Fed up of making the same meals !

Witzend

One very easy dinner I discovered a few years ago was the half crispy duck (from most supermarkets) that you just shove in the oven. The only prep you need to do (apart from pulling the cooked duck apart) is chop/slice some cucumber and spring onions, and put the rice pancakes in the microwave for half a minute.
It comes with hoisin sauce.
I do mostly cook from scratch, but we enjoy that every few weeks.

I bought a reduced one from M&S recently. There was so much meat on it that it lasted me for 3 meals and I made a delicious soup with the carcass..

What exactly is vegan food? I just eat food, some dishes have meat in, other have dairy products some are entirely vegetable based. Vegetable curry, rice and dal, for example. Surely that is how most people eat.

So what is different about food manufactured especially for vegans?

Lots of meat free dishes contain cheese, for example..
Vegans only eat vegan cheese.

Biscuits can contain animal rennet, so a vegan wouldn't eat those.
Lots don't eat honey, but I can't remember why, now.

Have you been ill ?
Are you run down ?

I used to despair of cooking for my parents.
I'd ask them what they'd like to eat buy it and cook it -only for it be left uneaten .
But recently , I'm finding foods that I used to love not as delicious .
In the summer I bought Ben and Jerry's ice cream and didn't enjoy it .
One of my friends makes food that I really enjoy .
She runs a cafe and all the food is the best quality.
She's also the best cook in the area .
I vary what I eat and like my parents tend to graze .
They loved unhealthy sweet and savoury things.
I'm trying to snack on fruit and nuts .
Sometimes meds will alter your sense of taste .
I also blame the long term illness that I had . I think that my sense of smell is as good as ever -I can identify scents .
Some of my friends have no sense of smell after Covid .

Witzend

One very easy dinner I discovered a few years ago was the half crispy duck (from most supermarkets) that you just shove in the oven. The only prep you need to do (apart from pulling the cooked duck apart) is chop/slice some cucumber and spring onions, and put the rice pancakes in the microwave for half a minute.
It comes with hoisin sauce.
I do mostly cook from scratch, but we enjoy that every few weeks.

Crispy duck is now a family Christmas Eve tradition for us and children if they’re here, I buy two raw ducks for five adults, just one if it’s just us, I buy the pancakes, it’s good fun to eat.

Cook the same thing, but use different ingredients; put chicken or meat in a pot, add whatever veggies you have, cover with water and then some, and cook. Fish would need to be done separately. This way, you can drain the liquid and have soup, if you add barley or pastina or lentils or rice, and the veggies can be chopped, sauteed, added to raw vegetables, or olives and capers, etc. You have different colours and taste and textures, according to what you use.

Did you know you can cook a raw chicken no liquids. Just lots of seasoning in slow cooker all day - it’s a good back up

Oh, I might have a go at that, thanks.

What seasonings do you use, please?

I love crispy duck but rarely make it. If we go out and duck is on the menu that’s what I order. Also those potatoes done in duck fat. Probably very bad for you but still, who cares now and then ?

I think many of us have somewhat readjusted our menus and diet around the price of food. At least I’ve had to. It does seem like same old, same old.

But I stick to my favorites and try new things when I read or hear about them. I love to read recipes - I can tell instantly if it’s going to work for me, and when I try making it it often times becomes a regular.

The trick here is -1) finding, reading or hearing about something new 2) going shopping for ingredients 3) making it 4) be adventurous/creative. You’ll know if it’s a winner or not.

You’ll get good ideas /advice here on GransNet! Have fun with this!

I’m watching this thread with interest as I’m another one who’s got into a rut and is finding it too much bother to cook from scratch. Partly this is down to tiredness so I’m experimenting with preparing ingredients in advance and cooking in stages. Crispy duck is definitely going on my menu at Christmas.

Spice Tailor do good preprepared curries etc. You just have to add the protein. They are quite expensive but often on offer.

nanna8 I save the fat from the Christmas Eve duck for potatoes and parsnips the next day, it’s a Christmas treat.

M0nica

What exactly is vegan food? I just eat food, some dishes have meat in, other have dairy products some are entirely vegetable based. Vegetable curry, rice and dal, for example. Surely that is how most people eat.

So what is different about food manufactured especially for vegans?

Our dinner last night was vegan, or would have been if we hadn’t added grated cheese on top. A very thick, main meal soup with pearl barley and loads of different veg. I had been distracted nearly all day with family issues - hadn’t thought to get anything out of the freezer, so it was my ‘signature dish’ - so called ‘dustbin’ soup again - I nearly always have plenty of different veg.
Luckily dh is always happy with it!

Witzend You ate a vegetable based meal, but what was specifically 'vegan' about it? Did it have food in it only eaten by vegans that shouldn't be eaten by others?

Vegans are people who for reasons of principle do not eat, wear or anything else, anything that is animal based, hence why they do not eat honey. I have every respect for them and their principles. But surely the food they eat is, like everybody elses, a selection from the wide range of foods available in this world to everybody in it. In their case the selection excludes animal products.

Certainly if you go into a restaurant, it will indicate dishes suitable for people with specific food requirements whether for health or principled reasons, usually vegan, vegetarian, gluten free dishes will be indicated.

