Shop Smart: Getting your protein

How you can go meat-free for one night, without sacrificing your protein (or the flavour).

I spent 18 months as a vegetarian a few years ago (I moved to Melbourne and it’s kind of a Melbourne thing to do) and while I’ve gone back to eating meat now, I try to stick to high-quality, local, and sustainably-produced meat. That means it’s expensive. Which also means I still don’t eat much meat.

And I think that’s ok. I won’t get into a discussion here about the merits of a vegetarian or vegan diet because I think the reality is that most people are never going to completely turn away from meat, and I’m not convinced that we need to. 

However, I think most people who are interested in sustainable food systems and farming would agree that we do need to eat less meat. The fact is, meat has some incredible health benefits and is super nutrient-dense, but it’s also very intensive to produce in terms of carbon intensity, water usage, and land requirements.

A lot of people worry though that by reducing their meat intake they’re not going to get enough protein, which can leave you feeling hungry and tired. So, from a former vegetarian, here’s how you can turn one of your weekly meals meat-free without losing the protein (or the flavour)!

Soy can be your best friend

I know what you’re thinking - I promise I’m not going to suggest you go and buy Impossible Burgers. They’re ultra processed and just generally a bit gross. But, there are some brilliant ways that soy can help you get protein in a plant-based diet that doesn’t involve ultra processed foods - we’re talking about tempeh and tofu.

Tofu is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the curds into blocks. Yep, it’s pretty much vegetarian cheese. The lesser-known tempeh on the other hand is made from fermenting soy beans (using fungi, because fungi are awesome and can do all sorts of amazing things), and often mixing it with other grains, nuts or seeds. This gives more flavour than tofu too - it has a naturally nutty taste. Both are considered “minimally processed” or simply just “processed” (as in, no longer a whole soy bean) and generally considered to be healthy.

People often turn to tofu to replace meat but tempeh might be the better choice - 100 grams of tofu will give you 8 grams of protein while the same amount of tempeh gives you 19 grams. Both make for great additions to a meat-less meal, and work really well for a stir fry, curries, in salads, or in rice bowls. And one hot tip, a lot of people will say tofu is bland and has no flavour - that’s because what it’s really good at is soaking up the flavour of what it’s cooked in. Cook it in a flavour-packed curry paste and you won’t be calling it bland anymore.

Nuts, legumes, and eggs

If you’re comparing tempeh directly to something like chicken it’s still going to come up short, but there are easy ways to top up the protein in your stir fry. A handful of peanuts could add about 13 grams of protein, and you’d get the same from adding two boiled eggs to your rice bowl. Throwing together a simple dish like a stir fry or rice bowl with tempeh, peanuts, and lentils could quite easily get you close to 50 grams of protein - from one dish!

The bottom line

8 billion people eating the amount of meat we do in Australia is just not sustainable, and while it might seem impossible to ditch meat entirely there’s no reason you can’t swap it out one or two nights a week. 

Vegetarian dishes don’t need to leave you feeling hungry or squash your progress at the gym - all it takes is a bit of planning and creativity. One thing I’d highly recommend is looking at Asian cuisines. Almost 20% of the population of Asia is vegetarian so if you want to learn how to get all your nutrients in a meat-free dish, look to the places they’ve been doing it for thousands of years!

Got a great meat-free recipe you want a share? Leave it in the comments below!