No but like seriously, why are vegan and vegetarian options always MORE expensive at restaurants. Whenever I cook my self, the meat is BY FAR the most expensive part of any meal. Meanwhile stuff like soy strips are DIRT CHEAP, not to mention they last basically forever!
The canteen I go to for lunch actually sells the meatless meals for 2/3 of the price, always a taunting reminder. Like hell yea, that’s how ya convert me!
Imagine if legumes and grains were subsidized like animal meat and dairy is now. The meals would only cost the labor and heat energy.
Just imagine
I’m really liking lemmy. A post like this in vegan reddit would have been taking down and OP called a bloodthirsty animal. Those folks are crazy.
Posts like this is how we change the minds of people and how they see food.
i’ve had the opposite experience. Vegan substitutes here for example are wayy more expensive than the meat counterparts, or they’re straight up trash. And cooking anything nutritious enough is by itself expensive enough, irregardless if its meat or vegan
“Meat substitutes,” ie impossible burgers and vegan cheese, are more expensive. There’s a complex process and decades of trial and error that have gone into trying to replicate specific flavors. But “things in place of meat,” like tofu or beans (dried beans especially), are often cheaper.
Nutritious meals based on lentils/legumes are astonishingly cheap. wtf are you smoking? mock sausage etc is a luxury good, it is not a standard feature in any diet.
Because vegan substitutes are junk food, not something you should actually be eating a lot of. Tofu for example is very cheap
The problem is this doesn’t really stack up if your eating a lot of stuff thats been put on reduction. Full price meat is really expensive but 90% off meat works out cheaper than vegetables on a per calorie basis. (Vegetables never go on reduction)
At my place meat rarely goes for above 50% or even 30% discounts. And even then, 500g of meat usually costs me in the 150czk range, with 50% off that’s still a solid 75czk, meanwhile my soy strip bag costs up yo 30czk max. Like I wish we had 90% discounts on meat lol xD
As for veggies, some like potatoes, carrots and lettuce are dirt cheap already and you’re not putting the whole thing into a single dish. Shit is like rice, the 5kg bag is almost cheaper than meat, and it’ll last for MANY dishes.
Oh potatoes and rice go in more than half of what I eat, a lot of cababge too. My point is less about meat specifically and more that based on where you live a vegan diet may or may not be the more affordable option. A lot of us just end up on the ‘whatevers on sale’ diet.
At least where I live chicken (frozen) & dairy are some of the cheapest sources of protein, followed closely by beans & similar legumes.
How could I get ~160g protein a day on vegan diet? Is protein powder only option? Also tryin to stay around 2400 cals
Soya strips? Soya anything really. Per gram there is WAY more protein in soya strips than any meat. My 80g pack says it has 49g protein. Shit is more than half just straight up protein. Find me any meat with such density, the best I can find is 32g/100g. And for calories you’d be hard pressed to beat nuts, not even sugar beats em.
Any Brands you recommend?
I’m not really a brands guy, I just try to grab whatever is cheapest at any store I’m at (within reason, bought shampoo once that was basically just water, never again). Also I live in Czechia, I’m assuming we might not have the same stores and brands available. Tho anyways, soy strips/chunks are a pretty basic ingredient, so I’d assume just about any should be fine, and for nuts, over here we quite often have nut mixes, sometimes even salted or otherwise spiced, tasty stuff for snacking :) For cooking purposes, again, very basic ingredient, just about any will do. There are many Asian and even western recipes that make wonders out of peanuts for example, not to mention countless desserts, but that’s probably not what we’re going for xD
Also tempeh is pretty good! Also soy, but it has a nice flavor, and is great on sandwiches!
Beans and nuts
I can’t speak for restaurants, but I can speak for vegan replacements for non vegan foods(e.g. Vegan cheese). Its simply, more expensive, because people are willing to pay dor it and RhE company can make more money with it.
There is a little more work to make those veggies taste good.
Sometimes some of the vegan food I eat I feel like cooking it was closer to witchcraft.
Just add some garlic and or onion, it’s the secret behind many sauces, even meat ones :)
Tho yea, you’re right, ya can’t just throw some salt and pepper together with (insert not meat) and still call it a delicacy, sadly…
Convenience is expensive. I prep vegetarian meals that mostly cost under $2/meal. Some under $1/meal. Eg, Rice N Dahl, Curried rice w/tempeh, taco beans on potato. Were I to go out to eat I’d expect the same food, I’d expect a bit better quality cooking but I’d also expect $25/meal price.
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Live and let live (including those whose flesh you like the taste of)
Having heard that vegan is better my whole life, I’m convinced that it will only get subsidized/better logistics when the price of meat goes up.
And the price of meat going up will just make people into red hats angry that their burgers got taken away by the left.
Many of MAGAs don’t even understand that much of the beef industry already has subsidies. From the farm, to the feed, to even the price of beef itself.
But these subsidies aren’t doing much to keep the price of beef down.
Absolutely, this study from Berkeley from 2014 said beef should be $30 / lb, without subsidies. Inflation-adjusted (with caveats), it’d be ~$40 / lb today.
Right!
Every person pays $49 dollar a year on average in Canada towards the $2 billion animal agriculture gets in subsidies.
People will pay more to uphold their moral values.
That’s me with fair trade and bar shampoo/conditioner
Its crazy how far 20 dollars in veggies will go. A bag of carrots is like 2 bucks
Not where I’m at :(
The problem is that fresh food is more expensive than frozen food, but meat freezes better than vegetables. There’s some veggies that can be flash-frozen and retain some taste and texture, but often the comparison is between fresh veggies and frozen meat, and they’re about the same price around here at least.
How much is Tofu? Thats always a good cheap option if fresh veg isnt affordable
I’ve only ever been able to make enjoyable tofu in curries. Got any good recipes?
Buy the super firm stuff and, if you’re willing to spend the extra time, put it in a tofu press to get out even more water. Marinate in the same kind of things as meat. Fry in a pan, cook on the grill, or on an open flame is my favorite :)
The drier the tofu, the more meaty it gets and will brown a lot better too. I don’t care what people say about oil, I think its much better for flavor and Browning.
Freezing the tofu makes it more tougher, and you can use the cheaper tofu’s.
Thats true I forgot about that
Drain well; put a towel over the cut pieces and place weight on it to press water out for ~2hrs.
Toss with soy sauce and spices. Bake at 425 F for 20 min, flip and then 15 min more. Serve with literally whatever bullshit you got
Exactly! Whenever I was low on cash as a student, I’d just buy some tomatoes, throw in some lettuce and mayo I already had for sandwiches and boom! Maybe add some pasta and or an egg. Depending on how fancy I go that’s anywhere between like 2~3 bucks a big ass bowl!
