What is convenience?

Today I attended a Pampered Chef party at the clubhouse in my mobile home park. Yes, I admit it. I'm trailer trash. But vegan trailer trash.

I joined seven others from the park. The consultant (also from the park) had laid out her equipment on some tables in front and was demonstrating how to make some artichoke tarts.

Now, years ago I attended the only other Pampered Chef party I have been to. I didn't know anything about the company then but thought perhaps the equipment was for people who really like to cook, and maybe it would be great equipment. I soon discovered that instead it is all about "convenience". The recipes and equipment are all intended to make cooking as easy and fast as possible. Our host - consultant demonstrated how easy it was to make these tarts, using about seventeen pieces of equipment.

Yes. The list of equipment was longer than the list of ingredients. Among the items she used:

* a garlic press
* a food chopper
* a wooden thing to press dough into a cupcake pan
* a large measuring cup/bowl
* a pizza wheel (I kid you not: she chopped parsley with it)
* cupcake pan
* a melon baller
* a cherry pitter
* and more

I have some specialized equipment myself. I have a mandolin, a salad spinner, a rice cooker, a crock pot. Most of the time, though, I rely on two knives - a chef's knife and a paring knife - plus a cutting board, and some pans for cooking. It doesn't take much to be a vegan chef. And I suspect that I could have put together the same recipe (relying on vegan cheese, of course, instead of what she used) in the same or less time with a lot less equipment.

The trick is knowing how to use your equipment. Learn how to use and care for two decent knives and you are well ahead. You will also have a lot less to clean up.

PETA's Vegan College Cookbook

Check out PETA's Vegan College Cookbook
at peta2.com.

I just took a look at PETA's Vegan College Cookbook at the bookstore. I was surprised at how simple the recipes are. It's full of really convenient vegan recipes. They are super-easy.

And none of the recipes require a stove!

Convenience Store Challenge Take 2

Well, friends, there was no winner of the first convenience store challenge. But we're doing it again!

Same rules:

* Take ten bucks into a convenience store
* Find vegan food
* Put together a meal for one or more using just that food, plus you can add water, dried spices and herbs, nutritional yeast. It must be a meal, not a snack.
* Post about it here or here.

If you go to that link above, you'll see some examples of convenience store meals I made myself. It CAN be done. It won't likely be super-healthy but it can be a real meal.

Deadline: March 31, 2009

Winner gets to choose a cookbook from the vegan soapbox store!

Chains & Fast Food for Convenient Vegan Food

These are the old standbys for when there’s nothing else available at that time or day, at that price point, or in that quick time-frame. Being vegan doesn't mean you have to eat healthy, home-cooked, unprocessed meals all the time. Though a whole foods diet is best for your health and the environment, chain restaurants and fast food have a place in modern society. Here are just a few places where you can find convenient vegan options:

Subway
For vegetarians, order the veggie sub. For vegans, get the veggie sub minus cheese on Italian bread (other Subway breads have animal products like cheese or egg in them).

Carl’s Jr.
Most Carl’s Jr. locations offer a salad bar, baked potatoes, and a few other vegan meals. If you’re on a budget or in a rush, this might be a good choice.

Del Taco
Just like Carl’s Jr., this is a good option if you’re budget is tight or if you’re in a hurry. Get a plain bean burrito without cheese or customize another menu item to omit the meat and dairy.

Taco Bell
Same as Del Taco - get it without cheese, meat, sour cream, etc.

Wendy’s
For baked potatoes or salads.

Fantastic Foods

Fantastic Foods makes convenient boxed meals that can be prepared on a stovetop, a plug-in burner, a microwave, or a campfire. Talk about convenient!

They make vegan chili, burgers, taco filling, scramble, soups, dips and more.

Here's a complete list of their vegan foods >>

Convenient Vegan Cookbooks

It can be difficult being vegan. Especially when you're a new vegan and you don't know all the "ins and outs" of vegan shopping and cooking. Sometimes you can feel like being vegan is so hard that you might just think about dropping your new vegan habit.

STOP.

Please don't give up on veganism. Giving up on being vegan is giving up on yourself. You're not giving yourself enough credit. You CAN do this! You can!

Here is a list of some cookbooks that can help. These books make vegan cooking simple, easy, convenient, and cheap:

Specifically about vegan convenience and ease:

• Conveniently Vegan
• Easy Vegan Cooking
• The Everyday Vegan
• Skinny Bitch in the Kitch
• The Vegan Family Cookbook
• The Simple Little Vegan Slow Cooker

Specifically for quick vegan meals:

• Simply Vegan: Quick Vegetarian Meals
• Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures
• Vegan Microwave Cookbook
• Raw In Ten Minutes
• Vegan Express

Specifically for cheap vegan meals:

• Vegan on a Shoe String
• Student's Go Vegan Cookbook

Specifically for single vegans:

• Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People
• Vegan Bites: Recipes for Singles
• Vegan Meals for One or Two
• The Single Vegan

And here are some great beginner books for the newly vegan:

• Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide
• The Vegan Sourcebook
• Vegan Handbook
• Vegan Planet
  
• Being Vegan

Convenient: CousCous

Here's one of the most convenient vegan foods available: couscous.

Couscous is a wheat product that cooks in only 5 minutes. You can eat it where ever you'd eat pasta or rice. So you can eat it with stir-fried veggies, baked tofu, or beans. Or you can eat it alone with some spices. No matter how you eat it, couscous sure is convenient.

Wikipedia says this about couscous,

"The couscous available to buy in most Western supermarkets has been pre-steamed and dried, the package directions usually instruct to add it to a little boiling water in a pot and covering for 5 minutes to make it ready for consumption. Another quick and easy method is to prepare it by placing the couscous in a bowl and pouring the boiling water or stock over the couscous, then covering the bowl tightly. The couscous swells and within a few minutes is ready to fluff with a fork and serve. Pre-steamed couscous takes less time to prepare than dried pasta or grains such as rice."

You can even cook couscous in the microwave. Just boil the water in the microwave and add the couscous, let it sit for a few minutes and then fluff it up and eat it.

On Veganism and Convenience

The last post was about making veganism more convenient. These links are to articles about how easy veganism is or why the convenience issue doesn't matter at all. Take a look:

• Convenience/Inconvenience Myth - "if one is concerned with the "convenience" of their diet, they necessarily sacrifice their health, which does nothing to improve the force of their argument - nor does it disprove the argument that a similarly [un]healthy vegan diet can be equally convenient; if, however, one is interested in eating a diet that is in their health interests or welfare, one will do well to put the necessary thought and effort into their food selection and avoid the downfalls of mere convenience."
• Isn't Being Vegan Difficult? - "It's profoundly more difficult to make excuses for inflicting avoidable violence on innocent beings, or to deny it, or to try and not think about the consequences of your actions, or to fend off your conscience. That wears on you, one way or another."
• Isn't Being Vegan Inconvenient? - "I don't feel inconvenienced when restaurants become exercises in patience, or when I've read the whole ingredients list only to realize that it said it had dairy in it in bold print at the bottom. I don't feel inconvenienced when by best-friend gets in a fussy mood and calls me a rabbit-food eating hippy or when I have to bring my own lunch to school every day. Those small and acceptable consequences are the trade-offs that I hardly notice for looking at the pay-out."
• Isn't being vegan really inconvenient? - "At first, not having so many options when it comes to being a consumer might seem a bit daunting, but once you know your stuff and get a little organised, it's really quite incredibly easy!"

PS - Here's a convenient vegan meal: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.