dreads= veggie

I was freegan (I'd eat non vegan things if they were going to be thrown out and were free- as to not support the companies...) but a strict veggetarian...then I was full vegan. Now I eat organic eggs cause they have been making me feel a lot healthier.

 

That is rather sad!

 

its rather sad we created a species that will die if we dont continue sucking at its breast the rest of its life
we through thousands of years of milking made it so after theyre 1st pregnancythey never stop lactating
and if thats not pumped out twice a day every day it kills them
yea i think its pretty damn sad whatr we did to the species
luckily i think there are species of bovine in other parts of the world that arent so dependent on us to survive
id guess europe and north south america and australia were the leading cause of this while india (and just guessing here, not really sure though) asia didnt curupt the species as much

i think some of the less curuopted breeds certainly would have a chance of survival


i wonder though why you can think its sad if the whole breed used for hamburgers fades away to extinction but you cant find it sad when theyre slaughtered by the millions to make hamburgers?
(incidently chickens are slaughtered at a much much higher rate then cows, something like 1000 to 1 or something..billions a day worldwide

just for the dramatic impact of it, go to my myspace www.myspace.com/iriesoaringeagle
on the left you will see a food animal counter...it will tell you how many of each animal type were killed since the momment you clicked the link
watch it for just a few minutes
1/4 million chickens in as long as it took to write that sentence
in just minutes the death toll soars to ..well way way way beyond the number of deaths from every war this century (ok including ww2 and the a-bombs it might take 20 minutes)

and its just not nesacary..at all
almost 650,000 chickens and the cows still arent to 4,000
what a waste

 

Hey SE can you tell me your sources for all this information/opinion? Im taking an interest

 

i'm a pescatarian. i haven't eaten red meat or pork in many years.

 

I tried that oaty milk once by accident Mandy. I wasn't impressed! Then again, I really like milk (sorry lol)

To the vegans and vegetarians here...what are your fast-food type meals? The meals you make if you get home absolutely starving, wanting something warm and filling, but not wanting to spend more than about 20 mins on it and not requiring anything tooo specialist as an ingredient (crap Norway shops) ?
That meal category would be the main challenge to me. Most of the time I really really hate having to think, every single day, what's for dinner? If I was on my own I'd probably live on porridge and baked beans on toast, but obviously I can't subject my husband to that kind of thing.

I'd be really grateful for any tips. I do have a few really good vegetarian cook books. Oh I'm just shockingly crap at making myself do stuff. Even if anyone wants to suggest one no-fail quick meal? I'd really like to manage with less meat until I can farm my own with proper standards of husbandry etc. (Oh yeah, I'd rather have pulses etc as a protein alternative, than some kind of weird processed meat substitute thingy).

Also, where do you guys get your calcium from? I know nettles have lots...lol not much good in winter!

 

when I'm hungry and want something that doesn't take long I always make soup. I am obsessed w/ soup. A good soup should be thick, warming and homely^-^it's soo easy to make too. Just chop up an onion, use a can of tomatos and throw in some lentils and an orange if you want some zing. I add ginger to almost everything I make too
I just loosely chop them as I blend it all together. You just have to leave it for 15mins stirring a bit. You can add a veggie stock cube too if you want. yumyumyum.
As for calcium, great sourses are green leafy vegetables, figs, oranges and white flour(calcium is added by law)

 

Didn't know that about the flour...will have to find out if it's the same here. I've a feeling it may not be. It's also not law to add vitamins to breakfast cereal here I don't think.

Yes to the soups! That's one thing I don't have a problem with. What about something to create the same feeling as a typical meat and two veg with gravy type meal? Also, in pastas and stir-fry dishes, I use a lot of pork. I nearly always add chopped bacon to pasta, and parmesan of course, and pork strips in stir-fries. What can I replace these things with (blocks of tofu really don't look fun to me....)

It's so silly...I studied dietetics at uni, and am always really good at helping other people with food planning, then when it comes to my own food it's like I lose all my knowledge!

 

wow Amy,you seem to be quite the meatlova! I too hate tofu and any of that quorn crap. The smell makes me gag.ha! Anyway, I mean it'd be quite a change going from a big meat eater to a vegetarian/vegan. I never liked meat but when I was younget my mum used to make me eat chicken (not in the call childline way,just in the 'here comes the airplane' way) I eat halloumi cheese since I'm not vegan yet, it's realli good. You can fry it, grill it or bake it. It has a meaty texture and fills you up good. I am eating SO much since I'm feeding my son so I feel like I need something 'meaty' to fill me up.

