Vegetarian (not vegan) Protein Hacks

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ssurvivor
ssurvivor Posts: 142 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I’ve been craving protein for the last two days but I’m out of eggs, tofu, TVP and Seitan. I only have dried beans on hand. Is there anything I can do (short of drinking a gallon of milk) to curb the craving until I can get to the grocery store? TIA!

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Start soaking those beans!

  • ssurvivor
    ssurvivor Posts: 142 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Start soaking those beans!

    Is there a way to soak that won’t take all night? I grabbed some egg bites from Starbucks today. That helped but i can tell my body still needs protein. I don’t want to spend anymore money on fast food. I’m going to the store after work tomorrow.
  • Dgil1975
    Dgil1975 Posts: 110 Member
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    Looks like your hands are tied now, going forward I would recommend keeping canned beans and lentils on hand( low sodium) as they can cook in 10 minutes and give you that protein fix your after.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    ssurvivor wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Start soaking those beans!

    Is there a way to soak that won’t take all night? I grabbed some egg bites from Starbucks today. That helped but i can tell my body still needs protein. I don’t want to spend anymore money on fast food. I’m going to the store after work tomorrow.

    Put them in water and bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Let sit (covered) for an hour or two. Drain, add fresh water, and you should be ready to cook them, which might take anywhere from 40 to 90 minutes, depending on the type of bean and how old they are. (Ideally, after the initial "quick" soak, you should see the same color all the way through a bean if you cut in half, indicating the soaking water has penetrated to the center of the bean.)
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
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    Do you have any vegetables in? Peas, frozen sweetcorn, broccoli and so on aren't anything like as high in protein as tofu, but mixed together as a stirfry, you could get into the double digits for grams of protein.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    ssurvivor wrote: »
    I’ve been craving protein for the last two days but I’m out of eggs, tofu, TVP and Seitan. I only have dried beans on hand. Is there anything I can do (short of drinking a gallon of milk) to curb the craving until I can get to the grocery store? TIA!

    Do you have a pressure cooker or insta-pot? I don't use either myself, but they should cook much faster in one of those.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    Instant pot to the rescue.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    Instant pot is great for dried beans.

    Also, for the future, not only canned beans, but also dried lentils are great to have on hand.
  • ssurvivor
    ssurvivor Posts: 142 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    ssurvivor wrote: »
    I’ve been craving protein for the last two days but I’m out of eggs, tofu, TVP and Seitan. I only have dried beans on hand. Is there anything I can do (short of drinking a gallon of milk) to curb the craving until I can get to the grocery store? TIA!

    Do you have a pressure cooker or insta-pot? I don't use either myself, but they should cook much faster in one of those.

    Sadly, no. But I’m usually much more organized when it comes to food.

    I keep my pantry (and fridge) items and shopping list in an Excel workbook and programmed it so an item is automatically imported into my shopping list if the quantities dip below a certain level.

    I also have a meal prep and plan day where I plan eight days and lm prep for as many days as possible.

    I created these systems to save money, but I found that they also keep me from running out of food and saves time as I usually only have to assemble and heat my meals. Even at my busiest, I always do at least one of these things so it’s a complete aberration to fail to do all three for so long.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    ssurvivor wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Start soaking those beans!

    Is there a way to soak that won’t take all night? I grabbed some egg bites from Starbucks today. That helped but i can tell my body still needs protein. I don’t want to spend anymore money on fast food. I’m going to the store after work tomorrow.

    I've soaked for 3-4 hours and then cooked. It takes them a bit longer to be done, but it works.

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