US Three Months In-One Sticking Point

[BillyBatts]

Aloha!

I am three months into my Vegan lifestyle and diet. I work out quite a bit with weight training and I compete in endurance sports,. A Vegan diet is certainly giving me more energy and endurance, and I feel healthier overall. Muscle strength is a bit lagging, but it's almost on par with my old lean meat diet, so no complaints.

I have been able to eliminate eggs. I have eliminated all meat. Beef and chicken products were easy to walk away from. Salmon was the hardest as it was my favorite. I have even transitioned away from non fat dairy milk in my coffee. That was a biggie because I drink about four lattes a day. Oat Milk to the rescue there.

However, I have ONE sticking point that I am having trouble with. Non Fat Cottage Cheese. I have been eating this for a very long time to control weight, grow muscle, and keep a low calorie diet. I know there are recipes out there to make your own Vegan cottage cheese, but I've been hoping that a Vegan food company would offer some Vegan cottage cheese commercially. No luck as of yet. Low fat, low calorie, and high protein are the keys to what I am looking for.

Does anyone here have a solution for a Vegan food source (commercially available) to substitute for non fat cottage cheese?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mahalo!

-Billy

 

[Lou]

There are several companies that make vegan cottage cheese. Miyoko’s is the best.
I can buy it at Target and Walmart.
try a google shopping search. There are other brands too.
I wonder if you order it online you can even have it delivered.

And as you already figured out you can make it at home.
If you eat a lot of cottage cheese this might be a very good option,
With a better control of the ingredients. and probably cheaper too


my next suggestion is to figure out an alternative.
How Do you eat your cottage cheese? most people make cottage cheese breakfast bowls. you could switch to an oatmeal breakfast. I like loading my oatmeal with fresh fruit, ground flax seed. Sometime I use a banana an Peanut Butter powder. There are lots of choices. Have you ever made Overnight Oats?
I think an oatmeal breakfast is comparable nutrition-wise to a cottage cheese breakfast.

Another option is to switch to a blended breakfast. lots of good options there too.


FYI

Vegan Cottage Cheese {Brands & Recipes}

Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese • It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken

20 Best Overnight Oats Recipes - How to Make Overnight Oats

17 Tasty Vegan Protein Smoothie Recipes for Weight Loss | The Green Loot

 

[BillyBatts]

There are several companies that make vegan cottage cheese. Miyoko’s is the best.
I can buy it at Target and Walmart.
try a google shopping search. There are other brands too.
I wonder if you order it online you can even have it delivered.

And as you already figured out you can make it at home.
If you eat a lot of cottage cheese this might be a very good option,
With a better control of the ingredients. and probably cheaper too


my next suggestion is to figure out an alternative.
How Do you eat your cottage cheese? most people make cottage cheese breakfast bowls. you could switch to an oatmeal breakfast. I like loading my oatmeal with fresh fruit, ground flax seed. Sometime I use a banana an Peanut Butter powder. There are lots of choices. Have you ever made Overnight Oats?
I think an oatmeal breakfast is comparable nutrition-wise to a cottage cheese breakfast.

Another option is to switch to a blended breakfast. lots of good options there too.


FYI

Vegan Cottage Cheese {Brands & Recipes}

Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese • It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken

20 Best Overnight Oats Recipes - How to Make Overnight Oats

17 Tasty Vegan Protein Smoothie Recipes for Weight Loss | The Green Loot

Wow! Thank you very much. That is exactly the help I was looking for. I eat cottage cheese as a snack and appetite supressant. It works for me. Especially after a hard workout where I could easily outeat my workout calories if I am not careful. Cottage cheese helps in this regard.

What's interesting, I'm no slouch with internet and online shopping. I have been searching for Vegan Cottage Cheese to purchase for a while. I could not find any. I even do Walmart IN-HOME food delivery, and searching Walmart's website turned up nothing. Then I realized this morning (after reading your great post) that my search words may be wrong. I was Googling VEGAN cottage cheese. Perhaps I need to search PLANT BASED cottage cheese, or NON DAIRY cottage cheese, so I'll try that today. I'll also go the the Miyoko's website directly.