Basically though, as a vegetarian/vegan you will have to give things up. I was always obsessed w/ jellies and chocolate moouse as a kid and most of them have pork gelatine in them so had to give em up. You grow into it though and although your leaving some yummy stuff behind you feel soo much healthier, happier (I do anyway) and more at one w/ the earth. I just don't think it's right to go into the shop, buy death and chow down. I always hated when I was younger when my parents would have dinner parties and bring out the meat on a big plate and people would literally coo and cheer. I coo and cheer for fabulous fruit and veg. I am obsessed!

 

science =]

its all true - modern cows are not what our ancestors wouldve farmed/hunted/eaten. we, as humans, have forced them to 'evolve' to suit our needs - they MUST be milked every day, simply because of the demand thats there. i dont agree with it, and i dont agree with young males being killed simply because theyre male, but i do like a glass of milk in the morn'

i personally <3 chicken. nom nom nom. i couldnt take one from my own farm, kill it, pluck it, remove its insides and then cook it,, but if someone else did that for me, its all good.

but i also lurve me veggies.. not loads, but i could quite happily munch on a plate of sprouts all day.

and hellodreadhead (i think) said about crying about wasting food.. its horrible. really horrible. in our house, all veggie waste goes to the compost, all meat waste goes to the cats, and if theres bones or whatever left, we make a stew that last for 3 days or something. very little is wasted in our house, but the rubbish we throw out is mostly packaging etc

i dont think i could happily live as a veggie/vegan. i mean, i dont eat chicken or fish every day, but i do love it.

i want a pet pig.

 

I guess it is assumed dreadlocks = vegetarian/vegan. I simply cannot bring myself to eat meat, ever. I guess that makes me part of the problem...
I have a strange hatred of conforming to stereo-types. I guess I must either chop off my hair or consume animal's flesh... I'd rather not either!

I'm a vegetarian, though my diet can almost be considered vegan if not for the occasional bowl of milk or egg. Though it is becoming harder and harder to bring myself to eat these. I suspect I will end it soon.

Also, when the time is right, I will go on an all liquids venture.

 

It's really bizarre to have someone say that to me, since in the past I've been almost vegetarian by default. The shopping and eating habits I'd been able to get into due to Britain being so accommodating to all food preferences have been wrecked almost entirely by the way things are in Norwegian shops.
I do enjoy meat and would be happy to have it maybe just once a week. My husband is probably most in need of the feeling of meatiness in his food, even if there's no actual meat.
I'm really not happy about consuming animal products from bad farming practises though. I know organic isn't faultless, but's it's a lot better, and I'd settle with it for the years until I can farm my own.

I really like the feeling after a good vegetarian meal, it's an entirely different feeling of fullness and satisfaction, and the sensation of nourishment is greater somehow.
I guess I need to put a lot of time into going round the shops, finding out the prices of some alternatives, establish a good set of useful veggie recipes for my lazy days (there's a lot of those) so as to budget for organic animal products. It's not ideal but it's a start.

In terms of buying death, as you put it....I guess one of the reasons I've never actually chosen to become vegetarian or vegan is that whatever we eat or buy or use, we're causing some kind of death or suffering anyway, whether it's environmental harm or... well all sorts...so that argument has never worked for me, along with the fact I don't think it's wrong for an animal to kill an animal for food. Avoidable suffering is the key for me I think. With sensible tiny-scale farming it's impossible to improve on nature, in a way...


Anyways! lol

Thank-you for the tips...feel free to keep them coming, because I think I need the help What are the store-cupboard essentials, for example? What should I never be without in the fridge/freezer?


Also...and I'll understand if people don't want to answer this...but I'm curious about people's weekly or monthly food budgets and shopping habits?

 

I have 4 kids, so six of us here and my dane. So my weekly grocery bill is between $200-240.

