Grocery Store shopping

[email hidden] (Rubystars) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Most of the recipes I've found for vegan/vegetarian dishes sound really delicious but there's a
slight problem. Most of them call for ingredients that aren't even in the store, or if they are,
are very expensive.

Tempeh, for example. That's not in the grocery store, and I'm not even sure where I would go to
get that. I've never had it before so I'm not sure I'd want to pay a lot of money just to find out
I hated it. 🙁

Seitan (yeah, that can be made at home, but you have to track down the right flour, and do
everything right, etc.) Also I've never had it so I'm not sure I'd want to pay a lot of
money for it.

Ener-G egg replacer. That wasn't in the grocery store last time I looked. 🙁

Soy flour (never seen that either).

The only tofu my store carries is firm.

Does anyone know of a web site I can go to that has recipes with ingredients more like "All
purpose white flour" that anyone can get a hold of in a regular grocery store?

-Rubystars

All of those 'hard to find ingredients' are actually readily available on-line. Now that I live in a
rural part of the world, I get most of the specialty ingredients from on-line shops. I order a bunch
of different things at the same time and save on shipping. What may seem expensive, may not be in
the long run, if used for several dishes.

You can make seiten from ordinary flour you find in a supermarket. You can make your own tempeh from
soy beans. You can use a mashed banana or mashed tofu for egg replacement in baking. Firm tofu is
the most versatile, and if its the stuff in the box, would work well for any 'silken tofu' recipe.

If you email me what part of the world you are in I'll help you source out these ingredients locally
or work on some alternatives. If I can get the stuff where I live I'll bet you it'll be far easier
to get these things where you live.

On 9 Nov 2003 09:18:17 -0800, [email hidden] (Rubystars)

Quoted message said:

Most of the recipes I've found for vegan/vegetarian dishes sound really delicious but there's a
slight problem. Most of them call for ingredients that aren't even in the store, or if they are,
are very expensive.

Tempeh, for example. That's not in the grocery store, and I'm not even sure where I would go to get
that. I've never had it before so I'm not sure I'd want to pay a lot of money just to find out I
hated it. 🙁

Seitan (yeah, that can be made at home, but you have to track down the right flour, and do
everything right, etc.) Also I've never had it so I'm not sure I'd want to pay a lot of
money for it.

Ener-G egg replacer. That wasn't in the grocery store last time I looked. 🙁

Soy flour (never seen that either).

The only tofu my store carries is firm.

Does anyone know of a web site I can go to that has recipes with ingredients more like "All purpose
white flour" that anyone can get a hold of in a regular grocery store?

-Rubystars

I'm so thankful I live near downtown Austin. I have a co-op and a local grocery within walking
distance that carry all of this kind of thing and more. In 5 minutes drive, I have 2 more large
supermarkets (one 24-hour) that have lots of space dedicated to ethical, organic, and otherwise
"weird" foods. I get tempeh in the produce section of 2 of them, and the vegetarian-specific cooler
case of the other 2.

Or, I can head over to the 24-hour Kerby Lane restaurant (that uses only locally grown produce,
mostly from their own farm) and get a big hummus and tabuleh plate for a few bucks. It'll likely be
served to me by a person with unnaturally colored hair and holes in his/her ears that you could run
a dowel rod through. Great conversationalists, when they're not obviously baked into oblivion.

Austin is good. I like it here. *sigh* :-) -Vioxel

[email hidden] Just remove all the spam and such.

Is there any natural food store in your city ? Thats the place to go to get good products and
informations ,and usually if they dont have the product you're looking for .. well .. they 'll order
it in no time

Plus , personnally ,I try to give my money to small and independent family owned stores .They care
more about what theyre selling than big corporate supermarkets!! I hate those [censored]!!

"Rubystars" <[email hidden]> a écrit dans le message de news:
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Most of the recipes I've found for vegan/vegetarian dishes sound really delicious but there's a
slight problem. Most of them call for ingredients that aren't even in the store, or if they are,
are very expensive.

Tempeh, for example. That's not in the grocery store, and I'm not even sure where I would go to
get that. I've never had it before so I'm not sure I'd want to pay a lot of money just to find out
I hated it. 🙁

Seitan (yeah, that can be made at home, but you have to track down the right flour, and do
everything right, etc.) Also I've never had it so I'm not sure I'd want to pay a lot of
money for it.