This is really important to me. When I find a decent Vegan cottage cheese, my Vegan mission will be complete. I do oatmeal. I have not done overnight oats. My typical oatmeal breakfast is steel cut oats, plant based protein added, oat milk, and half a banana and Manuka honey. Sometimes a scoop of peanut butter powder.

Great links, and great information.

Again, THANK YOU!

 

[Lou]

Wow! Thank you very much. That is exactly the help I was looking for. I eat cottage cheese as a snack and appetite supressant. It works for me. Especially after a hard workout where I could easily outeat my workout calories if I am not careful. Cottage cheese helps in this regard.

Ha! is that all.
you know sometimes going vegan requires a paradigm shift in your thinking. Sometimes a 1:1 replacement is not possible or even best.
A home made smoothie is a great post workout drink. Or even just chocolate soy milk.

Your post workout "snack" does not have to remain below your calories burned at the workout. Just keep your daily calories consumed equal to your daily calories burned. That's just so much easier,.

What's interesting, I'm no slouch with internet and online shopping. I have been searching for Vegan Cottage Cheese to purchase for a while. I could not find any. I even do Walmart IN-HOME food delivery, and searching Walmart's website turned up nothing. Then I realized this morning (after reading your great post) that my search words may be wrong. I was Googling VEGAN cottage cheese. Perhaps I need to search PLANT BASED cottage cheese, or NON DAIRY cottage cheese, so I'll try that today. I'll also go the the Miyoko's website directly.

I did all of those. And I got hits for each one. But Non-Dairy worked the best.
Could be the Hawaii thing.
But then I imagine a lot of your food isn't local.

This is really important to me. When I find a decent Vegan cottage cheese, my Vegan mission will be complete.

Please don't get hung up on that. There are alternative to cottage cheese. or you can make your own

I do oatmeal. I have not done overnight oats. My typical oatmeal breakfast is steel cut oats, plant based protein added, oat milk, half a banana, and Manuka honey. Sometimes a scoop of peanut butter powder.

that sound great

Some vegan snacks for whenever.

30+ Tasty High-Protein Vegan Snacks (Portable & Easy) – Nutriciously

 

[BillyBatts]

Ha! is that all.
you know sometimes going vegan requires a paradigm shift in your thinking. Sometimes a 1:1 replacement is not possible or even best.
A home made smoothie is a great post workout drink. Or even just chocolate soy milk.

Your post workout "snack" does not have to remain below your calories burned at the workout. Just keep your daily calories consumed equal to your daily calories burned. That's just so much easier,.



I did all of those. And I got hits for each one. But Non-Dairy worked the best.
Could be the Hawaii thing.
But then I imagine a lot of your food isn't local.




Please don't get hung up on that. There are alternative to cottage cheese. or you can make your own


that sound great

Some vegan snacks for whenever.

30+ Tasty High-Protein Vegan Snacks (Portable & Easy) – Nutriciously

Thanks, Lou! Again, great information.

One more quick question. I am working through my very last (small) jar of Manuka honey. Almost done. Then I'm going Vegan "Honee".

The health benefits of Manuka are supposed to be very good. Any suggestions on a vegan Honey that has similar health benefits? If not, no worries, I can figure that one out, but I thought I'd ask an expert.

-Billy

 

[Lou]

Thanks, Lou! Again, great information.

One more quick question. I am working through my very last (small) jar of Manuka honey. Almost done. Then I'm going Vegan "Honee".

The health benefits of Manuka are supposed to be very good. Any suggestions on a vegan Honey that has similar health benefits? If not, no worries, I can figure that one out, but I thought I'd ask an expert.

-Billy

IMHO, honey is a real gray area for some vegans.
Full Disclosure: I don't buy any honey products. But I never did before going vegan either. So not a great sacrifice.
I'm not going to get into it but just point you to some of the other thread that discuss it. If nothing else it gives us something to discuss amongst ourselves.

I also remembered reading this last year and thought it was a well thought out essay

Vegan Honey Tastes Like the Real Thing. But Will It Save the Bees?

