Jump to:
- Entrees
- Soups and Curries
- Breakfasts
- Cheeses
- Desserts
- Sauces, Dressings, Etc
- Simple Foods, Packaged Foods, Fast Foods, and Sundry Garbage
- How to Prepare Tofu
- Where to Find Things in the Store
- What if I go out with friends?
- Why be vegan?
Most trusted recipe sources:
Entrees
| Tofu in Chili Garlic Sauce | Original | Print View |
| Vegetable Lo Mein with Crispy Tofu | Original | Print View |
| Mushroom Stir Fry | Original | Print View |
| Buddha Bowls (see Carrot Ginger Dressing) | Original | Print View |
| Seitan Tenders* | Original | Print View |
| Fried ‘Chicken’ (use tenders recipe above) | Original | Have to use button; URL redirects |
| Vegetable Lasagna ** (see Cashew Ricotta) | Original | Print View |
| Tofu Scramble (also good as a breakfast dish) | Original | Print View |
| Crispy Baked Peanut Tofu | Original | Print View |
| Korean Style Spicy Tofu | Original | Print View |
| Tteokbokki | Original | Print View |
** Works well alone or with layering in some cooked Beyond ground
Soups and Curries
| White Bean and Kale Soup | Original | Print View |
| Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup | Original | Print View |
| Split Pea Soup | Original | Print View |
| Ramen | Original | Print View |
| Creamy Broccoli Soup | Original | Print View |
Breakfasts
| Overnight Oats* | Original | Print View |
| Cooked Oatmeal (and variations) | Original | Print View |
| Tofu Scramble (also in entrees) | Original | Print View |
| Blueberry Muffins | Original | Print View |
Cheeses
| White Herb Cheese (soft) | Original | N/A (button) |
| Cheddar Cheese* | Original | Print View |
| Cashew Ricotta (see Vegetable Lasagna) | Original | Print View |
Desserts
| Chocolate Mousse | Original | Print View |
| Shortbread Cookies | Original | Print View |
| Spiced Pumpkin Bread | Original | N/A (gated) |
| Cheesecake | Original | Print View |
| Pumpkin Pie | Original | Print View |
Sauces, dressings, etc
| Carrot Ginger Dressing (see Buddha Bowl) | Original | Print View |
| Tahini Balsamic Salad | Original | Print View |
| Marinara Tomato Sauce | Original | Print View |
Simple Foods, Packaged Foods, Fast Foods, and Sundry Garbage
*It should go without saying, but vegan garbage will be about as bad for your body (albeit better for other bodies) as non-vegan garbage
| Eat fruits and vegetables! Of course | Everywhere |
| Also eat basic lentils, beans, etc. | Everywhere |
| Follow Your Heart/Violife Brand Cheeses | Sprouts, Whole Foods (WF) |
| Silk Brand Milks and Creamers | Most major chains |
| Melt Brand Vegan Butter | Most major chains |
| Gardein Frozen Foods | Most major chains |
| MorningStar Frozen Foods (*not all vegan) | Most major chains |
| Simple Truth Meatless Crispy Tenders | Kroger/Fry’s stores |
| Field Roast frozen foods (but corn dogs) | Kroger/Frys, Whole Foods |
| Beyond Famous Star (w/o dairy toppings) | Carl’s Jr |
| Impossible Whopper (w/o dairy toppings) | Burger King |
Other stuff
My method for preparing firm tofu:
1. Remove tofu from package and place in a bowl or on a wire rack (such as a small cooling rack or roaster pan rack). This step is called draining the tofu, and a bit of space below the tofu block is good to have. Let drain for 20 minutes.
(If you don’t have such equipment, the tofu can always sit in its own water in a larger bowl or pan, as it will still drain out a bit. Failing that, you can still get a good result while skipping this step.)
2. Wrap tofu in paper towels or a clean cloth, place on a flat surface and place a slightly heavy object on top of the tofu — this is called pressing the tofu, and the goal is to press more water out of it. I use a ceramic pot lid to press. You could also place a cutting board on top and add weight as needed– just don’t crush the tofu. Let tofu press for an additional 30 minutes.
