Beans n Taters

It seems like just about the time something drops off of the PREVIOUS POSTS section over there on the left hand side of the screen, I start getting a hankerin' for it again. Therefore, today's lunch is Beans n Taters, once more from a couple of cans of pinto beans and great northern beans. I know I should, and probably will, start cooking beans from scratch so I can control, well actually eliminate, the high sodium content. But I've still got quite a few cans in the pantry though that I need to use up, so it will most likely be a few more meals before I start preparing this meal from scratch. Speaking of dried beans, most of you probably already know about this website, but just in case you don't, I highly recommend the Bulk Foods website. They have everything like beans, nuts, spices, etc. Just about anything that you would find in the bulk bins at the health food store. Their prices are very good, especially compared to small local health food stores. Sometimes you might have to really go up in quantity to see a substantial discount from buying it local, but depending on how much of a certain item you use, it might be worth it.

The red container holds some potatoes fried up in a skillet with onions, No-Salt, pepper and rosemary. Then the small containers are filled with some sauerkraut and a piece of vegan cornbread. I had to chop the end of it off to get it to fit in the container, and even then it was sticking up a little bit too high. The cornbread is to crumble on my beans though, so when I closed the lunchbox lid I didn't worry about squashing it a little bit.

I don't guess there's too much more to say about this meal. I've had it before on here and there's not really anything complicated about. So, to finish today's post let me throw an idea out there and see what you guys & gals think about it...

Since my website is geared toward adult vegans trying to eat vegan for lunch every day at work, I was thinking about maybe doing a fast food challenge one week where I eat out at major chain restaurants every day and document the few vegan options that are out there. On the one hand, I think this would be a good idea because I know I have found myself stranded in a fast food restaurant for lunch for one reason or another and have lamented over what to get because I wasn't adequately prepared to eat there. I have also spent countless hours on the internet reading up about the various limited choices at most restaurants. So I think a week of documented fast-food choices might come in handy for some people.

On the other hand, I think it is a bad idea because we all know that most of that stuff is really not that good for you. There is also the issue of even supporting the companies that produce this food because of the enormous amounts of animal suffering & death that they are responsible for. So then you get into the whole "don't support them at all" vs "how else will they ever change and offer more vegetarian & vegan options if people don't ask for it and order it" argument.

Moral arguments aside, I do find myself occasionally resorting to fast food for a meal because of travel, or some change in schedule that makes preparing or consuming a homemade vegan meal impossible. I think a week of posts discussing vegan options from some "mainstream" restaurants might be handy for some people new to veganism (like myself) or those considering it and wondering if they'll ever be able to eat out with their friends ever again.

What do you all think? If I did do it, the first challenge, of course, would be to come up with 5 restaurants to eat at. There are a couple, which shall remain nameless, that I most certainly will not eat at simply because of their track records on animal treatment and continuously offering, for lack of better word, crap. There are some places though, that really do have a few semi-healthy vegan options, and I think it might be good to document them and get the word out about them.

I don't know. I can see both sides of the argument. Plus, I don't know if I should really do it all in one week, or just spread it out like I do eating at local restaurants with a visit to a fast food place just every now and then. That would probably make more sense. I guess I'll just continue to think about it, and see what everybody here thinks.

Thanks for checking in today. See everybody on Wednesday!