Plant Based Diet Hacks
I went grocery shopping with my best friend the other day. She watched the new David Attenborough documentary “A Life On Our Planet” recently and has since been reducing her meat consumption. I was talking her through each product as I threw it in my trolley, commenting on how much protein is in each and how I cook them or work them in to my day. She made the comment of “damn, you know all the hacks.” And on reflection, I fucking do. So here they are.
Here are my best tips for getting in adequate protein on a plant based diet.
A disclaimer before we begin. No this is not a whole foods list. Just about everyone knows that vegan/vegetarians can eat lentils. Often the problems that new plant-based eaters stumble upon are not knowing how tf to cook lentils (and other stereotypically vegan foods) and/or how to eat enough of those foods to get anywhere near their protein target. Consider this a “how to get a lot of protein in, but you should definitely eat plants too (duh)” guide. Everyone should have a grasp that plant-based eaters can and should eat fruit and veggies. I don’t think I need to say that here but just incase: these products should not comprise your total diet. Eat your damn veggies.
And a final word, you don’t need to have a completely plant-based diet to eat more plant-based. Swapping out some meat for some of these products would be a great contribution to the environment. Non-vegetarians can read this article too.
Okay here goes: my fav supermarket products, recipes and resources and how I build a day on a plate.
supermarket products.
Helga’s Soy and Linseed Bread.
Delish grainy bread with 10g of protein and 254 calories per two slices.
So Good High Protein Almond Milk.
10g of protein in my morning coffee for only 96 calories — sign me up. In my opinion, this tastes just like regular almond milk so it really takes no extra effort or “sacrifice” to swap this out. The additional protein in this milk comes from added soy protein.
Tofurky Smoked Ham Slices.
This is seriously delicious in my opinion. 13g of protein + 100 calories per five slices. I fry this in a pan and have it on toast with eggs for breakfast or with tempeh in a wrap for lunch. While 13g isn’t a tonne of protein it’s a generous sprinkle of protein on an existing meal — be it a plant-based meal or not.
Tempeh + Tofu.
I feel like these are the meat and potatoes of my entire diet (perhaps an awkward phrase to use here). Both are soy products and yield a heap of protein for relatively minimal calories. The tricky thing with most meat substitutes is that they very often yield a heap of carbs and fat in addition to the protein they yield. These don’t which is grand.
Tempeh: 23g protein + 185 cals per 150g serve.
Tofu: 25g protein + 220 cals per 150g serve.
Textured Vegetable Protein.
TVP can be used in place of mince in just about any recipe calling for mince. Personally, I use TVP every week in bolognaise, Mexican dishes and shepherds pie. TVP has very little flavour itself and as such, takes on the flavour of whatever you cook it in (herbs, spices, passata, tinned tomatoes, Mexican spice, etc). To prepare, you only need to pour boiling water over it and let it sit for 2-3 minutes, then it is ready to go in whatever you’re cooking. It is arguably one of the cheapest, easiest, highest protein, lowest calorie vego products on the market. 25g protein + 177 calories per 50g serve.
Vetta Smart Protein Pasta.
I love pasta as much as the next person so swapping out regular pasta for a higher protein variety is a very easy way to get a heap more protein in for no extra effort. Importantly, this is not a low carb / low calorie pasta alternative, it just has a heap more protein. Make bolognaise with this and TVP and you’ll have close to half your daily protein in from one meal. 25g protein + 343 calories per 100g serve.
San Remo Pulse Pasta - Chickpea.
Almost exactly as per the smart pasta. 18g protein + 352 calories per 100g serve.
Macro Mike Protein Powder.
This is the only vegan protein powder I’ve found that I can stomach with just water only. Anything else tastes like saw dust/dirt and needs a butt load mixed in to it to make it stomach-able. I have my protein powder just with water or blended in to smoothies as a snack or stirred in to oats or yoghurt. 25g protein + 152 calories per 40g scoop.
Veggie Delights + Bean Supreme Sausages.