Vegans eat an exclusively plant diet. But there is nothing about their diet that does not form part of other people's normal diet. I eat a lot of dishes that do not contain animal products.

I just get irritated by the way vegans have taken over that section of cuisine that happens not to contain animal products and claim it as their own. If I have veg curry, rie and dhal for supper I am NOT eating a vegan meal, I am eating veg curry rice and dhal, which just happens to be a meal made withotu animal products. If I had had beef curry race and dhal, I would have had a meat based meal.

M0nica

Witzend You ate a vegetable based meal, but what was specifically 'vegan' about it? Did it have food in it only eaten by vegans that shouldn't be eaten by others?

Vegans are people who for reasons of principle do not eat, wear or anything else, anything that is animal based, hence why they do not eat honey. I have every respect for them and their principles. But surely the food they eat is, like everybody elses, a selection from the wide range of foods available in this world to everybody in it. In their case the selection excludes animal products.

Certainly if you go into a restaurant, it will indicate dishes suitable for people with specific food requirements whether for health or principled reasons, usually vegan, vegetarian, gluten free dishes will be indicated.

Vegans eat an exclusively plant diet. But there is nothing about their diet that does not form part of other people's normal diet. I eat a lot of dishes that do not contain animal products.

I just get irritated by the way vegans have taken over that section of cuisine that happens not to contain animal products and claim it as their own. If I have veg curry, rie and dhal for supper I am NOT eating a vegan meal, I am eating veg curry rice and dhal, which just happens to be a meal made withotu animal products. If I had had beef curry race and dhal, I would have had a meat based meal.

and if you had used ghee to make it...

I posted vegan food -- I will clarify what I meant in my response. I did not mean ready made food of any sort because the question of the OP was "fed up with making the same meal".

I define making food as actual cooking and making vegan food as cooking raw ingredients, that contain no animal parts/products, into a meal (no meat, cheese, milk, eggs, honey, anchovies, etc).

"Vegan ready foods" exist in shops - not my reference.

We're vegan by health choice, not by animal welfare - though that is important as well. We wear leather shoes, belts, coats.

But Norah It is food that vegan's can eat, but it is not Vegan food because most of the dishes you serve are likely to be in the broad canon of world recipes and all kinds of people from all kinds of cultures and all kinds of eating pattern will have these dishes as part of their normal diet.

The term 'Vegan' defines a person. The definition of a vegan is someone who does not eat any animal based food. They have the full range of the worlds plant based food and recipes to choose from, as does everyone else.

It is what one might descrbe as the 'cultural appropriation' of the term 'Vegan' to apply to any animal free food, even when it is widely eaten by people who are not vegans, who may well outnumber the number of vegans eating it, that, for some reason, so irritates me.

M0nica

But Norah It is food that vegan's can eat, but it is not Vegan food because most of the dishes you serve are likely to be in the broad canon of world recipes and all kinds of people from all kinds of cultures and all kinds of eating pattern will have these dishes as part of their normal diet.

The term 'Vegan' defines a person. The definition of a vegan is someone who does not eat any animal based food. They have the full range of the worlds plant based food and recipes to choose from, as does everyone else.

It is what one might descrbe as the 'cultural appropriation' of the term 'Vegan' to apply to any animal free food, even when it is widely eaten by people who are not vegans, who may well outnumber the number of vegans eating it, that, for some reason, so irritates me.

I'm daft, are you asserting a distinction without a difference?

I'm aware vegans annoy others. We cook food, with no animal based products - believing that a healthy choice. We're vegan, we eat vegan food.

Bump

My son and his girlfriend are vegan.
When I cook for all of us I describe it as "vegan-friendly" food, because we are all happy to eat it.
We also eat vegan-friendly food when we are on our own.

We all went to a nice Indian restaurant on holiday in July.
When the waiter realised they were looking for the vegan-friendly options on the menu, he crossed out all the dishes containing animal products to make it easier for them to see what they would be happy to eat.

Norah Vegans do not annoy me. It is having perfectly ordinary everyday dishes described as Vegan, just because they do not contain any animal products that annoys me.

I have friends that are vegan and I have happily prepared suitable meals for all of us when they visit, which would mean, because I am lazy, all of us eating only plant-based food. No one complained.

My go-to signature dish as the temps become chilly, is hearty home made soup. My favourite is a job lot of veg - whatever is cheap and available - with chicken stock, turmeric and a bit of black pepper, blitzed and then a tin of drained butter beans added. Served with crusty bread warmed in the oven.
My grown family love it.

M0nica

*Norah * Vegans do not annoy me. It is having perfectly ordinary everyday dishes described as Vegan, just because they do not contain any animal products that annoys me.

I have friends that are vegan and I have happily prepared suitable meals for all of us when they visit, which would mean, because I am lazy, all of us eating only plant-based food. No one complained.

Many people, apparently not you, are annoyed by vegans - the recipes, herbs and spices, the concept. Saying "I can't be bothered." No matter - vegan recipes are generally easy, healthy, and cheap.

Thus an answer to the OP may be Vegan cookery books.

Norah I agree, 100% plant based dishes are generally easy, healthy and cheap and I eat a lot of plant based meals. But I just see nor reason why they should be called vegan. Vegan's do not have a monopoly of those dishes and they were not developed specifically for vegans.