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=11977.msg609494#msg609494

I threw that together last night, sort of following two different stuffed aubergine recipes & making it up a little bit as I went along.

We also looked for vegetarian cookbooks - a thread on that:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=41141.0

And I am still waiting for my copy of The Accidental Vegetarian to turn up...

I am vegetarian--no eggs--very minimal dairy.  I only use meat substitutes once in a while.  Mostly tofu in stir-frys.  As a treat we'll have veggie sausages or burgers, but those things are fairly processed and have lots of salt.  They are also expensive.  They are good additions to your diet when you are transitioning away from meat, though.

Don't forget good old beans and rice for a complete protein!

Do you mean meat substitutes?

Yes, that is what I mean - and thanks for your specific recommendations, I will look for all of those.

I'm pleased that nutritional information is standard on food products these days, so I can look at how many grams of protein are in these products.  I do have to keep a balance of protein to carbs or else my blood sugar goes haywire, hence why I have insisted on meat.  But having read the vegan convert book, I am willing to investigate what meat substitutes might give me the nutritional mix that I need without the detrimental effects of eating animal products.

I'm not a veggie so take any/all of my advice with a grain of salt - probably best to take my advice with a grain of salt generally (and some pepper too - preferably chillies)...

DH and I have been trying to work at least two vegetarian meals into our weekly menus - cutting back on meat, as you say, and also we've been eating less fish for concerns about fishing sustainabilities.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of the fake meat deal (Quorn, etc) - my take has always been if you want meat that badly, eat some - the real thing.  Lol!

Anyway, our veggie meals - we just make them out of vegetables & grains, etc.  Here's an example:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=11977.msg609494#msg609494

I threw that together last night, sort of following two different stuffed aubergine recipes & making it up a little bit as I went along.

We also looked for vegetarian cookbooks - a thread on that:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=41141.0

And I am still waiting for my copy of The Accidental Vegetarian to turn up...

Thanks for that - what happened to your book (where is it now?)  It sounds interesting.

I should have said before, I'm hypoglycemic and I have to control my blood sugars through diet and can't have a veggie meal unless it has a minimum proportion of protein to carbs.  So I could certainly try these recipes, but I'd have to have cottage cheese on the side, or eggs, or something like that - which isn't vegan but it's still potentially easier to digest and maybe a bit more healthy or less unhealthy than dead carcass.

I already eat loads of bean-based meals, such as homemade lentil soup, homemade hummous and Gillian McKeith bean-loaf type recipes.  But even so, they do lack in protein so I have to be careful.  I think I can get away with relative less protein in these bean based meals because they contain more fibre, which is meant to counter-act a higher ratio of carbs (if that makes sense!)

I found most of Tesco's veggie burgers acceptable.  The nut cutlets were probably my favorites.  I agree with Britwife that most of the Quorn products taste a bit funny.  I did like their cottage pie if I needed something quick.  I personally found the Linda McCartney sausages to be rather gross.  Tesco also had a few frozen veggie pies that were reasonably tasty but definitely not for the calorie/fat conscious.  My favorite sandwich right now is pita, your veggie burger of choice (although sometimes I skip this altogether), olive hummus, rocket, good quality shaved veggie parmesan, drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil and if you want a small bit of sea salt and pepper.   I also second the rice and beans!  yum! 

...what happened to your book (where is it now?)  It sounds interesting.

It's been on back order from Amazon for ages!  Supposedly to turn up later this month sometime - probably when we're away on holiday.  I should have got it from a third party seller instead.

I already eat loads of bean-based meals, such as homemade lentil soup, homemade hummous and Gillian McKeith bean-loaf type recipes.  But even so, they do lack in protein so I have to be careful.  I think I can get away with relative less protein in these bean based meals because they contain more fibre, which is meant to counter-act a higher ratio of carbs (if that makes sense!)

I understand now--you really have to think about and calculate for each meal more than the average vegetarian.

Lentils lentils lentils!! They are high in protein and fibre, taste lovely, are cheap, and apparently lower your risk of coronary heart disease! I use them in at least 3 or four meals a week, from soup and curry to vegetarian 'meat'loaf and 'meat'balls.

Also, beans beans beans! We buy tins of kidney beans in bulk, and throw them into everything they will go with - even things they don't!

Also, we eat tofu at least twice a week (Cauldron Brand from Sainsbury's, 3 for the price of 4 right now - buy loads and freeze). As Andee mentioned, it's great in stirfrys, also great in currys, soups, or just marinated and grilled.

And my favorite meaty substitute is dried soya mince. We use Sainsbury's own brand, and it's unbelievable cheap, very high in protein, and has nothing funny added. It can go into anything that calls for beef mince. My favorites are chili, tacos, spag bol, lasagna, etc.

We used to use Quorn alot, but I've been reading about some disturbing reactions some people experience from Quorn products. The fact that it's made from processed fungus always kind of gave me the heebeegeebees anyways, so cutting it out of our diet wasn't too hard. I'm not a mushroom eater, so perhaps I'm just suspicious of fungus!

We try to avoid the veggie sausages and burgers because there's so much stuff added to them, but we'll occasionally splurge if we fancy bangers and mash. Sweetcorn fritters are a cinch to make up when we fancy veggie burgers, although not all that high in protein.

Congrats on your making your first moves towards the green side!   

We used to use Quorn alot, but I've been reading about some disturbing reactions some people experience from Quorn products. The fact that it's made from processed fungus always kind of gave me the heebeegeebees anyways, so cutting it out of our diet wasn't too hard. I'm not a mushroom eater, so perhaps I'm just suspicious of fungus!

Also, if you are going vegan or egg-free Quorn stuff contains egg.

If you're looking at US recipes, they tend to use "Earth Balance" as a vegan butter substitute. Here you can get Pure (in the green tub) which is soya "butter" in most supermarkets and it's really good stuff. I'm not vegan or vegetarian but I've been using the soya Pure as my "butter" of choice for years now, and it's really tasty.

Also, the spinach and feta Quorn sausages are TO DIE FOR! And try Cauldron's veggie pates - the tomato and basil one is the best of the range, imho.

And we just had "machos" for dinner tonight (an alteration of my veggie "macos" = "mock tacos"). Cook some brown lentils and black beans with some stock and cajun seasoning until they're really mushy, then use that as your "meat" in tacos with your usual taco toppings. It sounds a bit nothing, but it's my (very meat and potatoes) boyfriend's favourite meal, and it even got his Irish relatives fawning all over it when I cooked it for the poor sole vegetarian at a family dinner.

On the BBC Good food website they had a fantastic recipe using butternut squash cooked in Balsamic vinegar with a vegetable salsa...very tasty and great on a budget.

Also Marrow is lovely..I usually stuff mine with Tuna and Veg..so you would need some sort of different substitute to stuff it...but thats very tasty..especially home grown marrows! 

now, i really dig the quorn stuff, but i have to limit it to the fake chicken and fake bacon stuff. the burgers i can't do--any veg burgers--it's a texture thing. same with sausages.

the linda mccartney stuff is way too salty.

And we just had "machos" for dinner tonight (an alteration of my veggie "macos" = "mock tacos"). Cook some brown lentils and black beans with some stock and cajun seasoning until they're really mushy, then use that as your "meat" in tacos with your usual taco toppings. It sounds a bit nothing, but it's my (very meat and potatoes) boyfriend's favourite meal, and it even got his Irish relatives fawning all over it when I cooked it for the poor sole vegetarian at a family dinner.

Might have to try that! Brown lentils are great for lots of things, I use them for veggie sheperhds pie, spag bol and home made veggie burgers and roasts.