No Milk, No Eggs, No Meat, No Problems
As we go several weeks into quarantine, grocery trips and deliveries can sometimes come up short. For a while there were no eggs on the shelves, the meat products were sparse, and let’s not mention paper products! With the use of some alternative products, you can still make those recipes you were looking forward to serving. I know there are a lot more alternatives out there than the ones I am listing, but these are my personal favorites.
Milk – buy cashews and a nut milk bag
We have tried different kinds and methods of making homemade milks – soy, almond, and cashew. All of these involve soaking the beans/nuts overnight, grinding the beans/nuts with water, and then straining them. If you have a good blender, all you really need is a nut milk bag! The fine mesh of the nut milk bag makes the milk smooth and silky. A Vitamix, or a nutmilk maker can make the process even easier.
Cashew milk has turned out to be the tastiest straight up replacement for regular milk – think cereal, coffee, etc. You can buy a large container of unroasted cashews at Costco or even look in your local International Food Store – they tend to sell them in bulk. In a pinch, you can also just stock up on cans of coconut milk – it subs perfectly for baking and pancakes!
Eggs – buy Aquafaba or make it (so buy chickpeas)
So, if you have no eggs at the store, you can’t make an omelette or a poached egg BUT you can still make crepes, pancakes, muffins, cookies, cakes, lasagna, and even macaroons. I have found a magical product for subbing eggs. The first is aquafaba. I have no idea WHO came up with the idea of using this product as an egg replacement, but it is super natural – it is the liquid reserved from cooking chickpeas that has been concentrated down. I made macaroons using my own “chickpea juice” and they were actually good. You can use 3-4 Tablespoons of aquafaba in almost any recipe as an egg replacement. I have used it in old, tried and true family recipes and no one knew the difference. If you have an instant pot, just soak your chickpeas overnight, cook them with fresh water for 30 minutes, and then strain the liquid and boil it down to 2/3 the original volume. Or you can just buy the powder online – it works!
Meat – (in a Forrest Gump voice) well, you’ve got pinto beans, garbanzo beans, red beans, black beans, caviar lentil beans, brown lentil beans, green lentil beans, adzuki beans, mung beans, navy beans… AND shitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, protobello mushrooms, chanterelle mushrooms, trumpet mushrooms….AND tofu, quinoa, barley, frekkeh, veggie crumbles, and SO much more
There are so many ways to get your protein out there and if you can’t get meat from the grocery store, some of the best replacements I have found are beans and mushrooms. If you have an instant pot, beans are a breeze. You can season them with Cajun spices, Italian seasoning, or Mexican seasoning and you can grind them and make patties (w barley) for a different texture. For mushrooms, one of the tastiest, most meat-lover pleasing methods in our family has been cooking them with soy sauce and butter – it’s the Benihana way and it is always a winner in our house.
I know a lot of folks cannot live without their milk, eggs and meat, but if you had to live without, you can survive and even thrive. Just be sure to load up on B12 vitamins if this is for an extended period of time…you might actually find yourself feeling healthier during this time of quarantine!