(If you want a low-waste option, we use cheesecloth and washcloths. I don’t want to waste paper towels, but also don’t want to risk lint or a rogue pet hair from the laundry getting on the tofu. So we keep hand-washed cheesecloths cut to size for wrapping the tofu with a neat barrier, then wrap that in a washcloth that goes with the regular laundry.)
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Based on how long your oven takes to preheat, you may want to start this before the tofu is done pressing.
4. After the tofu is done pressing, unwrap and cut the tofu block as desired. Cutting a 4 x 8 grid is good for a normal 14oz block.
5. Line up the tofu in a baking pan or on a cookie sheet, on foil or a silicone mat. Bake for 15 minutes, pull out the pan and flip each tofu slice, then bake for an additional 10 minutes.
6. At this point, the tofu is plenty firm, and may be prepared as desired– you could toss the tofu in a marinade to serve, or pan fry and add a sauce (I often cook the tofu for about two minutes per side in a tablespoon of olive oil and add sauce to the pan, such as the one in the Chili Garlic Sauce recipe). It also works well to toss the tofu in a marinade or sauce prior to baking– this recipe is the first tofu I ever made and it works well!
Where to find certain things in your grocery store, based on our experience (in the United States):
First and foremost, check whether your store has a dedicated veg*n/plant-based fridge area. If it does, this will be an important area to check first for almost everything, and I’ll just refer to it hereafter as the DVA (Dedicated Veg Area).
Your best bet is probably to find the store’s yogurt/dairy aisle, there may be a section in there. The wall of milk fridges may also have it. If there’s no such spot, refer to items listed below. If all else fails, try getting to a bigger store location. Not all stores, even within the same chain, will be equal.
For reference, we usually shop at a large Frys/Kroger, but can nearly always rely on any Sprouts store (which has locations in about half of US states) to have what we need.
Standard Tofu
If there’s no DVA, try checking out your produce section. I’ve found tofu hidden near pestos, salads, etc. in a small refrigerated column in the produce section.
Additionally, Asian markets will usually have tofu. Try a refrigerated aisle containing normal dairy stuff as well as rice cakes, mochi, etc. Ours has such an aisle in the produce section.
Silken Tofu
Silken tofu is a little different. You might find perishable silken tofu with the regular tofu in the DVA, packaged in hard plastic (just look for “Silken” on the front). Like standard tofu, this silken tofu will probably need to be drained. (Beware! Silken tofu is extremely soft (it’s the stuff you often get in miso soup), so it may fall apart– luckily you’ll almost certainly be blending it in recipes, so that doesn’t matter much. Just don’t drop it on the floor. As I have.)
You can also look for shelf-stable silken tofu in neat recyclable cardboard packaging like this. I usually find it in the Asian foods section, but I imagine you may also find it in the baking area near jello and puddings.
Vital Wheat Gluten
I’ve found vital wheat gluten in the baking aisle. Look for Bob’s Red Mill bags, which I usually see all clustered together.
For financial reference, I can yield about three batches of Seitan Tenders with a bit to spare from a 22oz bag. At $7.50, you’re looking at about $2.50 per batch, or $0.42 per seitan ‘breast’.
If you’re lucky, you may also be able to find vital wheat gluten in a local bulk aisle.
Nutritional Yeast
Look for Nutritional Yeast in the baking/spices aisle. This luckily easy-to-spot container is almost certainly what you’ll be finding. It may be nestled with the spice containers, or you may need to walk around the aisle a little. If I didn’t find it with spices, my next place to check might be in soups near boullion and broth, though that would make less sense. Further, you might find Bob’s Red Mill brand nutritional yeast– look for the bags as described for wheat gluten above.
Our local Sprouts also began carrying Nutritional Yeast in the bulk section this year, so you may find it in a bulk aisle near you.
