BristolUK

No, just Dollarama and Great Canadian Dollar Store

caretaker

I stand corrected, though it was more of a question and as you say not something I've ever made.
Groceries

scrubbedexpat091

Groceries are getting stupidly expensive.

If on sale, cheaper to buy frozen then trying to make something from scratch. I don't like beans or potatoes so not my cup of tea, can't make those taste good....lol

spouse of scouse

Spray a non stick frypan with an oil spray, or use a couple of tablespoons of oil from nuts or seeds (olive, sunflower etc). Saute some onions until they're soft. Parboil or microwave some spuds until nearly cooked. Slice up the spuds and add them to the frypan with a little water and salt (or use chicken or vegetable stock). Simmer until the spuds are cooked right through. Delicious!

spouse of scouse

Parboil spuds with a little salt until a skewer/knife goes through them but they're not mushy. Cut into chips. Put chips on an oven tray sprayed with oil, or mix chips on the tray with a couple of tablespoons of oil. Bake until crisp, turning once or twice. Also delish!

spouse of scouse

Cook spuds until soft. Mash well with a little butter. Pipe or spoon small mounds onto a sprayed or greased oven tray. Bake in a pre-heated oven until golden on the outside. Yum!

caretaker

Or, if you don't like potatoes, you can have something else. There are probably people out there who don't like fries but eat them just for the sea salt, malted vinegar, and ketchup... but I don't think there are too many. I knew a lady who was a vegetarian but still liked bbq'd hotdogs in the summer. She said, "The wieners themselves are disgusting, but they're the perfect vehicle for mustard and fried onions."
Yesterday's holiday purchase was a ring of maple-walnut sausage from Ukranian Co-op, only available at Christmas.

spouse of scouse

Wonder why she didn't just use 'meat substitute' hotdogs? Have seen a couple of instances like this, one was a house guest who very firmly told me she was strictly vegetarian, so I spent ages looking up recipes and buying ingredients for vege meals. Was running these by her the day she arrived to make sure they were ok for her, when she told me in a very off-hand way that she does eat chicken and fish

Another house guest (at another time) was lactose-intolerant, so I did the right thing and got in lactose free 'dairy' products. We were out for a stroll and passed an ice-cream van - she bought a whopping great double scoop. Flipping hell people, eat what you like but don't stuff me around.

caretaker

Because she liked food, and that stuff is terrible. People don't try to pass meat off as a vegetable, and they shouldn't try the reverse. Those cured Chinese sausages that contain only fat, salt, sugar, and alcohol are super tasty, and unhealthy as anything, but Mongolians slice them up and put them in salad. Like their soups and stews, they make a fairly robust salad.

spouse of scouse

Weiners can't be called food

BristolUK

I have raw onions in mine but it's really the ketchup and mustard together that make them good.
Aside from Belgian biscuits, xmas cake bricks and holly decorations on Sobeys Eclairs, there's really not much in the way of different stuff appearing at xmas here. Even the Vachon yule logs are missing this year. No different pates, other than foie gras.

Not sure I've had those. Some meat substitutes are better than others. No surprise there I suppose. The Yves brand here is quite good for "ground meat" but their veggie burgers, like many, are acceptable if you have a meat version with it or baked beans to help with the dryness.

I used to buy Sosmix back in England. That was quite good but really needed frying. There was a ready made vegetarian meatloaf that was pretty good.

We're not allowed Quorn here which is a shame.

spouse of scouse

To be honest I've never eaten any of them, I'm a carnivore through and through. If it was a choice between a hotdog and a meat substitute though, I'd probably take the latter. At least I could be pretty sure there were no pig's snouts and cow eyes in there

BristolUK

Me too. My stepdaughter really should be a vegetarian - she has all the other 'stereotypical' attributes normally associated - but she just likes the taste of meat too much.

However, occasionally I do feel that sometimes we've had too much red meat. Just having the veg doesn't seem right so a good meat substitute would be useful. Of course there's always pasta and seafood. A spagbol made with the Yves stuff is very good.

scrubbedexpat091

The beyond meat brand (other then A&W) not sure its available in Canada, is pretty good for being a non-meat product. Better then what the typical non-meat products taste like.

Partially discharged

There is assimilation into aspects of Canadian culture but noticing Vachon yule logs and their presence or absence is taking it too far

https://themanatee.net/vachon-yule-l...-obesity-rate/