3 ms·

You can buy a block of tofu with 28 grams of protein for $2. What’s so hard about that?

adrian_b 3y ago
I assume that this is a price in USA. Where I live, in Europe, it is somewhat more expensive, but indeed the difference is not great. Nevertheless, this is still very expensive in comparison with the food I normally eat. At the prices typical in the European Union, I can eat a very complete, tasty and healthy food for about $5 per day (as a male of average size). This is true only because I cook myself and I buy only raw ingredients. Processed food would be much more expensive. Chicken breast without bones and skin would cost here between $6 and $7 per kilogram. Even at the maximum $7/kg, that corresponds to about $0.78 per 28 g of protein, i.e. 2.5 times cheaper than tofu at your price. Therefore tofu is much too expensive to compete with meat. To be able to eat a vegan diet, I remove most starch from wheat flour, making a bread enriched in protein. This is more than 10 times cheaper than tofu at your price, so tofu is something that I would never consider. I spend the money not wasted for something like tofu for vegetables or fruits that are rich in vitamins, which are usually much more expensive than the staple food that can ensure the required daily intake of protein and fat.
- Recursing 3y ago
  > To be able to eat a vegan diet, I remove most starch from wheat flour, making a bread enriched in protein. I think that's similar to "seitan" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan , which is also pretty cheap in Europe (~13€/kg on amazon.it: https://www.amazon.it/Bongiovanni-Farine-bont%C3%A0-naturali-Glutine/dp/B07C3Q5FV3/ https://www.amazon.it/Bongiovanni-Farine-bont%C3%A0-naturali... )
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    That is indeed a good price, because per its protein content it is cheaper than chicken breast. Nevertheless you can still find meat that is cheaper than this, per its protein content, e.g. chicken gizzards, so it does not demonstrate the expected efficiency of eating directly vegetable proteins without passing them through animals. It is likely that something like seitan should be cheaper to produce than this, since I can do it at home for many times less money than that, but most commercial products for vegans are overpriced.

I assume that this is a price in USA. Where I live, in Europe, it is somewhat more expensive, but indeed the difference is not great. Nevertheless, this is still very expensive in comparison with the food I normally eat. At the prices typical in the European Union, I can eat a very complete, tasty and healthy food for about $5 per day (as a male of average size). This is true only because I cook myself and I buy only raw ingredients. Processed food would be much more expensive. Chicken breast without bones and skin would cost here between $6 and $7 per kilogram. Even at the maximum $7/kg, that corresponds to about $0.78 per 28 g of protein, i.e. 2.5 times cheaper than tofu at your price. Therefore tofu is much too expensive to compete with meat. To be able to eat a vegan diet, I remove most starch from wheat flour, making a bread enriched in protein. This is more than 10 times cheaper than tofu at your price, so tofu is something that I would never consider. I spend the money not wasted for something like tofu for vegetables or fruits that are rich in vitamins, which are usually much more expensive than the staple food that can ensure the required daily intake of protein and fat.

Recursing 3y ago
> To be able to eat a vegan diet, I remove most starch from wheat flour, making a bread enriched in protein. I think that's similar to "seitan" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan , which is also pretty cheap in Europe (~13€/kg on amazon.it: https://www.amazon.it/Bongiovanni-Farine-bont%C3%A0-naturali-Glutine/dp/B07C3Q5FV3/ https://www.amazon.it/Bongiovanni-Farine-bont%C3%A0-naturali... )
- adrian_b 3y ago
  That is indeed a good price, because per its protein content it is cheaper than chicken breast. Nevertheless you can still find meat that is cheaper than this, per its protein content, e.g. chicken gizzards, so it does not demonstrate the expected efficiency of eating directly vegetable proteins without passing them through animals. It is likely that something like seitan should be cheaper to produce than this, since I can do it at home for many times less money than that, but most commercial products for vegans are overpriced.