9 Essential Picnic Foods: From Deli Salads to Desserts

From vegnews.com

From drinks to dips and desserts to deli salads, pack your picnic basket with these grab-and-go vegan items

We’re taking al fresco dining to another level by packing a picnic for the park. You could put in a lot of prep work and make all of your plant-based bites from scratch, but sometimes, you just get the spontaneous urge to enjoy a picnic with friends. For the days when nice weather beckons you outside, turn to pre-made vegan goods and get on with your picnic. We prefer the latter option. Grab your blanket and your basket and stock up on these nine tasty, vegan products.

JUMP TO THE FOODS

What do vegans take on a picnic?

With more vegan products on the market than ever before, there are numerous snack options, spanning from fresh fruit to packaged vegan goods, to take on a picnic. Seriously, from Trader Joe’s to Walmart to Whole Foods, the shelves are packed with tasty plant-based options. But if you’re having trouble narrowing it down, here are some of our top vegan picnic suggestions. 

Pack these 9 vegan foods for your next picnic

From dips to dessert, these pre-made, plant-based foods will make picnic prep a breeze.

@the_tofurky_company/Instagram

1Vegan deli slices

Back in the day, vegan meats were passable in a sandwich but avoided on their own. Today, these products are so good we eat them as a protein-heavy snack. Try Tofurky Deli Slices in Hickory Smoked and Peppered or Unreal Deli’s Roasted Turk’y, Corn’d Beef, and Steak Slices.

@glutenfreecharlotte/Instagram

2Cupcakes

Cake typically does not travel well—the frosting makes any journey a perilous one as it’s prone to melting or becoming smushed by even the slightest pressure in your picnic basket. The solution: individually packaged store-bought cupcakes and cake bites.

From Better Bites Bakery to Just Desserts, you can find several options of carefully contained vegan treats at your local grocer. Try the Better Bites Lil’ Mo Cupcakes (Hostess cupcake analogues) or Rubicon Bakers’ single-serve vegan cupcakes in chocolate and Neopolitan flavors. Vegan muffin brand Abe’s has also gotten in on the cupcake game. For larger gathering, grab a 12-count box of Abe’s chocolate or vanilla cupcakes.

La Colombe

3 Canned cold brews 

The sun is beating down and it’s high time for that afternoon slump, but you can side-step the drowsiness with a single-serving cold brew or canned latte. La Colombe makes creamy and frothy oat milk lattes in a sweet Vanilla flavour and extra-strength Double variety. Check out more of our favorite caffeine kicks here, then down one right before round two of your pick-up picnic frisbee game.

Rabbit Hole Foods

4Vegan deli salads

Yep, the grocery store has deli salad covered, too, and you don’t have to go to the hot bar for it. Check out your local market’s refrigerated premade meal section for an array of plant-based deli salads. Most Whole Foods locations now stock Rabbit Hole Foods’ classic deli salads. Choose from Un-Egg, Un-Tuna, Un-Crab, and Spinachoke Dip. 

@urbanremedy/Instagram

5Premade wraps

Grocery stores equipped with prepared food sections are stepping up their vegan game, and now you can find several grab-and-go options in the refrigerated meal section. Scan the shelves of your local Whole Foods for Urban Remedy’s Upbeet Vegan Cheeseburger Wrap (yes, it’s good cold). Trader Joe’s also offers the Veggie Wrap With Hummus, which is a healthy, nourishing option guaranteed to keep you going. Pair your handheld meal with a bag of cotton candy grapes and you’re set for the afternoon. 

Treeline

6Dips

Is it a picnic without at least one dip? Doubtful. Grab a bag of chips or crudité and pair them with Kite Hill’s Queso or Spinach Artichoke dip. If you’re going for a slightly more upscale outdoor experience, create an al fresco cheeseboard. Miyoko’s Roadhouse Cheddar and Treeline’s Soft French-Style Nut Cheeses both come in convenient tubs you can pack in your basket or cooler. Fend off double-dip villains by giving each picnic partner their own knife.

Snacklins

7Chips

You need a crunchy vessel for those dips, and carrot sticks and celery don’t always satisfy like a chip. Gluten-sensitive or intolerant picnickers should grab a box of Simple Mills’ Organic Seed or Almond Flour crackers (avoid the cheddar varieties) to dip to their heart’s delight. Run out of dip? Snacklins’ Plant Crisps, and Vegan Rob’s puffs all itch that crunchy-salty craving and are best served straight from the bag and into your mouth.

Partake Foods

8Cookies

Cookies make for the perfect picnic dessert. We love Parktake Foods, Maxine’s Heavenly, Lenny & Larry’s, and Rule Breaker Snacks (the latter is more of a brownie than a cookie, but these chickpea-based treats are too delightful to exclude).

