# Storing and using TVP



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

TVP (textured vegetable protein) is not something I have used or stored in the past, so I bought a small bag from Bob's Red Mill and have been using it to see how we like it. Then, I read an article (trying to find it again to post a link) about how it's made and the process can leave aluminum in it and that it's not a healthy product due to that.

From what little of it we've used, so far it's ok, takes on the taste of what it's cooked with and could sure stretch a meal and add protein in a pinch.

I'm just looking for thoughts and opinions. Due you store and use TVP?


----------



## Space Cowboy (Apr 26, 2008)

Yes I do store it. Mix it with mac and cheese (ham) or in spaghetti (hamburger). does it taste great? Not so much. Textures a bit off also. It does provide excellent protein and if you had to share/stretch a meal , thats the way to do it. I did try the various types for over a year.

SC


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

On Mondays, I cook up enough oatmeal for my breakfasts for the week. I added some TVP and it tastes fine in that. Added some to a meatloaf, that was good, too.


----------



## Guest (Dec 21, 2010)

Can't abide the stuff myself.

But some folks do like it. Properly packaged and kept it can store well.

I highly recommend not storing much of it until _everyone_ who will be having to depend on that food has tried it for a while to be sure they are going to tolerate it OK.

If you change brands try it on them again.


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

We store the unflavored granulated kind. We mostly use it mixed with cereal when we want cereal because it provides the protein we need instead of a bowl of carbs only. I used to make a delicious hot cereal with oatmeal, flax seed, wheat bran and tvp. It really sticks to the ribs compared to cereal alone. We have never used it completely in place of meat but soaked in broth or boullion and mixed with hamburger we couldn't tell the difference. Actually because we live on a farm and have meat we basically store it for the possibility that our meat supply might end. In the meantime we use it for cereal. It is packaged in foil bags and should keep as long as wheat berries would keep as the oil has been removed.


----------



## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Nope. I heartily dislike the stuff. I store home canned meat and lots of dried beans. Cooked beans can be added to many foods to boost the protein and extend the dish.


----------



## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

I store soybeans. Soaked and ground up, they serve the same purpose without being processed -- much more to my liking.


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

I have a husband with diabetes and I mainly store tvp to lower his carb intake if things were to get bad. He isn't going to survive on grains and high carb meals with rice. I can eat that stuff and give him tvp as part of his food to cut down the carbs and still give him good protein. One thing I do know is that we do NOT like any of the flavored products. We have freezers full of meat and fish, all kinds of canned products but this tvp is just backup to our back ups if the more perishable items were to be spoiled. Sort of not placing all of our eggs in any one basket and I like the idea that it is pretty shelf stable just like the grains and beans. We buy in 10# bags at $22 per bag. One serving provides 22 grams of protein and there are 105 servings per bag. That is reasonably priced protein and it isn't loaded with salt like comercially canned meat products. 

Even though we raise chickens we have stored 2 years worth of dehydrated eggs from Honeyville. Again--chickens die and we have a backup. Maybe because of the need to keep the protein in lieu of carbs for the diabetes we prep differently than most people.


----------



## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I'm not diabetic, but have problems keeping my blood sugar up if I don't get enough protein. I still wouldn't eat that stuff.


----------



## JanS (Jul 28, 2002)

We like it. I add it to spaghetti and chili, not too often though since I'm feeding a teen and there are questions about it's hormonal effect. Don't worry much about that for myself. I did not know about the aluminum so will check into that.


----------



## Trixters_muse (Jan 29, 2008)

I finally bought some of the kind that is suppose to be bacon, reminds me of the cheapo "bacon" salad toppings. We have tried it in bean soup, on salads and potatoes, in potatoes and in eggs. I bought some of the hamburger type as well but it was bland, chewy and just not tolerable.

I keep a little around but I think I would rather stick to beans and eggs for protein as long as the buckets don't go empty and the chickens stay productive.


