I normally don’t like ranch dressing, but the Field & Farmer one is delicious. The dip less so. Whole Foods has it in the vegetable section. Made from cannellini beans. It’s crazy good.

Vegan cheeses as a whole are not great. They are improving, but I still stay away from them as they do not compare.

Honestly there are plenty of great vegan meals that don't include any faux meats/cheeses (like curry, stir fry, pasta, etc) save your money and don't buy the processed crap. A can of chickpeas and veggies are much cheaper than 1 bag of frozen Quorn Chicken Nuggets.

I have a good hack for tasty vegan meals. Go to the Vegetable+Butcher menu page: https://vegetableandbutcher.com/pages/menu Click on the pictures of the meals that look appealing. They list all ingredients (and nutritional info) so it’s easy to recreate at home. We order delivery from them sometimes when our vegetarian DD is in town, and they are really tasty. Among other things, I was very surprised by how interesting their salad dressings are. They use coconut yogurt or vegan mayo for the creamy ones and have some with puréed dried fruit as an ingredient, which I’ve copied to good effect with dried apricots.

Their Mexican influenced meals have a cheese that melts really well.

Anonymous wrote:Are there any vegan cheeses that actually melt? Looking for mozzarella at the moment. Thanks.

Trader Joe’s has this almond mozzarella shredded cheese that melts really well

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stay away from the vegan cheeses and some spreads. Or at least, I check labels closely. Many are filled with coconut oils and palm oils, which are terrible for you.

I love a good vegan pesto. I make one with kale, basil, walnuts and cashews, garlic, olive oil.

Coconut oil is supposed to be healthy.

It isn’t.

Are there any vegan cheeses that actually melt? Looking for mozzarella at the moment. Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:I stay away from the vegan cheeses and some spreads. Or at least, I check labels closely. Many are filled with coconut oils and palm oils, which are terrible for you.

I love a good vegan pesto. I make one with kale, basil, walnuts and cashews, garlic, olive oil.

Coconut oil is supposed to be healthy.

I stay away from the vegan cheeses and some spreads. Or at least, I check labels closely. Many are filled with coconut oils and palm oils, which are terrible for you.

I love a good vegan pesto. I make one with kale, basil, walnuts and cashews, garlic, olive oil.

I'm a huge fan of Hodo's braised Chinese five-spice tofu. I like roasting it in the oven and adding it to salads or rice bowls. I've seen it in Whole Foods and Wegmans. They also have BBQ and harissa flavored tofu cubes as well, which are also quite tasty.

I love miso paste. It's well known as a source of glutamates, so it adds the umami boost to vegan food.

Not trying to trigger the vegan-haters but I thought we could use a positive vegan thread.

I just bought "Plant-Based Babybel" cheeses. It doesn't say vegan on the package but it seems to be vegan, according to the ingredients. They are DELICIOUS. Better than 'regular' BabyBels. I put regular in quotes because like most cheese these days, 'regular' i.e. dairy Babybel is made with microbial enzymes instead of rennet which I think tastes nasty. (Not helpful for vegetarians and vegans, I know, but I'm neither.)

Also bought VioLife Original Cream Cheese. Really, really good. The consistency was right on the money and it was a bit salty so it works. You'd never know it's vegan cream cheese.

I will definitely buy these two products again.

If anyone has good vegan items to add, I'd like to hear about them. I'm also compiling a list of things we eat regularly that just happen to be vegan -- like PB&J. Would love to hear about yours.