Chapter Cooking and Shopping Like a Vegan In This Chapter ▶ Gathering the basic cooking supplies you need to maximize your success ▶ Stocking the pantry with all the good stuff, and storing it properly ▶ Becoming a savvy vegan shopper T wo of the most challenging aspects of adopting a vegan diet are figuring out what to eat and how to cook in a new style Setting up your vegan kitchen requires some thought, and you need to analyze your past and future ideas about cooking in order to use your culinary skills and create healthy, delicious food in this new vegan style This chapter helps you figure out the tools you need and how to get started You also get the lowdown on stocking your pantry with quality vegan basics and supplies while weeding out old, animal-derived goods This chapter also helps you understand which ingredients on food labels are hidden traps for vegans Feeling confident in your kitchen and knowing that you have foundational vegan ingredients and supplies on hand will empower you to create healthy, delicious meals for your fast-moving, vegan-rific lifestyle Gearing Up with Basic Cooking Equipment To eat is human, to cook, divine Living a vegan lifestyle without cooking for yourself is possible, but doing so can be expensive and arduous Besides, cooking for yourself is a basic life skill that allows you to practice the powerful tool of self-healing with your own conscious energy 80 Part III: Sticking to Your Guns: Staying Vegan Choosing and using the appropriate kitchen gear enables you to consistently cook up healthy, plant-based fare If you aren’t already comfortable in the kitchen, don’t worry about purchasing the fancy one-job gadgets yet Instead, focus on the items in this section that double duty Doing so allows you to reduce the amount of money you need to spend to get started If you already cook somewhat regularly, you probably own many of these items Pots, pans, and bakeware A few good-quality pots and pans will take you far in your cooking How can you tell if these items are good quality? Look for terms like “good heat conductor” and “heavy gauge.” You’re safest with stainless steel, cast iron, or enamel, because these types of pans won’t react with most foods Teflon and most nonstick pans can chip over time, allowing chemicals to leach into your food Plain aluminum pots and pans can react to foods that are acidic, like tomato-based recipes, which can make the foods taste metallic The following list can help you build your collection of pots, pans, and bakeware As you build your collection, you can add more as you need Here are some of the essentials you should consider buying: ✓ A 10- to 12-inch high-sided stainless-steel sauté pan with a lid for frying, braising vegetables, sautéing, and making sauces, rice pilafs, and risottos ✓ A 3-quart saucepan for steaming vegetables and cooking grains and pastas ✓ A 5-quart saucepan for cooking soups, stews, and chilies ✓ A 10-inch cast-iron skillet, which will become more nonstick as it’s used and seasoned (without the harmful and toxic chemicals that Teflon or other nonstick pans often contain) Cooking in cast-iron pans actually increases the amount of iron in your food, a fact that’s good for nonmeat eaters to know! After all, adequate dietary intake of iron is important for healthy blood production ✓ One or two cookie sheets for baking cookies, biscuits, scones, and roasting vegetables ✓ A 13-x-9-inch glass baking pan for making casseroles, lasagna, and other entrees ✓ A 9-x-5-inch metal bread loaf pan for sweet and savory breads ✓ A 9-inch-diameter round cake pan to bake layer cakes ✓ An 8-inch square cake pan for brownies and other cakes ✓ A 9-inch pie pan to wow your family with fresh pies Chapter 7: Cooking and Shopping Like a Vegan Cooking utensils The right tool for the job streamlines your cooking I prefer tools that serve more than one function so my kitchen isn’t stuffed with single-job items Saving space leaves more room for better organization You can accomplish just about any basic vegan cooking task with the following cooking implements: ✓ Three nesting mixing bowls: Stainless steel bowls are lightweight and easy to clean However, heavier glass bowls stay put as you stir ✓ One set of dry measuring cups: I recommend getting these cups in cup, 1⁄2 cup, 1⁄3 cup, and 1⁄4 cup sizes These cups can be used to measure dry ingredients like whole grains, flour, or chopped nuts ✓ One set of measuring spoons: Spoons in tablespoon, teaspoon, 1⁄2 teaspoon, 1⁄4 teaspoon, and 1⁄8 teaspoon sizes work well Plastic or metal spoons are good options ✓ A 2- or 4-cup liquid measuring cup: I love the new ones where you can pour liquid in and look down (instead of leaning over and looking to the side) to read the measurement — brilliant! ✓ A vegetable peeler: A Y-shaped peeler is best because you can use it for potatoes, apples, and harder squashes, too The ceramic blades won’t rust as easily as the metal peelers ✓ A fine mesh, bowl-shaped strainer: This tool can be used for washing grains and straining tea or infusions ✓ A colander: Use your colander for rinsing veggies and fruit as well as for draining pasta and cooked vegetables ✓ A wooden cutting board: A board of at least 12 x 14 inches works well for most of your cooking needs To keep your cutting board from slipping and sliding while you chop up your veggies, place