Ener-G egg replacer. That wasn't in the grocery store last time I looked. 🙁

Soy flour (never seen that either).

The only tofu my store carries is firm.

Does anyone know of a web site I can go to that has recipes with ingredients more like "All
purpose white flour" that anyone can get a hold of in a regular grocery store?

-Rubystars

Quoted message said:

Tempeh, for example. That's not in the grocery store, and I'm not even
sure where I would go to get that. I've never had it before so I'm not
sure I'd want to pay a lot of money just to find out I hated it. 🙁

Tempeh is very nice, especially if it's fresh and home made. Intructions can be found here:
tempeh.infotempeh.infoOpen ↗

[email hidden] (MrFalafel) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Rubystars) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>... All of those 'hard to find ingredients'
are actually readily available on-line. Now that I live in a rural part of the world, I get most
of the specialty ingredients from on-line shops. I order a bunch of different things at the same
time and save on shipping. What may seem expensive, may not be in the long run, if used for
several dishes.

That's true, it could even out. 🙂

Quoted message said:

You can make seiten from ordinary flour you find in a supermarket. You can make your own tempeh
from soy beans. You can use a mashed banana or mashed tofu for egg replacement in baking. Firm
tofu is the most versatile, and if its the stuff in the box, would work well for any 'silken
tofu' recipe.

Yeah the tofu I can get at the store is Mori Nu firm. The only other kind they have are some cubes
floating in water and that doesn't look appetizing, but I've used the mori nu kind a lot in
different things and I like that kind.

I'm glad that it's the most versatile type though. That's probably why they only carry that one.

Quoted message said:

If you email me what part of the world you are in I'll help you source out these ingredients
locally or work on some alternatives. If I can get the stuff where I live I'll bet you it'll be
far easier to get these things where you live.

I live in Houston, Texas. Most of the people out here are really heavily into meat eating and would
laugh at the idea of anyone trying to "cut back." Unless cutting back meant eating more chicken and
fish and less beef and pork. *L*

So the grocery stores don't have a lot of vegetarian type foods, but since Houston is a more
international city we've gotten a lot of people from India and Mexico that live here now and so
there are sections of the stores that cater to them more. Still not very large, but there's some
things there. The health food stores and specialty shops are overpriced a lot of times though (Maybe
because we're in TX, not California, so they have a limited customer base), so that's why I like to
stick to the grocery store.

It was a good idea to look online for these things. I might try to get some of them that way, just
to see if I like them. 🙂

-Rubystars

Vioxel <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I'm so thankful I live near downtown Austin. I have a co-op and a local grocery within walking
distance that carry all of this kind of thing and more. In 5 minutes drive, I have 2 more large
supermarkets (one 24-hour) that have lots of space dedicated to ethical, organic, and otherwise
"weird" foods. I get tempeh in the produce section of 2 of them, and the vegetarian-specific
cooler case of the other 2.

Neat. 🙂

Quoted message said:

Or, I can head over to the 24-hour Kerby Lane restaurant (that uses only locally grown produce,
mostly from their own farm) and get a big hummus and tabuleh plate for a few bucks. It'll likely
be served to me by a person with unnaturally colored hair and holes in his/her ears that you could
run a dowel rod through. Great conversationalists, when they're not obviously baked into oblivion.

I wonder if they consider being baked out of their mind healthy? Of course, it must be fun to
go there. 🙂

-Rubystars

FRANCOIS DEMERS said:

Is there any natural food store in your city ? Thats the place to go to get good products and
informations ,and usually if they dont have the product you're looking for .. well .. they 'll
order it in no time

Plus , personnally ,I try to give my money to small and independent family owned stores .They care
more about what theyre selling than big corporate supermarkets!! I hate those [censored]!!

The supermarket where she usually shops happens to be family-owned. It's not a small store (or
chain), though. That chain is very responsive to consumers and they also care about what they sell
despite being such a large chain. I'm sure you'd hate HEB anyway just because they turn a profit.

Try Whole Foods. I get a lot of what some would consider "health food" at the local Whole Foods (I'm
in Raleigh NC), and it's not as expensive as you might think...