----------



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

I use to use it as a filler, DH never liked it and the kids were too young to care. I stopped when we moved to Hungary and never went back to it. I read things about soy not being good for some people including young girls. It was supposed to increase their estrogen making them "mature" early. I never followed the reports far enough to know if it was determined accurate or not. I think I was 2 studies, but it takes more then 2 studies to be sure of anything. It was all over the news at the time (the news agencies love to latch onto anything "shocking", as this was thought to be at the time).

Maybe in a few years I'll start putting some into LTS, but I haven't found it at a good price (not that I have looked too hard). So for now, I just do hamburger rocks and canned meats.


----------



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Trixters_muse said:


> I finally bought some of the kind that is suppose to be bacon, reminds me of the cheapo "bacon" salad toppings.


That's because those bacon bit are exactly that - bacon flavored TVP. :grin:


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. After reading this, I don't think I'll bother with the stuff after this one little bag I bought. It just isn't that great.
http://www.goldrust.net/tvp.htm


----------



## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

We don't like it either! There are too many other ways to get protein without resorting to something that we didn't like. But it's good to try things just to know if it would work for your family or not. A few years ago I wouldn't have believed you if you told me I'd store quinoa and couscous. Or that I'd be home canning rabbits.


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

I started using quinoa this year. I love that stuff!


----------



## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

I won't have the stuff around. AFAIAC it is bad juju. I won't go into the rant, but I'd eat grasshoppers first.


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Chalk Creek said:


> On Mondays, I cook up enough oatmeal for my breakfasts for the week.


How can I put this nicely? I'll try a simple "Why?" Can see cooking up a big ol casserole, a pot of beans, a side of beef or something, but why cook a pot of oatmeal for the week? Do you store it in the fridge, or in an unheated area (know CO is coldish this time of year!) If I cooked up a pot of oatmeal it'd be either bubbling or green within a few days. Does it thicken up over time...

Of course, I might be missing out on something... and have to try it. (If I get the secret why).
---------------------------------------
back to the op...
Can you raise TVP or make it yourself? If it must be bought, it's a non starter. (I'll not bore you with the free meat again) Have shredded home raised/obtained meat before... dried jerky, shredded down...

I'm happy someone likes tvp... in a free country, we can all choose. I can't imagine living in a State where the State says "thou shalt eat your tvp, and be happy, or off to the gulag with you".


----------



## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

I like tvp, both unflavoured and the flavoured (ham and beef being the best). I buy it already canned for long term storage. I know it's more expensive that way, but it's for back up. I buy the unflavoured from Sun Harvest Farms to put protein into grain mixtures. I'm diabetic and find I can tolerate grains better if protein is mixed in. 
If I were to store the bulk purchased kind, I'd use mylar bags and O2 absorbers.


----------



## Deena in GA (May 11, 2002)

We bought a bucket of unflavored tvp back before y2k and are still using it, lol! I just add some when I make chili or sloppy joe to stretch it out. Nobody even knows it's there.


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

Just curious, Deena, when you run out do you think you would buy more? Do you think you made a good decision when you bought it for storage? A friend bought a whole 5 gallon pail of dehydrated spinach for Y2K and is still eating out of that bucket. LOL She says that next time she will just buy a smaller bucket as there are now fewer people to feed. I am a firm believer in not relying on any one thing and having alot of backups. We will always have tvp stored even though we don't intend to live on it constantly. Isn't that the key? Nothing is good for us if we eat it and nothing else. I have read all of the bad press about soy. I have also read about how horrible butter, steak, bacon, ham, milk, eggs and even cranberries are for us to mention just a few. I eat them all and enjoy them all. One day they are the worst thing on earth and the next day they are considered health foods. A person just has to use common sense.


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

texican said:


> How can I put this nicely? I'll try a simple "Why?" Can see cooking up a big ol casserole, a pot of beans, a side of beef or something, but why cook a pot of oatmeal for the week? Do you store it in the fridge, or in an unheated area (know CO is coldish this time of year!) If I cooked up a pot of oatmeal it'd be either bubbling or green within a few days. Does it thicken up over time...


