COMFORT FOODS
The frozen food cases of most natural food markets are filled with tempting comfort foods with many vegan offerings. Savvy supermarkets now offer a limited selection of these frozen vegan foods, too. New vegan items come to these markets frequently and offer tasty foods that make it easy to put a dinner together quickly.
Be sure to read ingredient labels carefully. Many of the fake meat products, or analogs, may not be vegan because they contain egg whites as binders or whey or casein derived from milk. Be aware that some imitation meat products may have higher fat content than is desirable.
The early manufacture of faux or fake meat, \
chicken, and fish products began with whole soybeans. The process involved isolating the protein from the soybean and combining it with ingredients whose names may not be recognizable. Though these imitation products may be vegan, most are derived from highly refined and processed ingredients and are no longer whole foods.
Though these faux meat products may make appealing transition foods while in the process of moving to a plant-based diet, be aware they are no longer whole foods and may create imbalances in the body. Consider them once-in-a-while items that are tasty and fun to explore on special occasions. While these fake meat products are convenient and quite delicious, they are not nutritionally equal and cannot replace whole foods like beans, lentils, split peas, whole grains, and vegetables.
Hamburgers
If you enjoy eating hamburgers, you can still take pleasure in loading up a burger bun, but with a little tweaking of the ingredients. First, use a whole-grain bun rather than one make of refined white flour. It's much more nutritious and offers more fiber as well as richer flavor.
For special times, fill your whole-grain bun with one of a variety of frozen, meatless vegan patties or enjoy making your own tasty homemade burger. Today the frozen food cases are filled with a variety of imitation meat choices. Be sure to read the ingredient labels to orient yourself to their contents.
You can create your own burger from whole grains, beans, and seasonings.
Check our Recipe Index for some offerings.
Add some fresh tomatoes, onions, and lettuce to your burger, and seek out a vegan mayonnaise for the finishing touch on a delightful burger that won't clog up your arteries. A delightful addition to the loaded burger is caramelized onions. Check our Recipe Index for an easy recipe to make caramelized onions in the oven.
The frozen food case of today offers vegan versions of a surprising variety of familiar foods, such as pot pies, burritos, enchiladas, meatloaf, and ethnic entrees galore.
The refrigerated section also has much to offer in vegan convenience foods like lunchmeats, imitation bacon, pepperoni, hot dogs, Italian links, sausages of every variety, and even Canadian bacon. These foods make assembling a sandwich ultra-easy, but, again, these highly processed items ought not to be everyday foods. Nothing replaces natural, whole foods such as legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
Consider making homemade chile. Nothing that comes in cans or packages can compare! Check our Recipe Index for a tasty homemade chile. When making a yummy pot of homemade chile, you'll even have delicious leftovers to enjoy the next day!
For a listing of vegan food companies, see our Vegetarian Food Companies page.
Vegetarian Food Companies page.
Refer to our VegParadise Bookshelf for a selection of vegetarian books on health, nutrition, and cooking.
References
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Agricultual Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. "FoodData Central."
Barnard, Neal D. The Vegan Starter Kit. Kindle version, 2018.
Campbell, T. Colin and Thomas M. Campbell II. The China Study: the Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. BenBella Books, 2016.
Davis, Brenda and Vesanto Melina. Becoming Vegan: TheComplete Reference to Plant-Based Nutrition (Comprehensive Edition). BPC, 2014.
Davis, Brenda, Vesanto Melina and Cory Davis. Plant-Powered Protein: Nutrition Essentials and Dietary Guidelines for All Ages. BPC, 2023.
Esselstyn, Caldwell, Jr. Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: the Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-based Cure. Avery, 2007.
Esselstyn, Rip. Plant-Strong: Discover the World's Healthiest Diet--with 150 Engine 2 Recipes. Grand Central Life & Style, 2013.
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Mindell, Earl with Hester Mundis. Dr. Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible: Over 200 Vitamins and Supplements for Improving Health, Wellness, and Longevity. Grand Central Publishing, 2021.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Dietary Reference Intakes."
Ornish, Dean. Eat More, Weigh Less: Dr. Dean Ornish's Life Choice Program for Losing Weight Safely While Eating Abundantly, Revised & Updated. Morrow, 2000.
Palmer, Sharon. Plant-powered for Life: Eat Your Way to
Lasting Health with 52 Simple Steps and 125 Delicious Recipes. The Experiment, 2014.
Pulde, Alona and Matt Lederman. The Forks Over Knives Plan: How to Transition to the Life-saving, Whole-food, Plant-based Diet. Touchstone, 2014.
Robbins, John. The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Save Your Life and Our World (Plant Based Diet, Food Politics). Conari Press, 2021.
Stone, Gene, ed. Forks Over Knives: the Plant-based Way to Health. The Experiment, 2011.
Wood, Rebecca. The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia : a Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating, Second Revised and Updated Edition. Penguin Books, 2010.