Lacto-Ovo to Vegan?
 

I am 100% sure someone else has asked this question, but what are some good products/recipes to start off with when starting out vegan? I've thought long and hard about why I want to go vegan, including the fact that I'm not 100% sure that I'm being cruelty free as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I am on a budget being in college (oh to be rich). Dry beans, barley, and brown rice I've got, although the only soymilk I can currently drink straight is low fat chocolate.

Veggies and fruit - I know you are on a budget but I'd budget these items in.
Almond milk - I love almond milk, but I never drink any milk straight. I generally use them for cereal or what not.
Soy yogurt and frozen berries - Great treat, also good if you mix in some cereal

I'd recommend looking into a few vegan cooking books. Those should help quite a bit. You could check them out from the library.

I do have Vegan with a Vengeance, and I absolutely LOVE it! I'm a big cheese addict, and most of her recipes look like I wouldn't be missing out by leaving it out. I only have reservations about tofu; I've tried to make it before and only had bad results. I had a stir fry at school and it tasted all the way through of stale tofu.

I've actually never cooked with tofu. I want to try but I too get nervous about it.

I also used to love cheese as well but I don't miss it. Cheeseless pizza is awesome :)

For tofu, try marinating it in rice vinegar, garlic, lemon juice and a little water. It goes well with rice and veggies or in a salad.

I had trouble finding subs for butter and found liquid aminos to be great on steamed veggies (with a little lemon as well). Good luck!

Oh, and get the very firm stuff! I got medium firm to start and it was just harder to drain and cook with.

I know how you feel... I'm tofuphobic. It scares me, but I'll have to reconcile someday... -plays a dream sequence of skipping in a meadow holding hands with a block of tofu-

Tofu is a weird one, I hate soft/silken tofu, but the extra firm stuff is ok if you marinade it well. I've left my tofu in a plastic jar in the fridge overnight with soy sauce and herbs, and use it in stirfrys the next day. Think silken only works if you add sugar and berries and use a blender to make a smoothie.

There is a recipe for baked tofu on fatfreevegan (under meat substitutes) which I'm gonna try this weekend :) As a poor student I also found dried soya chunks a bargain source of protein, you have to soak them in water as it says on the packet then I used to marinade them in herbs and use them in tomatobased pasta sauces. Also beans are a cheap if you're looking for protein, cheaper to buy dry, but I buy canned because I don't like soaking and boiling for ages.

All the best in your tofu quest Gaia! P.S. Loving Junebugs marinade, will try, thank you!!

gaia - Congrats on the decision to transition. It took me about 2 years from dabbling in vegan cooking to eliminating all animal products (though I had been lacto-ovo for about 12 years before I even started learning/thinking about veganism). I agree that bulking up your diet on fruits and veggies as much as you can stand and/or afford it is a good way to go.

I LOVE tofu, in fact I love it so much I have to watch myself or I'll eat it for dinner every day of the week. It is possible to get too much of a good thing. ;) One important thing to note about preparing tofu is if you're going to sauté or bake it is important to press it first to get as much water out as possible. (I think VwaV has instructions for this?) That way it can soak up sauce and marinades like it should. Sometimes I marinate it for just 20 min, sometimes more if I think ahead. I’ve discovered that my Foreman grill does a great job of grilling tofu. Try out the Vegan with a Vengeance tofu scramble, you don’t even need to press the tofu first and it’s a pretty forgiving recipe. Even my omni fiancé can make this and loves it.

Silken tofu can also serve as eggs in quiche form! I really like this recipe from fatfreevegan.com.

Dry beans couldn't be cheaper--soak them overnight (rinse well 1st) and you can cook them the next day. Canned are also quite cheap--sometimes 25-30 cents a can if you find them on sale. You can make your own hummus in a blender, and keep the amount of tahina low if you want to stay lower-fat.

Frozen vegetables for when the fresh produce doesn't look great.

I'm not a big fan of soy yogurt but it's worth a try.

Tempeh is something to try. allrecipes.com has a lot of decent recipes. Vegetarian Resource Group (vrg.org) would have a broader selection.