Philosophical Vegan Forum

wfatheist wrote: I'm from NJ, Marlton NJ to be exact. I have a really low budget 2-3 bucks a meal would be great.

Oh, no, I meant I usually budget for 2-3 bucks a day. About a dollar a meal.

If you've got $6 a day, that's easy.

There's a site called nuts dot com that's pretty popular, although I'd comparison shop a little.
I have to go at the moment, I'll try to check near you later to see if there are any good bulk or Asian stores; those can be great for some cheap supplies.

TVP (or TSP) is one of the easiest non-perishables you can buy. Usually from a bulk or health food store. It's cheap, and you just rehydrate it with something that tastes good (the TVP itself is flavorless protein fluff, kind of like ground meat).
It's not the most healthy protein source (the most healthy is probably tempeh), but it's a lot better than animal protein and it's super convenient.

If you can, buy some tempeh to try. It's popular to marinate it and then stir-fry. It's expensive to buy so I never do, but it's cheap to make. If you like it, and you want to go for the most healthy (and zero-gas) protein source available, I can set you on the right track to make it yourself.

wfatheist wrote:I am a little bit more extreme in my atheist views than most so I won't be buying the bread the VA suggested.

I understand what you mean. There may be some secular brands around now. I'll have a look later to see what's available. Or maybe somebody will beat me to it. The other thing that's useful is corn tortillas, which are really cheap and convenient to roll things up in for portability.

wfatheist wrote:I did mention inconsistent data as far as "scientific studies" when it came to meat vs vegan diets,

Most studies are just poorly designed. It's really hard to control for variables in human diet, so there will always be outliers. The overall tide of evidence is moving in the same direction though.

Check out that site for nuts -- they also have dried fruits and things like that if you like those -- and I'll check into your local area tomorrow or later today and get back to you with ideas.

OK, so there is one popular secular brand I found (I think I've tried it before):

http://www.daveskillerbread.com/

All but one is vegan -- the honey one. Of course, you can make up your own mind about honey (it's not as huge an issue as meat and dairy/eggs), I suspect over-harvesting of honey may be link to Colony collapse, but that's still unknown. Since honey is probably less healthy than high fructose corn syrup and may be harmful to bees/the environment, I recommend avoiding it when convenient (but if it's in something and you're hungry, don't go hungry to avoid a little honey).

Anyway, it IS available in NJ, but as far as I can find, only toward the north side of the state. It's not available in Pennsylvania. If you head North for any reason, I'd suggest picking up a few loafs there.

I would not recommend buying bread online. It's too bulky, so shipping is absurdly expensive compared to the price of the product.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/50829 ... in-breads/

This suggests that whole foods might have a brand of sprouted grain bread, but I don't think I've ever seen it.
I wouldn't recommend making your own bread; it's good and cheaper, but takes a long time and a bit of practice to get right. Unless you're making it for more people (like a whole family, or even sharing with friends and neighbors) it's probably not worth the effort.

There's a Whole Foods Market near by:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/marlton

940 Route 73 North
Marlton, NJ 08053

P: 856.797.1115

I would suggest you call them to confirm if they have TVP, textured vegetable protein, in bulk. If they only have it in brand name packages, those are usually unreasonably expensive.

For other shops, it looks like you'd have to get closer to Philadelphia. But you should be able to find any specialty stuff you need at the Whole Foods. I tend to stick to the bulk section, because most packaged goods are pricey.