A Cheap and Healthy Meat Substitute

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Food & Dining Out

Home > Food & Dining Out > Topics: Cooking & Recipes

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A Cheap and Healthy Meat Substitute

Submitted by: anonymous 03/10/2009 12:33 AM

TVP is the name for "textured vegetable protein". It is dried chunks of soy bean. When re-hydrated with hot water, it almost doubles in volume. This can take the place of hamburger in many hot dishes, sloppy joes, chili, etc. It has the texture of ground beef but it is healthier. A small bag of it appears to be expensive, but once you re-hydrate it, it becomes cheaper per pound than hamburger, plus it is much more healthy. I have made sloppy joes and chili with it for over a year and my family still can't tell the difference.

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Comments:

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My family loves TVP! We make all kinds of things with it: Tacos, Spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, chili, stir fry, even chorizo. It can be purchased in ground beef size granules and even chunks or strips. I buy it in bulk at a local Farmers Market/Health Food Store. It's very cheap in bulk and goes a long way. My son and I are vegan, so it is an inexpensive, great source of protien for us.

Posted by Brenda on March 11, 2009 7:00 PM

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My husband and I used to cook with TVP all the time for the many many years I was a vegetarian. We too would buy it in many different shapes (some more like ground meat, other like small cubes of chicken)

Posted by anonymous on March 17, 2009 7:08 PM

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where can I find tvp? I live in colorado.

Posted by anonymous on March 18, 2009 3:15 PM

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I'd check out whole foods if there is one near you. that's probably your best bet.

Posted by anonymous on March 18, 2009 4:16 PM

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How do you make it taste like anything? Like in sloppy joes or chili, how do you get it to taste like something, or does it have a taste??

Posted by anonymous on March 20, 2009 11:03 AM

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I actually prefer fake ground meat to the real. It has a great texture and a nice, mild flavor. I like it sauteed with hot sauce.

Posted by DogMama on March 26, 2009 4:16 PM

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You can flavor TVP by soaking it in hot water flavored with broth or bouillon.

I've made my own TVP-like crumbs by freezing tofu, thawing it, squeezing out all the water like a sponge, and drying it. (I refrigerate it and use it soon, though).

Posted by Nance in GA on March 26, 2009 4:41 PM

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Does TVP have no protein compared to meat? I am suppose to not eat much meat because my protein or BUN is so high. Does it come with directions of how to re hydrate it and is it hard to find?
Thank you for your help

Posted by Vicky on March 26, 2009 6:16 PM

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Yes it is a very quick dinner helper, but I also injoy my home made Meat Substitute that is called Gluten you can make steaks from it.

Posted by Marcia on March 26, 2009 8:52 PM

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VICKY HERE IS AN ARTICLE I COPIED AND PASTED

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Soy protein is generally regarded as the storage protein held in discrete particles called protein bodies, which are estimated to contain at least 60�70% of the total soybean protein. Upon germination of the soybean, the protein will be digested, and the released amino acids will be transported to locations of seedling growth. Legume proteins, such as soy, and pulses belong to the globulin family of seed storage proteins, called leguminins (11S) and vicilins (7S), or glycinin and beta-conglycinin, in soybeans. Grains contain a third type of storage protein called gluten or "prolamines." Soybeans also contain biologically active or metabolic proteins such as enzymes, trypsin inhibitors, hemagglutinins, and cysteine proteases very similar to papain. The soy cotyledon storage proteins, important for human nutrition, can be extracted most efficiently by water, water plus dilute alkali (pH 7�9), or aqueous solutions of sodium chloride (0.5�2 M) from dehulled and defatted soybeans that have undergone only a minimal heat treatment so that the protein is close to being native or undenatured. Soybeans are processed into three kinds of modern protein-rich products: soy flour, soy concentrate, and soy isolate."

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_protein

HOPE IT HELPS ALSO VEGE PROTIEN IS HANDLE DIFFERENT IN THE BODY THEN MEAT IS.

Posted by Marcia on March 26, 2009 9:38 PM

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TVP is high in fiber and protein, but has no cholesterol or fat. It has no real taste, but adopts the taste of whatever you season it with. The texture is similiar to ground beef, but a little softer or "mushier". We use it in tacos and spicy foods by itself, but in spagetti I usually use 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 TVP to get that "meaty" flavor we like. I find it at our local Krogers grocery store in the "health food" section. It's also good to "stretch" a meatloaf, chili, hamburgers, soups, etc. to serve an extra person or two. Bonus is that it doesn't need refrigeration so it's a great pantry staple.

Posted by alice on March 26, 2009 10:37 PM

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Arrrggghhhhh, soy?? Has anyone ever read "The dark side of soy"? Soy is actually toxic in the bean form and they acid wash it, and do other nasty things, to make it edible at all. It's used as a filler, just like all the chemicals and such in our foods. Soy washes away all the good stuff in our digestive tracts, plus mimics estrogen in our bodies.

Beware you gals who have had breast cancer or have a family history of it. My personal experience with soy was a bad one. I was bleeding so profusely all the time, and still have a messed up belly from it. I was VERY estrogen dominant. Just a tip for you.

Don't believe what they tell you out there, they are not out for our health and the government, the FDA, and the Medical field is all about keeping us sick. The only way "some" say it can be used safely and might have benefits, is when it's "fermented" soy. However, there are still those who will argue it's not safe at all.

If you want to be healthy, cook from scratch, avoid most of the aisles in the supermarkets (I don't do my shopping at regular food stores) delete sugar from your diet, don't buy processed foods, but if you must, never buy anything with a label that has a huge list of ingredients on it. If you can't pronounce it, and don't know what it is, don't put it in your body OR on your skin. It's amazing to me, what people view as healthy. But if you are just wanting to save money and fill a belly, well, just know you will eventually suffer the consequences AND make the big Pharma rich. : - )

Posted by anonymous on September 27, 2009 1:02 PM

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