Embedded Files
This site is under construction 🚧🙂🚧 Message the mods at our Reddit community if you'd like to help. We'd be excited to have it!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction
The beef industry has a massive impact on our planet and environment. Currently farmland uses almost half of Earth's habitable land, and most of this is used for livestock and their feed. Over and over again, cattle come up as the primary driver behind deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution, and agricultural greenhouse gases. By reducing our beef consumption, or avoiding beef all together, we can have a much greater impact on reducing our ecological footprint, or in this particular context, reducing our "foodprint" vs other changes we can make in our diets.
About This Page
About This Page
This page exists to help you discover brands, recipes, seasonings, sauces, and various tricks for replacing beef with delicious (often healthier) alternatives.
Seasonings & Sauces
Seasonings & Sauces
Some of the ingredients in this section provide colour, flavor, nutrition, and many provide a combination of these.
Umami
Umami
Umami is the flavor associated with meat, but is found naturally in many plants and plant-based products including tomatoes, mushrooms, soy sauce, marmite, and more.
Soy Sauce Look for a gluten-free bottle if you or someone eating the recipe can't consume wheat.
NOT Beef Bullion
Marmite This is not gluten free, but if you can eat it, it's probably the healthiest option due to the large amount of B12, niacin and other nutrients.
Mushroom Seasoning offers a more chicken-y umami, but can create a richer, deeper depth to many dishes including vegetables and beef-replacements.
Flavoring & Browning Sauce The umami of this isn't particularly strong
The Video below demonstrates how cheap and simple ingredients like TVP can be for making your own meat alternatives.
The recipe below puts nuts in a blender to create minced meat, then cooks them in a skillet with meaty flavors. This meat can be used in any dish that doesn't need a binder.
Extra Flavor
Extra Flavor
A1 Sauce
Ketchup Many don't realize that tomatoes have umami, but we've used ketchup in various recipes, especially meatless meatloaf.
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
Coconut Aminos This is similar to soy sauce and can more-or-less replace soy sauce if you are allergic to soy, but this is slightly sweet, less salty, and a little thicker in consistency. It's a great sauce to add to a pot of curry, a stir-fry, or pretty much any Asian dish.
Colour
Colour
A lot of the ingredients that go into vegan beef alternatives are pretty pale, but the following ingredients add both umami and some dark colour to give the impression of the real thing.
Soy Sauce this adds a dark colour, but generally not enough alone to make a big difference without also potentially making things too salty. If you want to use this to brown a dish, you may want to use other ingredients to help.
Ground Meat
Ground Meat
DIY
DIY
Mushroom (gluten and soy free)
Nuts (gluten and soy free)
Tofu (soy based)
TVP (soy based)
Brands
Brands
Beyond (gluten-free)
Gardein (contains wheat)
Impossible (gluten-free)
Nutritional Comparisons
Nutritional Comparisons
Burgers
Burgers
Pre-Made Impossible and Beyond offer some of the best vegan burger patties if you want realistic, but major grocery shops are catching on and offering their own versions. Still other companies offer burgers made from beans, quinoa, nuts, and even mushrooms.
Portabella Mushrooms are probably the easiest plant-based alternative since they can be thrown on a grill or into a frying pan and cooked with the same spices and sauces as a regular burger.
Chili
Chili
Chili can be made easily from scratch by using store-bought vegan meat grounds (in the ground meat section or in the frozen aisle's vegetarian doors), or by making DIY ground meat from ingredients like TVP.
Companies like Gardein and Amy's make canned chili with "meat" and beans or without beans.
There are also packets of chili or chili mix with instructions to add certain fresh vegetables and/or herbs, but the packaging of these doesn't appear to be something that can easily be recycled.
Jerky
Jerky
Jerky can easily be made at home with strips of mushrooms and other non-animal ingredients. If dry enough, it can store for months (maybe longer) in glass jars. You can easily use a dehydrator and all the same settings plus ingredients of a meat-based recipe with oyster mushrooms, portabella, and even lion's mane.
A growing number of companies are now offering a variety of flavors, textures, and spice levels of pre-packaged jerky which we have found is perfect for traveling, hiking, biking, and camping.
Some brands we've enjoyed so far include:
Beyond Jerky which is mostly mung bean based with pea and oats. A serving offers 10 grams of protein for every 2g of fat (more protein and less fat than beef jerky). They also offer 10% of your daily iron requirement which is more than you can expect from beef jerky. This is the closest in texture and chewiness to beef jerky.
