Wife's a Vegetarian - Any Good Veggie Storage Strategies ?

[pteron]

Has anyone else read Amazon.com: The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability (9781604860801): Lierre Keith: Books

Completely changed my approach to food.

[storyinframes]

Originally Posted by pteron

Has anyone else read Amazon.com: The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability (9781604860801): Lierre Keith: Books

Completely changed my approach to food.

Actually, this argument can run both ways.

The book says that demand for agricultural products leads to destruction of forest and prairies to establish farmlands. It also destroys topsoil and natural flora, fauna, and wildlife. correct. I agree.

The counter argument. For a population thriving on meat and beef products people will start farming animals. To sustain them you need agricultural products. For instance US is one of world' s largest grain producer. All the grain doesn't go for the population, only a fraction. Rest is either exported to middle east or fed to farm cattles.

In my opinion the real solution lies in population control. With 7 billion people it is bound to stress out Eco systems whether we eat veg or non veg.
Reduce the world's population to say e.g. 4billion, and you will find lot of Eco/environmental/sociological parameters currently in RED will come to normal.

Asia has to lead the world in population control. Almost 40% of world's pop is living in china and India, ie every second guy you are like
Y to come across will either be a Chinese or an Indian.

Some of the big population centres

china
South Asia ( India, Pak, Bangladesh)
US
Indonesia.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by pteron

Has anyone else read Amazon.com: The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability (9781604860801): Lierre Keith: Books

Completely changed my approach to food.

Had not heard of the book but went to Amazon to check it out and read a number of quotes and reviews. I was not impressed by what I saw.

A couple of reviewers that state they are experts or researchers in the field (probably true but I have no proof so in an attempt to be fair will make that statement) seriously questioned the research behind the book. Sources included Wikipedia, Google, and opinion based books backed by no research or data. I also read a couple of direct quotes from the book that made factual statements that I know to be incorrect.

All that being said, I do agree with some of the premise behind the book. The human body is not that of a vegetarian. If you compare the teeth and digestive system of the human compared to other animals ours is most similar to omnivores. That does not mean that a vegetarian diet is inherently good or bad, just that is how the human animal evolved. There are a number of populations that are vegetarian, including many Hindus and 7th Day Adventists that have been studied and generally found to have fewer diet related health problems that populations that eat mostly animal protein.

The biggest fallacy in the book is the claim that producing meat protein is less harmful to the environment than growing vegetable food crops. The problem there is that commercially raised animals, except in very poor countries where they are raised by subsistence farmers and are fed mainly grass, are fed vegetable protein as feed. Calculations show it takes at least 12-15 lbs of plant based protein to produce 1 lb of meat protein. So it will take 15 times more land, farming and impact on the environment to produce meat protein that plant protein.

The other claim, that raising animals is less damaging to the environment also raises serious questions. In a mixed use farm where there is a small concentration of cattle, sheep, horses, etc as part of a plant based agriculture, the manure from the animals is beneficial and can be used to replace chemicals fertilizers. However, in industrial scale meat and dairy farming there is a huge concentration of animals in a small area that create similar huge concentrations of animal waste and serious problem with nitrate pollution in the environment. Very common and well known issue in the industry.

My opinion. An omnivorous diet can be very healthy but so can a vegetarian diet. A diet too high in animal protein can be unhealthy. Regardless of your dietary preference there is no doubt that replacing meat protein with vegetable based protein would reduce the stress on the environment.

[forsailbyowner]

One meal that is popular around here when the fresh stuff runs out is the hummus and pita bread meal. I usually forego the standard tahini for sunflower seeds. Just pop garlic sunflower seeds garbonzos salt and other stuff like olives or roasted peppers etc in the food processor and blend away. If I add any oil its cold pressed properly stored flax oil. Entrees like chik(pea) filets or bean loafs or burgers ,vegetarian pizza all tide us over after the fresh stuff runs out .
My latest sailing buddy is ethical vegan, Im what she calls a pescatorian (like your wife) will eat fresh caught seafood but shy away from "corporate" meats that are so loaded with unwanted stuff. Typical breakfast oatmeal. Steel cut oats, fresh ground flax seed, dried papaya, dried coconut chuinks,salt, turbinado sugar maybe some vegan milk (soy, almond etc..) Lunch Green salad with whatever is available. Dinner entree, starch (most often beans n rice dish) and soup n salad. Your wife being vegetarian Im sure she uses Nutritional yeast flakes in her food prep? Thats the thing I really miss when it runs out.

[w1651]

What the heck are these?

Nutritional yeast flakes in her food prep?

And do you have to pump the heads holding tank after you eat them?

[Anemone]

Originally Posted by Hannah on 'Rita T'

We keep onions, potatoes, cabbage, red and green, and summer and winter squash, spaghetti squash in cargo nets. Tie them off under way so they don't swing and bruise. SharperImage sells lock n lock style containers that keep food fresher longer and some of them are big enoguh for veggies and have a grate onthe bottom to keep moisture off the peppers, broccoli, carrots and the like. Kept those for weeks, I also use canned corn and canned tomatoes, but no other canned veggies.

Dried mushrooms, beans and tomatoes are staples.