Healthade

9Kombucha

Alcohol may not be allowed at the park, but there’s nothing prohibiting kombucha. Humm, Rowdy Mermaid, Boochcraft, Brew Dr., and Health-Ade all make seasonal, fruit-forward flavors. Cheers to the perfect picnic with no prep required.

https://vegnews.com/products/essential-vegan-products-picnic

You’d Never Know These 7 Hot Dogs Are 100 Percent Meat-Free

From vegnews.com

Turn up the grill and get barbecue ready with the best vegan hot dogs and sausages

 While classic barbecue fare is undoubtedly meat-centric, there’s a plant-based counterpart (or two, or three …) for just about anything you could want at an outdoor grill sesh that’s good enough to tempt even the most veg-avoidant of barbecue guests. With so many options on the market, you might not know where to start, so we’re here to help you out. So, let’s talk about one that’s very near and dear to our hearts: hot dogs. 

JUMP TO THE HOT DOGS

Originating from Germany, food historians have traced the hot dog’s arrival in the United States to immigrants in the late 1800s. Affordable and convenient to eat on the way home, or during a day out on the town, they were quickly adopted as a food of the working class, sold by vendors from street carts on the sidewalk and at baseball games. 

Traditionally, hot dogs are made from the trimmings of chicken, pork, or beef. But these days, there are several vegan versions on the market—even IKEA makes one, which you can pick up at the food court. We picked the best of them, plus we threw in our favourite plant-based sausages, too, because we’re all about options.

Are hot dog buns vegan?

What would hot dogs be without the bun? Thankfully, you can find a lot of different kinds of vegan bread at the grocery store, but there are also several brands that use animal-derived ingredients in their hot dog buns. 

In general, milk and butter are the most common non-vegan ingredients you’ll find in store-bought hot dog buns. But, some options, the gluten-free ones, in particular, may contain eggs. 

It’s also not uncommon to find honey in commercial bread, so be sure to read the ingredients list before purchasing anything. Some vegan hot dog bun options include Food For Life’s Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Hot Dog Buns, Arnold Country Potato Hot Dog Rolls, and 365 Classic White Hot Dog Buns.

Vegan hot dogs and sausages 

Reach for these meatless hot dogs and sausages while shopping for your next cookout. 

Beyond Meat

1Beyond Sausage

When Beyond Meat dropped its line of Beyond Sausages back in December 2017, we were ready. Made to taste like conventional pork sausage, these meaty links are crafted from a blend of pea and rice protein, plus coconut oil to deliver on juiciness. Plus, they’re wrapped in an algae-derived casing so you get that satisfying snap when you bite into one. The Beyond Sausage comes in three flavours: Brat Original, Hot Italian, and Sweet Italian all of which would be a welcome addition to your grill.
FIND IT HERE

Impossible Foods

2Impossible Hot Dogs

At the end of 2023, vegan meat giant Impossible Foods unveiled its newest product: plant-based hot dogs. The plant-based hot dogs boast that classic snap characteristic of beef- and pork-based dogs. Plus, they contain 50-percent less saturated fat and double the protein (12 grams per serving) than their animal-derived counterpart. But if you prefer bratwursts over hot dogs, Impossible also offers plant-based brats. 
FIND IT HERE

Field Roast

3Field Roast

The artisan vegan meat-makers at Field Roast have nailed the experience of eating a conventional hot dog, without the pork or questionable ingredients. The brand makes two kinds of hot dogs: the Stadium Dog and the Classic Smoked Frankfurters. The former is made from a blend of pea protein, vital wheat gluten, brown rice protein, and faba bean protein and infused with smoked sugar, plus garlic, pepper, and paprika for that classic ballpark flavour. Meanwhile, the latter is made from vital wheat gluten for that extra-meaty taste, and it sizzles beautifully on the grill. Pass the mustard, please!
FIND IT HERE

Lightlife

4Lightlife

For a vegan hot dog that’s tried-and-true, look no further than Lightlife’s Jumbo Smart Dogs. Lightlife launched its iconic Smart Dogs back in 1993, the year of the original Jurassic Park and Free Willy. So, in terms of plant-based meat, they’ve stood the test of time. These vegan hot dogs are made from soy protein and deliver on that classic hot dog flavour that channels childhood backyard barbecues. Plus, Lightlife is a carbon-neutral company. Delicious and sustainable? That’s a win-win.
FIND IT HERE

Tofurky

5Tofurky

Variety is the spice of life, so they say. Old-school vegan brand Tofurky makes three flavours of plant-based sausage that’ll be right at home with all of the barbecue fixings. Serve their Beer Brats with sauerkraut and mustard, the Kielbasa with sauerkraut and quick-pickled red cabbage, and the Italian with grilled peppers and onions to make everyone at the barbecue very, very happy.
FIND IT HERE

