Welcome to the Vegan Theory Club Weekly Megathread!
Question of the week:
What's one small habit that makes vegan living easier?
Feel free to talk about anything, whether it’s vegan-related or not. This is a chill space for connecting, sharing ideas, and supporting each other.
Looking forward to hearing what everyone’s up to!
What’s one small habit that makes vegan living easier?
Being delusional enough to believe that people might change their minds if only you're kind and patient and logical around them.
Haha I do not have that habit. I'm neither patient nor logical. I don't think people are really going to change their minds unless it benefits them in some way though which is kind of where I steer those kinds of discussions anyway. Most people are way too narcissistic to act towards the greater good.
To be honest I think we're hundreds of years away from a vegan world so non stop proselytizing on people who are not aligned isn't something I do often, I look for people who are ready. I don't and won't ever denigrate or disagree with the activists who do that though.
Q:
Definitely lying awake at night beating myself up foruh, cooking? It's cooking. I default to making stuff from scratch anywayI'm still sick, this is bullshit :/ I wanna get back out to the gem fields but a walk around the block has me coughing up my lungs.
Why are people so cavalier about infecting people, you wouldn't feed someone bad food, why do people insist on hosting social events while sick? Sickness isn't inevitable, it spreads largely through deliberate decisions. I know of no infection you're better off having than not, many infections could kill or cause long term damage.
me going to a windowless lecture with people sitting shoulder to shoulder as the lone masked person
🙃🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂🙃
I understand why people don't take preventative measures in the absence of symptoms especially when they're bombarded with everything is fine messages. While I'm kinda angry at the general 'rona response I try not to blame individuals. But like if you are coughing and spluttering you should not be inviting people round to your house! And if you do have to go out while sick (we all are yolked to mammon I get that you might be coerced into work or need to get supplies or whatever) you absofuckinglutely should be trying not to spread stuff.
Idk, I live outside a city (just) and don't go into there very much but like you bet I'm masking up if I'm going to be spending time indoors with people, especially during peaks of anything.
Apparently I'm a paranoid nutter though, since I do stuff like check on rates of reportable illnesses and plan around peak cold and flu season, get flu vaccines, and wash my hands /shrug.
oh yeah meeting other people while sick is inexcusable and was the norm before covid even. Hope you feel better soon
Ditching consumerism really helped me, I think. I no longer feel like I am giving things up. Just because something is available to purchase and I can afford it doesn't mean it is 1) good for me, 2) ethical ) harmless. This applies to food, goods, services.
I'd say that probably started with thinking about what it means to buy something and then being responsible for it. So the habit is thinking, "What am I going to do with this?" whenever I am considering buying something. Eventually the desire lessens and I no longer want things.
Ditching consumerism really helped me, I think.
I have been trying to deprogram myself for years. I used to just default to this pattern of looking for a product for each problem. Now I try and think more holistically and make do more or look to see if I can reframe my desires.
This is a really good one. While I still end up buying things pretty often it feels like I try and make sure they’re tools or something that will make my life actually better or enable me to do something I wasn’t able to before instead of buying things that just make me feel good on impulse. My latest purchases were a blood pressure monitor and an exercise bike
So the habit is thinking, "What am I going to do with this?" whenever I am considering buying something.
That's a great tip!
As dumb as it sounds, I bought a tofu press like a year ago and have gotten a ton of use out of it. I know you can just use plates and cans to weigh it down but having this one "single use kitchen gadget" has actually been really useful. I just toss a block in and snap on the rubber band things and press down the side arm things and forget about it. I set it next to my coffee maker by my sink so when I go get another cup of coffee I remind myself to drain the water.
It's not even fancy, just like a cheap plastic one that cost me like $10.
E: I suppose this is habit adjacent.
I think this is a good technique and I am on record against Alton Brown bullshit against single use gadgets. As vegans we have to cook most of our own food and any device that makes it easier is worth it. His brand of food elitism serves to push people away, not towards cooking and in my opinion borders on ableism.
Amen, brother. It's not like it's those shredder claws lol. Like I don't have any other use for it but I use at least 1 lb of tofu a week so it's still super useful regardless. I'd honesty recommend it for those that use tofu as much or more than I do.
To add to the habits question. I've gotten way more serious about looking at ingredients and will even do an internet search in the isle on ingredients I'm not sure about so that I don't make the purchase and find out later that I goofed.
Our tofu press really upped our tofu game. Not only made it loads easier to do, can do it better, and quicker too.
I hate consumerism and try not to sell things to people, but seriously, if you are gonna be pressing tofu, get a tofu press. It really is one of the most used tool in my kitchen, like right behind my dutch oven and rice cooker.
For clarity I deleted last weeks megathread so reactionaries can't screenshot it and drive their harassment engines.
A small habit..hm. that's a tough one (but good!).
I think for us we generally double our recipes so we have enough for 3-4 days. Then we can eat leftovers or we can freeze half for a lazy day.
Also for some of our favorite recipes like jambalaya we prep a bunch of ingredients and pre-portion them out, then freeze them. So when its time to make then it's just gathering the ingredients and dumping them in at the right time.
Both of these let us eat healthier during the work week since it reduces the amount of time we need to prep/ cook after work. It's just taking advantage of the time savings when we make extra or prep ahead.