Vegan Cheeses, sour creams, etc
If no DVA is available, look for plant-based alternatives with the like products (e.g. look for vegan cheese with all the rest of the cheeses).
FWIW, my favorite vegan sour cream and cream cheese (as some of these products get a little weird) are Tofutti brand. These are always at Sprouts at a reasonable price. There’s no Trader Joe’s very close, but they do have a good plant-based cream cheese at a better price point. I’ll usually make the drive to buy several if planning to bake a cheesecake.
Note: Yogurts and milks are almost always with the other yogurts and milks
Vegan Sausage, Beyond/Impossible products, etc
These will be located in either 1) your DVA, 2) the meat aisle, or 3) the freezer section. I’ve found Beyond at Kroger/Frys along with some other new plant-based meats, and our Sprouts carries Beyond as well as Impossible– both of these were in the meat section. Whole Foods also carries frozen and refrigerated Beyond last I checked.
The DVA tends more to have stuff like Tofurky and Field Roast sausages, hot dogs, chorizo, marinated tofu, etc. Beyond/Impossible and like raw products are probably in the other spots.
Vegan Bouillon
Naturally, you’ll be looking for bouillon in the store’s soup aisle. The popular Better than Bouillon roasted vegetable flavor works very well.
Cheaper, I tend to buy Edward & Sons cubes, which I’ve found at both Frys/Kroger and Sprouts– they offer a vegan ‘not-chick’n’ flavor as well as a vegetable flavor. The chicken flavor is excellent for seitan.
Aside, there are vegan recipes for almost anything, so just Google if you want to try making some of your own bouillon.
Powdered Agar
Agar is a flavorless gelatinous derivative of algae and is a plant-based substitute for gelatin (which is derived from animal collagen). We’ve found whole agar in a local Asian market and attempted to powder it in a spice grinder, but couldn’t get it fine enough for confidence. We use this product from Amazon for now, and while it’s not the cheapest pantry item it lasts a long time, both in terms of how much food one bag produces as well as shelf life within which to make all that food. I’d say ours has about a two-year span from the date of purchase to the Use By date. It’s a must-have for homemade vegan cheeses, jello, custard, gummy candy, etc.
What if I go out with friends?
Note: this is written without the context of coronavirus and social distancing
This can get a bit trickier, depending on how chill your friends are. Luckily, many fast-food chains have vegans options now, and there are many great vegan restaurants around (and these tend to have typical restaurant prices). Fun fact, the first Impossible burger I ever tried, when they were still new and rare, was at a joint whose walls were covered in flags and snippets of the Constitution, set against country music– as you may imagine, very standard American fare. You may be surprised what you’ll find if you search around a little.
Small Asian restaurants may have tofu options on or off menu– try asking. Traditional restaurants may make tofu a little raw for your liking by default, but you can inquire about fried tofu substitution if unsure.
If you go somewhere like a bar, there’s a 98% chance you’ll be enjoying some fries (or so it is here in much of Phoenix– you may have better luck where you live). Additionally, as many don’t know, some beers aren’t vegan, as these use a product called isinglass, which is derived from fish swim bladders, for the process of clarification. Barnivore is a great resource if you’re not sure what to get.
At the end of the day, this gets easy to navigate quickly, and ultimately isn’t a big deal. Food is secondary to being in good company, and at the absolute worst, you might be hungry for a little bit.
Why be vegan?
There are lots of reasons– for me it started with this Rolling Stone investigative article, in January 2018, found unexpectedly and read despite my discomfort. In one day I went through considerations of vegetarianism and pescatarianism, but through research decided veganism was the only way I could be keep my conscience at ease. Being a very average someone who
- was raised on a standard meat-centric American diet
- has never been well-off/able to afford expensive grocery trips
- has tastebuds/a normal enjoyment of food
- doesn’t have chef skills, loads of time, or lots of kitchen equipment
- knows no vegetarians or vegans (aside from my partner, who transitioned about a year ago)/has no support or social clout to be gained from this
changing cold turkey was surprisingly easy. My only regret is having not switched sooner.