As I’ve mentioned above, the tricky thing with most meat substitutes is that they very often yield a heap of carbs and fat too. These are the best artificial meat products that I’ve found for protein/calories/price/taste/accessibility.
Veggie Delights: 25g protein + 230 calories per two sausages.
Bean Supreme: 17g protein + 190 calories per two sausages.
Woolworths high protein pizza bases.
Vegetarian pizzas with these bases, tomato base, heaps of veggies, veggie sausages + Biocheese on top * drools * 14.9g of protein + 270 calories per base. Importantly, these contain whey powder so are not suitable for vegans.
Edamame beans.
You’ve probably had edamame beans before at a Japanese restaurant with your sushi. You can buy them frozen from the supermarket either still in their pods or conveniently, already podded. You just defrost/cook them in a pot of boiling water. Edamame beans are delicious on their own for a snack or added to a stirfry. 11g protein + 120 calories in a half cup of podded beans.
Edamame noodles.
The versatile taste of edamame noodles makes them a great substitute for both rice/noodles in Asian style dishes as well as pasta in well, pasta dishes. They’re easy to cook, just on a stove top for a couple of minutes and yield some very quick and easy extra protein. 8g protein + 58 calories per 50g serve.
Slendier Black Bean Fettuccinne.
Much like edamame noods, but maybe slightly better suited for pasta dishes than Asian style dishes. 7g protein + 59 calories per 50g serve. Both of these products are obviously significantly lower cal than the previously mentioned protein-rich pastas.
Nutritional yeast.
With it’s cheesy taste, nutritional yeast can be used in a whole bunch of recipes in place of cheese. It’s also super nice sprinkled on top Italian/pasta dishes in place of parmesan/grated cheese. 7g protein + 50 calories per 15g serve.
Wheat gluten.
I feel like more people need to know about this. Wheat gluten is made by washing wheat flour dough until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving the sticky insoluble gluten as an elastic mass. You can purchase this dry as “wheat gluten flour” which which you can make seitan from (a popular meat substitute). It’s super easy to make, requires only super cheap ingredients and it’s look and taste is surprisingly meaty. You can eat it with like anything but I personally love it on a sandwich. 21g protein + 120 calories per 30g serve.
product gallery.
… so they’re easier to find in the supermarket/online.
recipes.
Bolgonaise.
This is one of my highest protein meals. Fry onion, garlic, capsicum, eggplant, carrot, celery and any other veg of your choosing in oil. Prepare TVP by leaving in a bowl with boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Add TVP, Italian herbs, cinnamon, a squeeze of lemon, 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes to the pan. Stir through and let simmer for five minutes. Cook high protein pasta of your choosing in a pot of boiling water. Serve with a tbsp of yeast flakes on top. ~58g protein per serve.
Tacos/Burritos.
Fry onion, garlic, capsicum and eggplant in oil. Prepare TVP by leaving in a bowl with boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Add TVP, Mexican spice and a can of diced tomatoes to the pan. Stir through and let simmer for five minutes. Serve on tacos/burritos with fresh lettuce leaves, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, Spanish onion and guac. Your protein will come predominantly from the TVP with 25g per serve.
Tofu/tempe stirfry.
Fry onion, garlic and other veg of your choosing in a pan. Fry your choice of tofu or tempeh in a seperate pan. Defrost edamame beans in a pot of boiling water. Once all are cooked, combine in one pan and flavour with soy / hoi sin / vegan oyster sauce or marinade of your choosing. Serve with edamame noods. ~44g of protein per serve.
Veggie pizzas.
Use the Woolworths high protein pizza base for non-vegans or pita bread for vegans. Coat the base in passata and Italian herbs, fry, air fry or bake veggie sausages and veggies of your choice, top with dairy or non-dairy cheese and cook in the oven for 15 minutes and you’ve got a delish pizza yielding 40g of protein.
Eggs + Tofurky bacon on toast.
Okay this isn’t necessarily a recipe, but whatever. Get your hands on some ethical eggs, fry 2-3 slices of Tofurky and have with 2x slices of Soy and Linseed bread and you’ve got 29g of protein in your breaky. Make your coffee with high protein almond milk and there’s 39g of protein.