MorningStar Farms

6MorningStar Farms

MorningStar Farms’ Veggie Dogs are a total nostalgia-fest for a lot of long-time vegans and vegetarians. Made from wheat gluten, they taste just like a classic American hot dog, with a savoury flavour and underlying sweetness, courtesy of a dash of brown sugar. Serve them alongside classic barbecue sides like corn-on-the-cob, vegan potato salad, baked beans, and collard greens.
FIND IT HERE

The Kraft Heinz Not Company

7Oscar Mayer Plant-Based Hot Dogs

Earlier this year, Oscar Mayer shocked the world when it unveiled its latest launch: plant-based hot dogs! The vegan dogs are the newest product from The Kraft Heinz Not Company, a joined venture between plant-based food tech company NotCo and Kraft Heinz, the parent company of Oscar Mayer. While these hot dogs aren’t available in stores just yet, we’ve sampled them at trade shows, and trust us, you’ll want to keep an eye out for them later this year. 
LEARN MORE HERE

https://vegnews.com/products/vegan-hot-dogs-and-sausages-barbecue

This new Aldi product is making vegan Thanksgiving easy

From mashed.com

Thanksgiving gives us the perfect excuse to get together with friends and family and eat until we're so stuffed we can no longer move. While many of us look forward to the turkey centrepiece at each feast, vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, and anyone looking to avoid meat during the holiday season often feels the strain of passing up some of the festive cheer. The appeal of meatless turkey has caught on over the years, and the numbers don't lie. According to Fortune, the meat-alternative brand Tofurky has sold over 5 million of their Thanksgiving roasts as of 2018. With this kind of mass appreciation for turkey alternatives, it's high time some new competition stepped in. Luckily, those meat-free Thanksgiving prayers have now been answered.

Enter Earth Grown Vegan's Meatless Turkey Breast, a meat-free turkey product that can accommodate even the strictest vegan diet. According to Instagram user @aldi.mademedoit, this easy turkey substitute has officially hit Aldi stores just in time for our pre-Thanksgiving meal planning — talk about perfect timing. If you'd like to try this meat alternative, we recommend hurrying over to your nearest Aldi as soon as possible; every store may not carry the product and when supplies run out, Earth Grown Vegan's Meatless Turkey Breasts may not return (via Aldi).

Why you should give Aldi's Meatless Turkey Breast a try
    
    If you do manage to get your hands on Earth Grown Vegan's Meatless Turkey Breast, you can plan on having a much more relaxing holiday. According to The Kitchn, it takes 24 hours to thaw a 5 pound bird. You want to buy a turkey that weighs at least one pound per person you're cooking for, so assuming you still need to feed a small crowd this year, you have to spend around two days simply thawing the meat before you can even think of putting the poultry in your oven. Factor in any time spent dressing and basting your bird, preparing additional sides, and cooking almost everything in the oven, and you might end up spending the entire day in the kitchen instead of relaxing with loved ones.

When you compare the traditional turkey cooking process to Earth Grown Vegan's product, the differences seem like night and day. Instead of slaving away in the kitchen for days leading up to the holidays, the meal takes far less time to prepare and could even be warmed up in a microwave (according to one review on abillonveg) if you are really pressed for time. Don't forget about your non-meat eating friends and family this holiday season and have an inclusive celebration with this festive Aldi product.

https://www.mashed.com/279640/this-new-aldi-product-is-making-vegan-thanksgiving-easy/

Talking Tofurky: Vegan Thanksgiving’s Undeniable Influence On Today’s Plant-Based Foods

From forbes.com

It’s hard to imagine a faux meat more infamous than the Tofurky. Its creation dates back to the 1990s, when a small Oregon-based tempeh maker made a fateful delivery to one of his clients, a husband and wife vegetarian catering team known for their delicious tofu roasts. The three decided to combine forces and devise something new: a tofu roast surrounded by “drumsticks” made of tempeh. Seth Tibbott, the tempeh maker, pushed for the cheeky name and, voila, the first commercialized Tofurky was born. While it didn’t taste much like meat, this notorious vegan dish has had an undeniable influence on the plant-based foods of today.

“Tofurky deserves credit for getting the ball rolling on meat alternatives as we think of them now,” says Jan Dutkiewicz. Dutkiewicz is a visiting fellow at Oxford University where he’s researching the future of food. He’s traced the path from Tofurky to today’s plant-based burgers and even tomorrow’s cultured meat in a new video produced by Johns Hopkins University, where he is also a fellow.

This well-known vegetarian roast wasn’t the first plant-based protein, of course, but it was definitely something new. “It gave a lot of people a first taste, literally and conceptually, of meat alternatives…[something different than] soy and tempeh and seitan and quorn—” not that there’s anything wrong with those old vegan stalwarts, of course. But with the Tofurky, says Dutkiewicz, “we can actually have a [meat] facsimile.” And not just any meat, either. Tofurky could conceivably serve as the centrepiece of the meal, at least for one day a year.