I wonder what would happen to the economy if everyone did go veggie. I know for one that my family raises cattle. I know it would devastate their incomes. Some of my uncles prize breeding bulls go for $50-60 grand, not too shabby. Quite certain they would not come close to that growing tomatoes. They treat their cattle very well from what I have seen. Now what happens after they go to the stock yards I have no clue. They do not have a dairy. I havent seen any of the hefers just falling over in the feilds dying because they dont get milked. Females are strictly for breeding..and well hamburgers...yummy ones at that

 

I think we spend about 1000 Kroners on food per week, which is around £100 or $150. Sometimes I really wonder where the money goes, because I often feel that just covering daily basic essentials is really expensive. If I was to actually achieve us having the recommended "5 portions of fruit and veg" every day (which I'm nowhere near doing) plus buying the other ingredients to make a range of interesting meals, it would cost so much

For the Brits, a good reference point would be that it's like paying Waitrose prices for Asda shopping, with a fraction of the choice of products. If that makes sense?

 

On the vegan fast food I normally eat
1,falafels and houmos
2,Vegan chesse toastie with some mushroom or sun dried tomato
3,Mashed tofu with mushrooms and soy sauce and onion with spices in on toast(Its actually REALLY quick to make.
4,Vegan sausages from the health food shop in a sandwich

On stock cupboard essentials
Loads of tins of beans/pulses ,e,g chick peas as can be thrown in a veg/bean stew or curry or mashed up with extra spices for burgers.
Tinned tomatoes for making soups and currys.
Every single spice and herb you can think of.
Tofu that keeps in a carton in cupboard as its great for frying and adding to stir fries when its crispy.
Lots of different veg
Lots of nuts these last two ingrediants can be combined to make bakes and slices that are filling and nutritious.
Loads more but feeling lazy ....

 

Oh that sounds helpful chemigals

I so desparately want to stop being crap at everything and get stuff sorted. My new year's resolution was to stop procrastinating...so far I've mostly been putting that off until tomorrow too. My motivation is so inconsistent, it's almost impossible to follow a thing through. This forum is good though So maybe I'm in with a chance....

I know it's not dready stuff, but I'd rather talk to you guys than a whole new bunch of ppl

 

I spend maybe 100$ ish canadian dollers on food a month- but usually far less, which seems like a really small amount of food but I make up for the rest by dumpster diving, and trading in a sort of non formal economy sort of way. I like to eat mostly orgganic and that can be pretty pricey- so I buy organic what I can and scavenge the rest get lots of produce and really good food that way that has not even really gone bad at all, just not up to shelf standards.

I know it's kind of gross for some people, but I think it's really possitive. There is all this food that is fine and just getting wasted.

 

there was a program on telly once about how people live, and there was a family who were part of this group/cult/organisation thing and they scavenged what they could - theyd get chunks of meat, still wrapped, still edible, worth about £10, for free. the shops simply threw everything out because itd reached the end of its shelf life, but that doesnt mean that its bad =/

another example.. my bro came back from his gfs the other week, armed with angel slices, bakewell tarts and other yummy goodies. they were still packed in plastic and the boxes, and his gfs fam were ganna throw them out because they'd reached the BBE date.. so my bro brought them home and we ate them, and boy they were good

 

I spend about 2-300 a month on vegan food items. I buy produce from local farmers and whole foods market. I used to shop exclusively at the co-ops but that got to be too expensive. I make everything from scratch. Its a lot of fun....but time consuming. When I predict lazy days ahead...Ill cook ahead so everything is all ready to be heated up. When I first went vegan and decided to make all my own food from scratch...buying all the staples was a pretty big venture. I probablly dumped 200 bucks on everything....herbs, spices, flours, etc...but now I have it all and dont spend that much. As far as hating tofu....I used to hate it too. But Ive discovered some great recipes that are good with it. Some easy tofu recipes......stir fry, enchilladas, vegan macaroni [my daughters fav], tofu spaghetti, and english muffin pizzas [crumble tofu under sauce and kids or adults never know its there!]

 

wastingthedawn I don't think there's anything wrong at all with your "shopping" method So do you actually approach shops and ask for the produce or just wait till it's out the back in a bin? If/when asking for the food, how do you go about it exactly?


Also, I've just had a look in the cupboards...right, you veggies, what can I have for dinner tonight? There's a can of white beans, a pack of dried peas, and some red lentils. There are also a few potatoes, some carrots a decent spice selection, plus some rice. I'm out of onions though, so probably have to buy something...unless you have any suggestions?