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Anecdotal: The difference between being able to buy a pack of chicken breasts at Costco vs having to make my own seitan is definitely a huge difference in time.

Anecdotal: The difference between being able to buy a pack of chicken breasts at Costco vs having to make my own seitan is definitely a huge difference in time. My wife and I tag-team the parts we hate most (I don't like working with dough, but she hates steaming it) and we end up with enough for a week to cook into actual recipes without too much headache, but I can't just buy a protein ready to go like I used to be able to.

ska 7y ago
I hear you and I do think there are more "shortcuts" (on the other hand, breaking down a chicken is work too but probably an improvement for the meat eater over packaged breasts). But beans and legumes are very little work and store for ages, etc. Quinoa and the like too, easy/ Depending where you live you may have good sources of fresh tofu & seitan, etc. If you are looking for "same meal, but X instead of chicken" it's more work, granted. That's hardly the only option though, and learning a range of dishes from traditionally vegetarian or near vegetarian cuisines can help generate a list of easy & tasty alternatives.
- Djvacto 7y ago
  I agree with you on beans and legumes! I'm currently trying to maintain a calorie deficit while hitting a protein target that seitan makes very convenient (though I also have been using some protein powders that help recently, and gave in and started buying that new Silk protein milk as a shortcut). Beans and Legumes are great, and we cook a lot of indian, thai, and mexican dishes with them, but the combination of calorie deficit and protein target make it a bit tough to do without some almost-pure-protein foods. Seitan is also delicious.
  - ska 7y ago
    Fair enough, but that's a pretty restrictive target even without adding "vegan" to the mix!
    - Djvacto 7y ago
      All too true. I'd guess that short of relying on protein shakes, 70% of my meals are based around legumes, it should definitely be a go to for more people, regardless of whether they keep a vegan diet or not.
- WillPostForFood 7y ago
  on the other hand, breaking down a chicken is work too but probably an improvement for the meat eater over packaged breasts The provenance of the chicken is going to be much more important than whether is broken down at a factory, by the butcher, or at home.
  - ska 7y ago
    True, I just meant buying whole birds is usually a good way to get a better handle in provenance. Should have been more specific.
neaden 7y ago
This seems odd to me. I mostly eat vegan just because my wife can't have dairy and I try keep my meat consumption low and I don't notice a difference in time cooking vegan vs non vegan. There are plenty of vegan sources of proteins like beans that don't take any extra time.
- senorjazz 7y ago
  Some vegan meals can take best part of a day to prepare. Some can be knocked out in 15 minutes. Some meat dishes can take all day to prepare. Some can be knocked out in 15 minutes.
tathougies 7y ago
I'm not vegan, but I think that going vegan just to eat seitan sounds really awful. There are plenty of foods that are completely vegan that would make a great main entree. Obviously, you're going to have to eat processed stuff if you are trying to imitate something that is not actually part of the set of foods you are willing to eat. That's like if I wanted to give up potatoes for beef but still eat tater tots -- I'm going to have settle for something heavily processed. On the other hand, if you just ate food that was naturally vegan, like lentils and rice. You would do just fine, and it is actually much easier to cook than chicken, since you don't need to worry about contamination, etc.
- Djvacto 7y ago
  I don't just eat seitan at all, in fact we have it maybe 2 weeks out of every 4, tops, partially because of the effort to prep it. I also didn't really specify, but there's times we cook with nutrition and health as the main factors, and times we cook for indulgence or for cravings, and I definitely blurred the line some in my original response.
senorjazz 7y ago
The comparison is nonsensical. To counter, I can make a vegan soup in a pressure cooker in 5% of the time to make a meat pie from scratch.
- Djvacto 7y ago
  It wasn't captured very well in my original comment, but I was just talking about a subset of our cooking, and I was more comparing like-to-like as far as imitating a dish, chicken vs seitan, and less so all vegan cooking. It was meant to be one example, we cook bean and lentil dishes a hefty majority of the time and usually those I can set and forget in an instant pot.

ska 7y ago

I hear you and I do think there are more "shortcuts" (on the other hand, breaking down a chicken is work too but probably an improvement for the meat eater over packaged breasts). But beans and legumes are very little work and store for ages, etc. Quinoa and the like too, easy/ Depending where you live you may have good sources of fresh tofu & seitan, etc. If you are looking for "same meal, but X instead of chicken" it's more work, granted. That's hardly the only option though, and learning a range of dishes from traditionally vegetarian or near vegetarian cuisines can help generate a list of easy & tasty alternatives.

Djvacto 7y ago
I agree with you on beans and legumes! I'm currently trying to maintain a calorie deficit while hitting a protein target that seitan makes very convenient (though I also have been using some protein powders that help recently, and gave in and started buying that new Silk protein milk as a shortcut). Beans and Legumes are great, and we cook a lot of indian, thai, and mexican dishes with them, but the combination of calorie deficit and protein target make it a bit tough to do without some almost-pure-protein foods. Seitan is also delicious.
- ska 7y ago
  Fair enough, but that's a pretty restrictive target even without adding "vegan" to the mix!
  - Djvacto 7y ago
    All too true. I'd guess that short of relying on protein shakes, 70% of my meals are based around legumes, it should definitely be a go to for more people, regardless of whether they keep a vegan diet or not.
WillPostForFood 7y ago
on the other hand, breaking down a chicken is work too but probably an improvement for the meat eater over packaged breasts The provenance of the chicken is going to be much more important than whether is broken down at a factory, by the butcher, or at home.
- ska 7y ago
  True, I just meant buying whole birds is usually a good way to get a better handle in provenance. Should have been more specific.

neaden 7y ago

This seems odd to me. I mostly eat vegan just because my wife can't have dairy and I try keep my meat consumption low and I don't notice a difference in time cooking vegan vs non vegan. There are plenty of vegan sources of proteins like beans that don't take any extra time.

senorjazz 7y ago
Some vegan meals can take best part of a day to prepare. Some can be knocked out in 15 minutes. Some meat dishes can take all day to prepare. Some can be knocked out in 15 minutes.

tathougies 7y ago

I'm not vegan, but I think that going vegan just to eat seitan sounds really awful. There are plenty of foods that are completely vegan that would make a great main entree. Obviously, you're going to have to eat processed stuff if you are trying to imitate something that is not actually part of the set of foods you are willing to eat. That's like if I wanted to give up potatoes for beef but still eat tater tots -- I'm going to have settle for something heavily processed. On the other hand, if you just ate food that was naturally vegan, like lentils and rice. You would do just fine, and it is actually much easier to cook than chicken, since you don't need to worry about contamination, etc.

Djvacto 7y ago
I don't just eat seitan at all, in fact we have it maybe 2 weeks out of every 4, tops, partially because of the effort to prep it. I also didn't really specify, but there's times we cook with nutrition and health as the main factors, and times we cook for indulgence or for cravings, and I definitely blurred the line some in my original response.

senorjazz 7y ago

The comparison is nonsensical. To counter, I can make a vegan soup in a pressure cooker in 5% of the time to make a meat pie from scratch.

Djvacto 7y ago
It wasn't captured very well in my original comment, but I was just talking about a subset of our cooking, and I was more comparing like-to-like as far as imitating a dish, chicken vs seitan, and less so all vegan cooking. It was meant to be one example, we cook bean and lentil dishes a hefty majority of the time and usually those I can set and forget in an instant pot.