According to their website, there are 4 in Houston:

1: 4004 Bellaire Blvd. West University Place Houston, TX 77025
1.1.4090
1.2.4013 fax Store hours: 8:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

2: 2955 Kirby Dr. Houston, TX 77098
2.1.1937
2.2.4376 fax Store hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

3: 6401 Woodway #149 Houston, TX 77057
3.1.4477
3.2.9419 fax store email Store hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

4: 11145 Westheimer Road Houston, TX 77042
4.1.7776
4.2.3768 fax store email Store hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

If any of these are close, take a trip and see what they've got.

Ben

Rubystars said:

I live in Houston, Texas. Most of the people out here are really heavily into meat eating and
would laugh at the idea of anyone trying to "cut back." Unless cutting back meant eating more
chicken and fish and less beef and pork. *L*

So the grocery stores don't have a lot of vegetarian type foods, but since Houston is a more
international city we've gotten a lot of people from India and Mexico that live here now and so
there are sections of the stores that cater to them more. Still not very large, but there's some
things there. The health food stores and specialty shops are overpriced a lot of times though
(Maybe because we're in TX, not California, so they have a limited customer base), so that's why I
like to stick to the grocery store.

It was a good idea to look online for these things. I might try to get some of them that way, just
to see if I like them. 🙂

-Rubystars

[email hidden] (Rubystars) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (MrFalafel) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Rubystars) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>... All of those 'hard to find
ingredients' are actually readily available on-line. Now that I live in a rural part of the
world, I get most of the specialty ingredients from on-line shops. I order a bunch of different
things at the same time and save on shipping. What may seem expensive, may not be in the long
run, if used for several dishes.

That's true, it could even out. 🙂

Quoted message said:

You can make seiten from ordinary flour you find in a supermarket. You can make your own tempeh
from soy beans. You can use a mashed banana or mashed tofu for egg replacement in baking. Firm
tofu is the most versatile, and if its the stuff in the box, would work well for any 'silken
tofu' recipe.

Yeah the tofu I can get at the store is Mori Nu firm. The only other kind they have are some cubes
floating in water and that doesn't look appetizing, but I've used the mori nu kind a lot in
different things and I like that kind.

I'm glad that it's the most versatile type though. That's probably why they only carry that one.

Quoted message said:

If you email me what part of the world you are in I'll help you source out these ingredients
locally or work on some alternatives. If I can get the stuff where I live I'll bet you it'll be
far easier to get these things where you live.

I live in Houston, Texas. Most of the people out here are really heavily into meat eating and
would laugh at the idea of anyone trying to "cut back." Unless cutting back meant eating more
chicken and fish and less beef and pork. *L*

So the grocery stores don't have a lot of vegetarian type foods, but since Houston is a more
international city we've gotten a lot of people from India and Mexico that live here now and so
there are sections of the stores that cater to them more. Still not very large, but there's some
things there. The health food stores and specialty shops are overpriced a lot of times though
(Maybe because we're in TX, not California, so they have a limited customer base), so that's why I
like to stick to the grocery store.

It was a good idea to look online for these things. I might try to get some of them that way, just
to see if I like them. 🙂

-Rubystars

Perhaps a conversation with the Houston Vegetarian Society would get you some good information?
Their website lists 'veggie friendly food shops' here: vshouston.orgmarkets.htmOpen ↗.
International food stores are sometimes cheaper than supermarkets on many items.

Once you find where to get these different food items you may find yourself going to supermarkets
less and less. I've always found supermarkets to be more expensive than green grocers and certain
specialty stores.

usual suspect <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

The supermarket where she usually shops happens to be family-owned. It's not a small store (or
chain), though. That chain is very responsive to consumers and they also care about what they sell
despite being such a large chain. I'm sure you'd hate HEB anyway just because they turn a profit.

I know I've said they don't carry a lot of things I'd like to try but they do carry a lot of ethnic
foods and different types of produce that I've been enjoying.

-Rubystars

[email hidden] (MrFalafel) wrote in message <snip>

Quoted message said:

Perhaps a conversation with the Houston Vegetarian Society would get you some good information?
Their website lists 'veggie friendly food shops' here: vshouston.orgmarkets.htmOpen ↗.
International food stores are sometimes cheaper than supermarkets on many items.

Once you find where to get these different food items you may find yourself going to supermarkets
less and less. I've always found supermarkets to be more expensive than green grocers and certain
specialty stores.

Thanks Mr. Falafel! 🙂

-Rubystars