Louisville Vegan Jerky Co. is soy-based, offering 6 grams of protein for every 3 grams of fat, and again 10% of your daily iron requirement. This brand offers more flavors, but the jerky is a little softer than meat or mushroom-based jerky.
Both of the brands above are gluten-free!
Sausages
Sausages
Breakfast Sausages & Patties
Breakfast Sausages & Patties
Breakfast sausages and patties are usually found in the meat aisle, the frozen aisle's vegetarian doors, and sometimes in the tofu section.
They can also be made at home using fairly common ingredients like mushroom, beans, and grains. Rarer grains like quinoa may be sold with other bagged grains, or sometimes in the baking aisle.
Hot Dogs
Hot Dogs
These usually have wheat, but they can come gluten-free (usually pea- or soy-based), and some companies/recipes make them from carrots.
Lightlife offers very realistic hot dogs in small and "jumbo" sizes. They are perfect with your regular toppins like ketchup, mustard, and relish which are all vegan. If you like mayo with your hot dogs, there are a number of good vegan brands, or you can even make your own.
This is one of the few brands we have found that are gluten-free, but some store-brands have also created their own allergy-safe versions.
Pepperoni
Pepperoni
Some companies make pepperoni with pork, beef, or a combination of meats. Vegan companies have been creating pepperoni for a while, but most appear to have wheat in the recipe.
For those that can't eat wheat, Daiya offers a pepperoni pizza and meatless meat lover's pizza which is gluten and soy free. The recipe in this section is gluten-free, and is essentially a block of tofu with spices. It's very easy to make, and you can reduce the amount of paprika or other strong spices if you find them too strong or are cooking for children.
Soyrizo
Soyrizo
A growing number of grocery shops offer soyrizo, usually alongside their tofu and vegan cheeses.
This is soy-based meat with sauce, and needs to be cooked up until the liquid condences. Add veggies, scrambled vegan egg, and whatever else you'd usually mix with soyrizo.
Steak Strips
Steak Strips
Several companies make steak strips, and some are working on full sized steaks. You can find these in the Vegetarian/Vegan/Plant-Based section of the frozen aisle in a growing number of popular groceries.
Brands
Brands
Meati: Carne Asada "A slightly spicy twist on our popular Classic Steak. We did the whole spice rub thing for you this time around — a little cumin, a little paprika, a perfectly zesty cut."
DIY Steak Strips
DIY Steak Strips
Mushrooms are a nutritious beef alternative, great for burger and strips. Just remember that they are much lower in protein, so it is wise to find other foods to pair with it, or eat during other meals to balance out your diet.
Tools & Apps
Tools & Apps
Finding Safe Food
Finding Safe Food
As a gluten-free vegan, I've found the best way to find food is to search with both of the following apps, and see which restaurants pop up in both. Then check out their online menu's/reviews to see if the foods overlap. If that info isn't available, calling the restaurant often clears up any lingering safety questions.
Find Me Gluten Free "Either plan ahead by entering your destination or find places near your current location. New restaurants listed every day all across the world!" This app focuses on GF food, but some of the restaurant descriptions or reviews will mention or show menus with soy-free, nut-free, and other allergy friendly options.
Happy Cow "find vegan restaurants nearby" great for eating locally or traveling internationally.
Diet Tracking
Diet Tracking
People with dietary restrictions are at higher risk of nutrient deficiencies, and even more so when we are very active. To be on the safe side, it helps to use a diet tracker, and the one bellow is the best I've found so far.
Cronometer Free diet-tracking app allows you to create new foods and recipes, which saves a lot of time if you make big batches and eat lots of left-overs. There's also a "Copy to today" option if you left-click a food you already ate, "explode recipe" and other useful features.
Infographics
Infographics
Hidden Soy Learn how soy has snuck into most of our food, especially via livestock feed, which is much less sustainable or efficient than consuming soy directly.
Grants & Funding
Grants & Funding
International
International
Beyond Animal "Where investors and vegan businesses meet" "Using technology, for online funding, networking and business services, to accelerate the transition to an economy free of animal exploitation. Our vision: a kinder, cleaner, healthier world."
EA Animal Welfare Fund "The Animal Welfare Fund supports advocacy, research, and movement-building work aimed at improving the wellbeing of nonhuman animals, primarily farmed and wild animals. This includes corporate and policy advocacy, research, and the promotion of alternative products."
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse