Post Punk Kitchen Forum

HI all,

I have a very sick, over-weight friend who is trying to lose weight. She eats a SAD, and thinks that by cutting portions (she is hungry all day) that she will lose weight--but then she gets really hungry and ends up eating crepe...she doesnt have a lot of time to cook, and she was joking around with me about cooking for her for a week...I took her challenge.

She spends about 50.00 per week on groceries. I told her I would try to come up with a weeks worth of meals )b-fast, lunch, dinner) for her and her husband. I want to make it all vegan with a lot of GF as well.

They like "meat and potatoes" sort of food (obviously) so I am thinking of making them some pretty hearty and familiar dishes to perhaps turn them on to vegan food. I also want to make the dishes pretty easy to prepare so she can replicate them.

Do you guys have any go-to easy recipes for B,L, or D that you use for omnies? Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

Daphne

In my experience, its really useful to get people to do their own legwork. Lend them AFR or Vegan on the Cheap and have them pick stuff that sounds good to them.

If she is redoing her diet, I'd say let her set her own pace, or you're setting her up for failure. Let her slowly replace things, and not do a 180.

When I cook for people who are not as adventurous, I stick with familiar flavors and meals that are naturally vegan rather than vegan versions of meaty meals. Things like mango fried rice with cashews, chickpea tacos, a grain salad with lots of veggies, falafel, black bean soup, sweet potato peanut soup. I don't cook with a lot of beans because my husband hates them, but if you make beans the center of some of their meals that will help with the cheap. Maybe a stir fry of veggies and edamame over brown rice.

For breakfast we eat a smoothie with frozen fruit, soy milk, silken tofu, and some spinach. Using frozen fruit keeps cost down, but I will also throw in any fruit I have bought that is going to go bad before we can eat it.

Thank you both! Im giving her a lot of easy recipes so she can ease into it...she still eats chicken and turkey, but Im just going to make her a few soups, quinoa salad, veggie stir fries, some oatmeal, and smoothies.

Yeah, I agree that not trying to do anything that strays too far from their comfort zone is the way to go. Like Tofulish said, it might be helpful for them to pick out recipes that sound enticing to them. For example, if they're from Texas, it might be good to show them a nice and flavorful pinto beans and rice recipe with a good corn salad on the side. If they're from Louisiana (like me!) wow them with a vegan spin on gumbo or jambalaya, minus the seitan or tempeh.

Basically, I'd say steer away from large and obvious pieces of tofu, tempeh and seitan and towards beans and maybe crumbled up amounts of tofu or tempeh. Ease them in...

oh absolutely--not doing anything with tofu, seitan or tempeh...she told me what she likes (they are not too picky) ...so that helps, and she has eaten my food before and likes it. She had a baby last year and got promoted at work, so I think life has sort of overwhelmed her and she turns to junk because she doesnt have time to cook too often...hopefully the food and recipes will help her move to where she wants to be.

If you figure out a way to feed two people a plant based gf diet on 50 bucks a week, let me know how to do it!

Suggestion for breakfast - I'm having overnight oats most mornings and they are excellent for keeping me full until lunch and being cheap and very customisable, and I got my friend (who isn't vegan) doing it too, and my omni dad also has them every day, so I know it's not just a vegan thing.

You could get her some oats, dried fruits, nuts (I like almonds and hazel, but whatever is cheap will work, even peanuts), coconut, juice and maybe some soy milk, and some treat things to go on top like choc chips and get her to try a few different things. The good thing is they can all be made in advance at the same time and then she can just add water the night before.

so far Im looking at mostly bean based soups (lentil and white beans bought in bulk so its cheaper), some basic rice and quinoa,

sweet potatoes/greens, baked oatmeal, and smoothies that she can freeze until ready to use. Some baked polenta and chickpea crepes too...I will let you know if Im able to pull this off! ;)

D.

I think bean-based soups and stews is the way to go. I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned chili yet! Bean chili is hearty, cheap and will still taste familiar to people who don't even know what the word "vegetarian" means. I made the recipe from Vegan Diner the other day and it was very good... it includes TVP, but I feel like you could leave that out and replace it with extra beans. Or if that doesn't strike your fancy there are about a million other veggie chili recipes on the internet.

Bean burritos! They're cheap, familiar, and tasty. If you use corn tortillas then they should be GF. For a healthier version, sub some of the rice with roasted veggies.

Spring rolls, sushi, salads, vegetable fried rice, rice noodle bowls (try Thai or Vietnamese recipes for this!), and curries are all great as well.