Bangers + mash.
Okay not complicated, but just inspo. I make my mash with the high protein almond milk, Nuttelex, salt, pepper and chilli flakes, and typically eat with two sausages and veg on the side. The sausages yield 25g protein and the almond milk 10g protein — a nice round, British af meal :)
Shepherds Pie.
Fry onion, garlic, capsicum, carrot, celery and any other veg of your choosing in oil. Prepare TVP by leaving in a bowl with boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Add TVP, salt, pepper, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp barbecue sauce and 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes to the pan. Stir through and let simmer for five minutes. In a pot, boil diced potatoes. Once soft, mash with high protein almond milk, Nuttelex, salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Pour TVP mixture in to a greased casserole dish and spread the mashed potato on top. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. ~35g protein per serve. Or if you have your own existing shepherds pie recipe, you could make exactly that, just swapping the mince for TVP.
Seitan.
Just combine all of the below ingredients (only 250mL of the stock) in a bowl. Knead until it’s ultra doughy and rubbery. Divide in to a 3-4 individual balls and shape in to patties. Bring the remainder of the stock to the boil in a pot and gently place patties in to the stock. If the patties aren’t completed covered, top up the pot with water. Simmer with the lid slightly askew for 60 minutes, turning occasionally. Allow to cool in broth for 15 minutes before serving. Great on sandwiches or burgers or served with salad and chippies.
where to find other great recipes.
There are seriously endless sources of inspiration online. My best tip though is scour the ingredients list of each recipe to search for high protein ingredients. If there are none in the recipe, think of how you could substitute or add some, or what you could serve on the side. EG, there is an amazing mango curry in one of the Powered by Veggies recipe books which I serve with tempeh on the side, and a delicious pasta sauce that I just add TVP to + serve atop high protein pasta. Recipes that are already high in protein are easy, but if they are lacking, you need not rule them out.
Arthur Street Kitchen recipe books — their spicy friend edamame with eggplant and soba noodles in particular is epic.
Powered by Veggies website and recipe books — she has a heap of free recipes online but her recipe books are super affordable and are personally my most used.
Plant Proof website and recipe books
Elsa’s Wholesome Life website and recipe books
Building a day on a plate.
Here’s just an example of how I’d build the above ingredients/recipes in to my day:
Breakfast: 2x eggs, 2x slices tofurkey and avocado on Soy and Linseed toast. Instant coffee with high protein almond milk — 39g protein
Morning snack: Macro Mike protein shake + banana — 25g protein
Lunch: wrap with 150g tempeh, 3x slices tofurkey, salad veggies, avo and mustard — 29g protein
Dinner: veggie bolognaise — 58g protein
That’s a 150g day :)
Reducing your intake of meat and obtaining adequate protein with a smaller meat intake is in my opinion, not as hard as people make out. It certainly takes a little more planning, a little more effort and a little more thinking outside of the box, but it is doable. For me personally, the hardest days are those in which I eat a meal out, knowing it can be tricky to get adequate protein from a plant-based meal at a restaurant. In that case though, I’d make sure I had a protein shake elsewhere in the day and chose ultra high protein options for my remaining two meals. EG, if I were going out for lunch, then my breakfast, snack and dinner would largely resemble that of my example day, in which case I would have obtained 120g of protein already, excluding my lunch out. Again, very much doable, just requires a little more effort, creativity and planning. And again, in my opinion, whether you’re excluding or just reducing your meat intake, that little extra effort over time goes a long way for Mama Earth.
A Life on Our Planet.
If you haven’t yet seen the latest David Attenborough doco “A Life On Our Planet” on Netflix or read his book by the same title, I cannot recommend them more highly. They are hugely informative on the effects the human race is having on climate change and what this will ultimately mean for all life on earth — us included. This is what inspired this article.
“We often talk of saving the planet, but the truth is that we must do these things to save ourselves.”
— David Attenborough