                                           Tofu Turkey served for Thanksgiving dinner  Getty

By 2000, according to a New Yorker profile by Jonathan Kauffman, the Tofurky had become a sensation, even if some of the attention it received was derisive. The Tofurky was the beginning of a shift, says Dutkiewicz. The company dared to take on something as “culturally central” as the turkey on Thanksgiving, and it did so with a humorous, “self-mocking” name that says “we’re just happy to have a seat at the table,” he says. 

Decades later, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat took aim at a different kind of culturally central meat with its better-tasting plant-based burgers that were unlike anything the world has ever seen. “The burger is central to a certain kind of American identity,” Dutkiewicz says. It’s quintessential Americana and pure comfort food, the kind of meal that can be enjoyed on the cheap or in much fancier form at a high-end burger bar.

There are plenty of reasons to go after beef too, says Dutkiewicz. “Cows...are the most environmentally unfriendly animals to raise,” he says, “[with] massive requirements in terms of land use [and] water.” Cows and other ruminant animals are also associated with much higher greenhouse gas emissions than other animal proteins, making them a contributor to climate change.

Unlike the Tofurky, however, today’s plant-based burgers are engineered to taste more like meat. “The Tofurky was not a good facsimile,” says Dutkiewicz, “[and that’s because] you know you’re eating a Tofurky.” And traditional veggie burgers aren’t great facsimiles either. “A lot of burger alternatives are not very good,” he adds.

Plenty of vegetarians and vegans disagree with that assessment, of course, with some even lamenting what seems to be the inevitable disappearance of the traditional veggie burger. But whatever you think of old school vegan patties, they weren’t winning over meat eaters, which is the primary motivation of today’s plant-based food industry.

If the aim is to get omnivores eating less beef, the replacement has to be able to compete with beef on taste, price and convenience, the primary drivers of consumption. “They’re trying to replicate [beef] as closely as possible and they’ve come really damn close,” says Dutkiewicz.

“They’ve also been unapologetic in their marketing,” he adds. “Not even Tofurkey said ‘we’re meat.’ Tofurkey said, we’re like this funny little ball that you can eat, whereas Beyond and Impossible have been unapologetic” in calling their products meat that happens to also be made from plants.
In addition to selling their product alongside meat at the grocery store and beef at Burger King, today’s plant-based companies “are also fighting [a] linguistic and discursive battle [against] the meat industry,” Dutkiewicz argues. The meat industry often calls these foods fake meat, but Dutkiewicz counters that nothing about meat requires a slaughtered animal.

That linguistic battle is also a legal one, with legislation pending in several states to restrict use of the word meat to only the kind that has been traditionally farmed and slaughtered. And these battles aren’t just aimed at companies like Beyond and Impossible, the ones who make meat from plant-based ingredients. “It's [also] clearly an opening salvo in what’s going to be the war over what cellular agricultural products get to be called,” Dutkiewicz says.

Cellular agricultural products, otherwise known as cultured meat, are proteins that are grown from animal cells taken from a living animal rather than one that has been slaughtered and butchered. None of these proteins are on the market or even approved for commercialization by any government regulatory agencies, but the companies working on these foods are definitely getting closer to a release date.

When cultured proteins do hit the market in the next couple of years, they’ll probably first be offered at restaurants, and likely in ground form like a chicken nugget or a burger, probably mixed with plant-based proteins to improve the texture and lower the price. Once these meats become cheaper and more commonplace, however, cultured meat could usher in a new way of thinking about animal proteins.

If cultured proteins become the norm, what will dinner tables look like on holidays that have historically featured a whole cooked animal like Thanksgiving? That depends. Cultured meat scientists could conceivable grow an entire turkey roast with bones, says Dutkiewicz, but they probably wouldn’t bother. On the other hand, they might include a bone or two made out of something else.

Consider Bistro In Vitro, a project that brought together a team of chefs to imagine meat dishes made with cultured meat — including cultured meat sashimi presented like origami and a dish featuring the word “meat” knitted out of spools of ground hamburger. These dishes are all imagined, of course, but the idea is to get you thinking about what could someday be possible.

There’s a dish on the menu called “Bone Pickers,” for example, which features cultured meat grown onto a scaffolding of “bone,” a nod to what the chefs describe as the satisfying eating experience of gnawing at meat. The Thanksgiving dinner of the future might feature something similar, maybe a ceremonial wishbone or a turkey grown into the shape of a drumstick, or a fall leaf or a roast. Heck, there’s even a chance it could end up looking kind of like a Tofurky. In that case, please pass the tempeh.  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysplitter/2019/11/24/this-vegan-thanksgiving-staple-had-an-undeniable-influence-todays-plant-based-foods/#26b032d0f48a