Chefs are finally serving lab-made honey—not all are convinced it will make a difference.

www.bonappetit.com

Then there is this article. Maybe the first one I read that got me thinking

Why vegans can't decide whether they're allowed to eat honey.

There's never been a better time to be a half-assed vegetarian. Five years ago, the American Dialect Society honored the word flexitarian for its...

slate.com

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Honey and Ethics

Can honey ever be ethical? My point of view is that, in general, honey is not vegan and is not ethical because it is stolen; it is taking their food source, and bees are also killed and mistreated in the production of honey. Even if they replace the honey, it is still taking without consent; of...

www.veganforum.org

Bees are being used for crops argument

Hi. I'm new to the forum and have been vegan for over 2 years. I know the traditional crop death argument is pointless because most crops are fed to animals anyway. However bee's being used to pollinate bothers me. We absolutely need them for pollination of our crops though. This also goes for...

www.veganforum.org

New book on bee sentience

This sounds like an interesting read. I've always suspected bees have more intelligence and individuality than we give them credit for, it's nice to see research backing that up. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/07/29/bee-cognition-insect-intelligence-research/ "The observation that...

www.veganforum.org

 

[BillyBatts]

I understand, Lou. No worries, sir. I just thought I'd ask.

I also understand the conundrum for Vegans. I love bee honey, but I've also had Vegan honey. I know it's sugar and other ingredients produced to simulate honey. but it had me fooled. I liked it.

You posted that becoming Vegan may require a paradigm shift. So one thing I thought of is, the reason MANUKA honey is so healthy is because the bees are gathering the pollen from the Manuka tree. You can buy Manuka Tree TEA and, reportedly, get the same health benefits as the honey, without the calories. So I can do that, and buy Vegan honey if I need a "sweet treat". That's really the reason I ate honey. It was the only sweet treat that I allowed myself.

Thanks again.

 

[BillyBatts]

After some digging, I found out that Mihyokos is having trouble "Ramping-Up" production of their Vegan Cottage Cheese. No wonder I have been unable to find any. There are some reports of sightings on the west coast, but nothing yet in my area. At least it is "in Production" as of this date. Hopefully by the end of the year, I will have a fridge shelf full of Vegan Cottage Cheese. I am really looking forward to that day.

I did make my own last week. Not a failure, but not great either. For me, a commercial product will most likely be the best option, when it finally becomes available.

 

[Lou]

Post something in the need help thread or the recipes thread asking for help with cottage cheese. I've never made any homemade vegan cottage cheese but I'm guessing someone here has and can tell you how.

This recipes is from one of my favorite food bloggers.

Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese • It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken

 

[silva]

I have the book Non Dairy Evolution by Skye Michael Conroy, and it has a cottage cheese recipe that's different from others Ive seen, as it includes his recipe for mayo. I regularly make the mayo, but dislike cottage cheese so can;t speak for that. I definitely trust his recipes

 

[KLS52]

Thanks for reminding me of how much I miss cottage cheese. And dairy yogurt. Some things just can't be replaced, for me.

Lots of great info here. I'm going to have to try making it again. My first attempt, years ago, was a failure. It's definitely not in my local stores.

 

[Lou]

If I had a nickel for every time I heard, I'd be vegan but for the cheese.

My transition was very slow and non-methodical. I did give up dairy first. Mostly it was just replacing soy milk for cow's milk which I didn't find difficult at all. But I was never much into cottage cheese, or yogurt or just plain old cheese and crackers.

 

[Veganite]

For myself, if I was in your situation, where a commercial product is just not available, I'd simply make my own. I'm sure most recipes could be improved upon, embellished, until you nail it the way you like it. I mean, until a commercial option comes available, what other options do you have?



*

 

[Lou]

For myself, if I was in your situation, where a commercial product is just not available, I'd simply make my own.

yes, good for a lot of reasons.
As you practice, experiment, adjust you might even end up with something even better. Probably less expensive, too. There may even be low waste issues at play.
However, sometimes no matter what, the commercial product tastes better or is just way more convenient