Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [61]
Appeal to the senses with colors, smells, and presentation. Food should be visually appealing and fragrant as well as tasty. Choose foods of different colors and arrange them with some care and attention to make the dish look nice and appetizing. Include herbs, spices, garlic, and onions to fill the air with delicious smells to stimulate your appetite.
Shopping smarter with vegan shopping lists
If you become a wiser shopper, you’ll find it much easier to stick to your vegan lifestyle. Shop smarter by doing the following:
Take a list and hit the right stores at the right times. To avoid long lines and crowded aisles, try shopping during off-peak hours like weekend evenings or early in the morning.
Don’t shop when you’re starving — you’re more likely to fill your cart with junk food. Eat a small, healthy snack before you leave the house.
Choose a grocery store that offers you most, if not all, of the items on your list. Store hopping to find everything you need will only become a chore and cause you to resent your new diet.
Get to know a few stores to help you find better priced items, and you’ll learn the lay of the land, making for a faster shopping experience.
Get ready, get set, shop! The following sections provide you with lists of basic vegan foods that you can begin accumulating to ensure healthy, delicious vegan cooking. You certainly don’t need to buy these items all at once (you likely already have some of them); start with what you think you’ll use most often or with what’s on sale and work from there.
Staples and dry goods
You’ll be able to whip up any number of yummy vegan meals and treats with these items:
Baking ingredients: baking powder, baking soda, dry active yeast
Dried beans: black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, pintos, white beans
Dried mushrooms: morels, porcini, shiitake
Egg replacements: Ener-G Egg Replacer, ground flax meal, whole flaxseeds
Flavorings: carob or cocoa powder, kosher salt, sea salt, vanilla extract, vegetable broth cubes, wasabi powder
Flours: buckwheat flour, cornmeal, oat flour, spelt, unbleached white flour, whole-wheat flour
Herbs and spices: allspice, basil, bay leaves, chili powder, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, curry powder, five spice powder, garlic powder, ground ginger, ground mustard, marjoram, onion flakes, oregano, paprika, red pepper flakes, rosemary, sage, thyme, turmeric, whole black peppercorns, whole nutmeg
As a general rule when cooking with herbs, 1 teaspoon of dried herb may be substituted for 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh herb. Store your herbs and spices away from heat and light sources. Similarly, don’t store them over the oven or in the window because heat and light cause them to lose their flavor faster. Replace herbs and spices that are older than 1 year.
Milks: boxes of almond, carob, hemp, oat, plain chocolate or vanilla, rice, or soymilks
Natural sweeteners: agave, blackstrap molasses, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, rapadura
Nuts and seeds: almonds, cashews, pecans, popcorn kernels, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, shelled sunflower seeds, walnuts
Pasta and noodles (whole-grain flour): buckwheat soba noodles, couscous, elbow noodles, spaghetti, lasagna noodles, rice
Sea vegetables: arama, dulse, hijiki, kombu, nori paper, wakame
Organic soy products: silken tofu in aseptic packages, frozen edamame beans
Teas: black, green, herbal
Thickeners: agar, arrowroot, cornstarch, kudzu
Unsweetened dried fruit: banana chips, dried apples, Medjool dates, raisins
Whole grains: barley, brown rice, bulgur, corn grits, millet, oat groats, quinoa
Whole-grain products: cereals, bagels, multigrain bread, pita, wraps
Canned goods and condiments
The following pantry items will last for months or even years, so stock up when they’re on sale:
Canned tomatoes in diced, crushed, paste, or whole form
Capers
Hearts