Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I was thinking of getting more vegan food this year. I went to Trader Joe’s today to see if they have their “Turkey-less Stuffed Roast” for sale. It’s supposed to be delicious–so I heard. However just like last year, I couldn’t find it. And to my dismay, this Trader Joe’s in North Brunswick has dismantled their entire vegan section–no more meatless paddies or morningstar sausages piled in the corner of the fridge. They were all gone. I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
Now I am searching for a recipe to make my own meatless turkey roast. I am thinking of getting an organic chicken roast (already cooked) from Wegman’s and cook my own meatless turkey roast. That will make the holiday half vegan at least.
I still remember the several turkey disasters I went through many years ago. Every since then, I’ve never dared to roast a turkey myself. Cooking a turkey is a special skill that I don’t have. Not only that, nobody in the Asian community here knows how to cook a turkey. Usually one just goes out to purchase a roasted duck or chicken. This is because one knows one’s culinary limit–every immigrant would try to roast a turkey himself or herself or together with friends or family at least once and watched his or her failure in disbelief. I mean cooking a turkey and failing is a rite of passage to one’s life in America. Nobody can escape it. Everybody goes through it to realize that only Americans know how to cook a turkey–immigrants will never be able to do it.
The problem with a turkey disaster is how to handle the aftermath. You have about 15 pounds of dried up, tasteless turkey meat in your hands, which you don’t know what to do with. You have to go online to search for recipes of turkey sandwich or turkey soup. You beg everybody to take some home and send turkey recipes through social media. Your friends politely accept your offer, but you somehow suspect that they would probably throw the meat away anyway.
However this year will be different. I mean the rampant inflation has changed how we think of food and how we behave around food. For example, I just swallowed a big bowl of failed bean soup, which I made last weekend. It was an experiment and it tasted terrible. It has sat in the refrigerator ever since. Today, I thought I would throw it away, but I couldn’t do it at the last moment. It has bean, egg, and spinach in it. I would have thrown it away in the past, but I can’t right now. So I heated it up and ate it. I hate this soup but I like the fact that I finished it.
In the past, every holiday season I would threw away leftover food or old food in the fridge. The problem is that one’s favorite food is often sold out before the Thanksgiving week. One has to plan ahead for fear of not being able to get any. And often planning ahead means over-purchase to ward off possible future shortages. And then when the expected shortages don’t come, one is stuck with more food one can consume–throwing away is inevitable.
However, this year, there will be very little food waste. Every last grain of rice, last morsel of food, last leaf of spinach, last drop of juice or drinks will be consumed and ingested.
Haoyan Do 
Excellent 👌👌👌
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Thank you.
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I wholeheartedly agree. I was the same in the past. Buying too mich and then having to throw away food. Now I check the supermarket ads what’s on special offer and plan ahead my lunches/dinner for the week ahead. My freezer is my greatest treasure to freeze leftovers or food I cooked in larger quantities to take out for lunch in the coming weeks. Good luck finding the best vegan or half vegan holiday food, Haoyando!
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Me too. I used to throw away at least 25% of the holiday food each year. … You must be one of those super organized people who can plan ahead so well, who can have twenty same sized cube containers, into which they store their meals and put labels on. And they all piled in the freezer so neatly that I am always astonished when I see it. LOL. I wish I can be like that. And maybe I should try to be like that, and let me start this holiday season.
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Yes, you are sooo right 🤣. That’s me exactly! But I don’t label them, just have a notebook into which I enter what I’m freezing and cross it out when I take it out. I loooove lists. 🤣🤣🤣
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Wow, you are such an inspiration, which is exactly what I need right now to reorganize my space and get super disciplined about tidiness and pre-planned cooking. I will start next week…
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Have you tried Tofurky? I used to eat that or the Gardein turkey when I was in Canada. They’re both quite yummy. Yes, food is so expensive these days we can’t afford to waste it. I’ve just been buying whatever vegetables are on sale or are cheaper lol.
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Tofurky is widely available here. For Gardein brand, I wish their fat content is lower. LOL. So true that food is becoming so expensive now. And once they go up, they are not likely to come down. Haha, that’s inflation.
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Yes, Gardein isn’t as healthy but it’s so delicious as a treat. Tofurky is delicious. I used to really love their Thai basil chicken.
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Let me go to find it. I tried a couple of tofurky products before and didn’t like it. And I’ve given up on the brand ever since. Now I would go out there to search for this Thai Basil chicken you are talking about. LOL.
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In my opinion, their products are either really good or really bad depending on what you try. Like I don’t like their sausages much but I love their vegan chicken. The Thai Basil one is really delicious.
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I guess I just tried their bad products and really didn’t like them very much. It is a prevalent brand in all the supermarket here. I don’t understand why. I guess they do better marketing than others. Anyway, I will try to explore their other items to see which one tastes good. Thank you for the tips.
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Yes, I don’t think their products are good enough for them to be that popular. To be honest I prefer Gardein and my favourite Field Roast. Their vegan sausages are amazing.
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I’ve seen Gardein around here… but I’ve never see field Roast. Let me go around to find more vegan products. I hope new vegan products can come out this holiday season.
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Field Roast is wonderful. Their apple sage sausages are my favourite. Yes, I always wish for new vegan products to come out lol.
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I’ve never seen this brand. I think I definitely will go to Whole Foods this month to search for healthy vegan foods, but you know it is located in Metuchen, where the police are eager to give out tickets no matter how good you drive…
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Oh no that sucks. Maybe you can order it online?
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Haha, great idea.
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That’s the holiday and life spirit. I don’t like wasting food either. It makes me feel very irresponsible and too privileged for my own good.
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I have really cut down on food waste this year. LOL. And also I have started to be more vigilant about the food in the fridge. I mean I don’t want them to be left in a corner unattended for day after day, and then getting thrown away.
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Yummy food..but we always loved turkey. Anita
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Oh, you sound like a person who’s an expert in cooking turkey, which is a skill that I can never learn. LOL. I can almost smell the wonderful food you are going to have for Thanksgiving from here.
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