a couple of slightly damp kitchen or paper towels underneath it for traction Avoid plastic cutting boards so you don’t ingest microscopic bits of plastic that chip off over time ✓ A rolling pin: You have three types to choose from these days: a long, smooth wooden cylinder with tapered ends for your hands, a traditional pin with handles, and now silpat pins that are nonstick and work great for delicate pie crusts I love the silpat and wooden cylinders because they’re both easy to clean ✓ A rubber spatula: A traditional rubber spatula is great, but you may prefer a “spoonula,” which has more of a scoop to it 81 82 Part III: Sticking to Your Guns: Staying Vegan ✓ Kitchen tongs: These tongs are great for lifting hot tempeh bacon and other items out of a pan, tossing a salad with dressing, scooping vegetables from boiling water, and placing hot food on composed plates They’re also invaluable for germ-a-phobes who don’t want someone else’s hands touching their food ✓ A wire or bamboo steaming basket: These baskets are wonderful for steaming veggies ✓ A timer: Timing is everything in cooking, so be sure to invest in a timer to avoid overcooking your dishes You also can use it to limit the amount of time you spend on Facebook — I’m allowed 20 minutes a day ✓ A wire whisk: Whisking allows for the proper combining of liquids such as homemade salad dressings or the adding of wet ingredients into dry ✓ A few wooden spoons: Wooden spoons are indispensible in the kitchen; they’re easy to grab and they clean up in a snap ✓ A slotted spoon: Wooden or stainless steel work well for scooping veggies, pasta, beans, or other bits out of water ✓ A microplane: This type of grater, which is sometimes called a “ginger grater” or “micro-zester,” is great for zesting citrus fruits and grating ginger or nutmeg ✓ A metal spatula: Perfect for the vegan grill-master in charge of flipping veggie burgers A metal spatula also is useful for turning pancakes or sautéed tofu in a skillet Knives You can remove that huge butcher block of knives cluttering your counter; vegans don’t need all those steak and boning knives! However, a few good knives are essential for any chef — vegan or otherwise I use the following knives most often (see Figure 7-1): ✓ A serrated bread knife that’s at least 10 inches long (this knife is great for bread but also perfect for thinly slicing tomatoes) ✓ An 8- to 10-inch chef’s knife for chopping vegetables ✓ A paring knife, used for peeling fruit and broccoli stems, coring apples and pears, and several other basic kitchen tasks You also want to get a sharpening steel that you can use to sharpen your knives at home High-carbon steel knives are easier to sharpen at home Chapter 7: Cooking and Shopping Like a Vegan Is my old cookware considered vegan? A common concern among new vegans is whether their old cooking equipment, which once cooked and prepared animal foods, is considered vegan For example, a baking dish that was used to broil meat can still be used to roast cauliflower, but is it still vegan? The answer lies with you and your personal comfort level In my opinion, we already consume more than our fair share of material goods, so I choose to allow my family and friends to use my kitchen tools for their nonvegan cooking Doing so is more earth friendly and takes up less space in my cramped cabinets For me, these values are more important If you feel terribly uncomfortable with using old dishes and utensils that once touched meat and can afford to so, consider donating or selling your used kitchen tools and buy new, unused items Vegans are obliged to consider their consumption based on several levels: environmental friendliness, personal health, and animal safety If you share a kitchen with nonvegans, discuss your wishes with your housemates if you prefer to keep cooking tools separate For more in-depth discussion on living in harmony with meat eaters, see Chapter Note: If sharing gadgets doesn’t bother you, be sure to make the necessity of extreme cleanliness clear when it comes to preparing animal foods Cross-contamination of food-borne illnesses can easily occur in a mixed diet kitchen Figure 7-1: The basic knives that any cook should have Go to a home or kitchen store and hold several brands and styles of knives to get a feel for which ones you like best Consider how heavy the knife feels, how easy the grip feels, and whether you like the balance of the weight as you rock it back and forth across a cutting surface Sharp knives are safe knives! Have your knives professionally sharpened one or two times per year, and then use your steel at home regularly The sharper the knife, the less pressure you need to cut, which prevents spastic flailing of knives in the kitchen 83 ... Like a Vegan Is my old cookware considered vegan? A common concern among new vegans is whether their old cooking equipment, which once cooked and prepared animal foods, is considered vegan For example,... inches long (this knife is great for bread but also perfect for thinly slicing tomatoes) ✓ An 8- to 10-inch chef’s knife for chopping vegetables ✓ A paring knife, used for peeling fruit and broccoli... kitchen tools for their nonvegan cooking Doing so is more earth friendly and takes up less space in my cramped cabinets For me, these values are more important If you feel terribly uncomfortable with