Hi Hannah,
If you store potatoes, squash, etc in lock n lock with the grate, do you put the container in the fridge or in dry storage? I've been having trouble keeping potatoes for more than 2 weeks.
Thanks
Judy (Anemone)
s/v Charbonneau

[Auspicious]

Root vegetables need ventilation to keep. Out of light and with some airflow I get a four to six weeks out of potatoes, a bit more from onions.

I've had no luck with nets at all. Even without banging there is enough chafe to turn apples into sauce, oranges into juice, and potatoes into a most unpleasant slime. I only use nets for clothes and books.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Root vegetables need ventilation to keep. Out of light and with some airflow I get a four to six weeks out of potatoes, a bit more from onions.

I've had no luck with nets at all. Even without banging there is enough chafe to turn apples into sauce, oranges into juice, and potatoes into a most unpleasant slime. I only use nets for clothes and books.

We see similar shelf life for potatoes and onions at home. Keep them in a wire basket in a dark pantry.

I also never had much luck with little net hammocks for keeping fruits or vegs on a boat. Never could figure out a simple trick for securing them and either tossed stuff out of the nets or made mulch out of the contents.

[Yofy]

I am a vegetarian and while Manny eats meat we eat mainly vegetarian onboard especially when we are cruising. One book that was especially useful in the beginning was Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a Small Income". She has a whole section on food storage that is really helpful. Last summer I wrote a blog detailing how I store food onboard Yofy.

Except for green leafy all of our vegetables and fruits are stored in bins, in a locker with vents for air circulation. The locker sits low in the boat, so it stays cooler being below the water line. I make sure to separate different vegetables and fruits in different baskets. For example you have to be really careful about putting apples next to other produce as they give off a gas which will rot many other fresh fruit or veg. (you can see a picture of the storage in the blog).

We tried using the Evert Fresh green bags but once temperatures went over 35 C things began to rot. I have found the best results from buying unrefrigerated produce from markets. I make sure that anything that goes in the baskets is completely dry... often sitting them in the sun for a few minutes to dry any moisture before storage.

Green leafy stuff or any really fragile fruit goes in the fridge. That doesn't allow for a lot of space (Manny and I argue about whether my greens or his beer get priority) so it means that they get eaten first. When we are cruising, we forgo the lettuce and eat cabbage salads instead. Sprouts are always good too.

Robyn

[WarmBreeze]

I eat mostly vegetarian and while I do not plan to live aboard, anytime soon, I understand this dilemma. Root vegetables keep longest. You just need a cool dry storage unit. Things such as lettuce can keep pretty well for up to a week in the fridge.
I would research online and see what you can come up with. Here are a couple of websites that may help you come up with some solutions.

Produce Freshness :: STORING PRODUCE

Shop for Vegetable storage online - Read Reviews, Compare Prices and Buy at Bizrate.

I will be looking into some of these as well as we are starting to plan longer sail trips with the kids. We have done up to two weeks but always find a grocery store somewhere by the end of the first week.

Hope this helps a bit.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Yofy

. . . We tried using the Evert Fresh green bags but once temperatures went over 35 C things began to rot. I have found the best results from buying unrefrigerated produce from markets. I make sure that anything that goes in the baskets is completely dry... often sitting them in the sun for a few minutes to dry any moisture before storage. . . .

I use the "green bags" quite successfully, but also clorox (chlorine) rinse all my veggies and dry them thoroughly before putting them in the "green bags." The clorox rinse kills the exterior buggies and critters and mold and then the bags take care of retarding interior rotting.

[farotherside]

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

My latest sailing buddy is ethical vegan, Im what she calls a pescatorian (like your wife) will eat fresh caught seafood but shy away from "corporate" meats that are so loaded with unwanted stuff.

My brother-in-law is a commercial diver on the east coast, and does a lot of work in the farmed salmon industry. Some of the stories he tells have put me off farmed salmon for life... just the slurry of chemicals and antibiotics and meat by-products they feed them, for instance. When I last visited, he had spent the previous week cleaning some fourteen thousand dead salmon out of one of the enclosures...

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

Typical breakfast oatmeal. Steel cut oats, fresh ground flax seed, dried papaya, dried coconut chuinks,salt, turbinado sugar maybe some vegan milk (soy, almond etc..)

Nice! Sounds like we might have a thing or two in common!

Here's my oatmeal recipe: Breakfast! « disengage.ca

[E-P]

Instant *face-palm* always when people claim that they are vegetarians BUT they do eat a bit fish. It is just If you eat fish you are not vegetarian.

However, back to the topic. You can get plenty of vegetables canned and they taste nice when cooked correctly (apart from mushrooms, I don't think I have ever eaten food made from canned mushrooms which are nice). Also, vegetables like potatoes and swede last for ages when stored in dark and dry place (latter might be a bit difficult though ).

I would also like to stretch here one point. Open post in the topic also seeds the stereotypic thinking that vegetarians/vegans eat nothing but carrots, potatoes, cabbage etc. It is important to remember that in order to get your daily proteins and essential amino acids you need variety of different protein sources in regular places. Variety of different protein sources I mean; tofu/soya, beans (particularly black beans ), peas and sunflowerpumpkin seeds etc. These should all be part of healthy and balanced meat/dairy-free, or in fact any kind of, diet.

That's all from me

[Yofy]

We just had dinner with some friends yesterday and she made this really tasty salad with kelp and cabbage... honestly everybody liked it even non vegetarians. That reminded me that kelp is such a good source of minerals. Its easy to store and rehydrates with just a little water.
Robyn