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Food

Trying to give up red meat

(37 Posts)
Allsorts Thu 09-May-24 06:09:10

I have bought a large packet of soya chunks and a giant bag of dried Canaloni beans, and made a kind of stew in the slow cooker, with garlic tomatoes etc. It tasted good but the chunks were rubber.
Any ideas what I can do with either of these ingredients instead of rubber stew please.

M0nica Thu 09-May-24 11:40:27

Maremia Yes, the PfL meat I buy is expensive, but as I have halved our average meat portion size, from the budgetting point of view, it is half the price and comparable with other meat

Theexwife Thu 09-May-24 12:14:29

I dont like tofu or quorn, I simply have more veg and pulses.

I do not think processed foods are any better for you than red meat.

Chocolatelovinggran Thu 09-May-24 13:09:22

Allsorts, if you do use meat substitute products, avoid the slow cooker. Meat responds well to long cooking, the alternatives do not.

Madgran77 Thu 09-May-24 13:13:35

Quorn mince is ok bit I personally prefer to mince up chestnut mushrooms in the processor and use that as the "meat". Dont like soya chunks.

MissAdventure Thu 09-May-24 14:24:04

I find that meat replacements don't need long, slow cooking.
It reduces them to mush.

Puy lentils are my favourites in place of meat, because they have a more chewy texture.

LucyAnna Thu 09-May-24 14:29:07

Bump

RosiesMaw Thu 09-May-24 18:39:41

LucyAnna

Bump

Why?
If anybody wants to add to the thread there’s nothing stopping them!

zakouma66 Thu 09-May-24 21:17:49

I don't think soya does well as a stew really. Quite nice as a stir fry ingredient. A non meat stew might be better with root vegetables and some flavouring such as smoked paprika, top with cream or yoghurt.

flappergirl Thu 09-May-24 21:47:35

I distinctly remember Margaret Powell doing an advert for chicken when I was a child in the 60's. She said something along the lines of "chicken is no longer a luxury, now everyone can afford it".

I was perplexed because as country folk we kept our own chickens and so did many of our neighbours. Chicken was not a luxury at all. I asked my Dad what she meant and he explained that for city folk chicken was indeed a luxury.

He also told me about the new fangled battery farming and how chickens were being sold frozen. All of which was reducing the cost of chicken and making it more accessible to the masses.

He was very disparaging about the whole thing.

Does anyone else remember Margaret Powell? She wrote a book which I think was called "Below Stairs". She became quite a TV personality and was on everything for some years.

welbeck Thu 09-May-24 22:05:04

i remember Margaret Powell.
she wrote series of memoirs, on the back of the upstairs, downstairs popular tv series.
she had been in service as a young girl and was inspired to take O-level and A-level english, and began writing her life story.
below stairs was followed by climbing the stairs, and then, the treasure upstairs.
i can still remember many of the anecdotes.

Callistemon21 Thu 09-May-24 22:12:22

I remember Margaret Powell's books.

Yes, chicken was a luxury even for those who weren't city folk. Beef was the normal Sunday roast, chicken eaten not so often and a capon at Christmas.