I cook it up once a week because I prefer it cold. It's not quick oats, but steel cut or whole groats. Often I add wheat berries, quinoa, etc. I add nuts and dried fruit, store it in the fridge. Then I just dish it up like cold cereal, with a shot of real maple syrup and fresh milk. A lot of times I add a cup or so to my bread dough, muffins, or pancakes. It's just handy to have already prepared. It keeps fine and never lasts very long, if I'm baking, it won't last a week.

This week I used a combination of equal amounts of steel cut oats, whole groats, wheat berries, cracked wheat, and quinoa. I added fresh pecans a friend from Texas sent us for Christmas and dried cranberries. Good stuff!!

We raise all of our own meat, I'm just always looking for new things that might be good to add to the larder, for our use, bartering, whatever.


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

cvk said:


> I am a firm believer in not relying on any one thing and having alot of backups. We will always have tvp stored even though we don't intend to live on it constantly. Isn't that the key? Nothing is good for us if we eat it and nothing else. I have read all of the bad press about soy. I have also read about how horrible butter, steak, bacon, ham, milk, eggs and even cranberries are for us to mention just a few. I eat them all and enjoy them all. One day they are the worst thing on earth and the next day they are considered health foods. A person just has to use common sense.


I agree, which is why I was looking into it. I like to store and use a wide variety of foods. But, I have become more sensitive to aluminum over the years and when I read about how much is left in the TVP during processing, I decided I could do without that in my diet.


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

We don't have any sensitivities to aluminum but I never use anything around here for cooking that is aluminum. Have read many bad things about it. Yes, the possibility of aluminum in the tvp is something I don't like to hear at all. I think, that we have to weigh the benifits and the drawbacks. For our situtation, my dh would not survive on carbs, if our meat supply is gone he can not make it on grains and beans. We have to weigh the possibility of aluminum against the drawbacks of no protein. The tvp wins out. In a perfect situation we could count on the chickens, goats and sheep etc. but we prep for times when they might not be available. Now, I have not stored a box car of this stuff but rather just enough that we would have the protein while we try to find another source of protein to sustain us. Basically that is our approach to food storage--something to get us by until we can produce or locate what we need rather than storing things to live on food storage alone for long periods on purpose. Like Deena said that they had a bucket of tvp for Y2K and are still using out of that bucket. Ten years to use up maybe 10 pounds of tvp isn't probably going to pose a toxcitity problem for her while she rotates her supply but that bucket could mean the difference between life and death if it were the only source of protein at the moment. Everybody preps differently and for different reasons.


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

cvk, have I offended you in some way? You seem defensive about this. I'm all for storing what you use and need (or may need at a future time). I just made the decision that based in what I do have stored and my situation that I could better use my money and storage space for something else. If TVP works for you and others, that's wonderful. For myself, I don't want to use money and space on something that I feel is unhealthy _for me_.

If I have misunderstood your meaning, my apologies. I'm just here to share experiences and learn.


----------



## JanS (Jul 28, 2002)

The saying should be changed to "never discuss politics, religion, or soy".


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

Heavens no, why would you feel that you have offended me? I just have my own view and opinions that I am sharing along with my reasons for them. There is no reason on earth that you should eat tvp if you don't want to eat tvp. We eat the stuff and for the reasons that I have shared.


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

"The saying should be changed to "never discuss politics, religion, or soy". I thought we were just having a civil discussion on the pros and cons and our personal views.


----------



## JanS (Jul 28, 2002)

A smilie at the end usually indicates the person was teasing.


----------



## secretcreek (Jan 24, 2010)

cvk said:


> I have a husband with diabetes and I mainly store tvp to lower his carb intake if things were to get bad. He isn't going to survive on grains and high carb meals with rice. I can eat that stuff and give him tvp as part of his food to cut down the carbs and still give him good protein. One thing I do know is that we do NOT like any of the flavored products. We have freezers full of meat and fish, all kinds of canned products but this tvp is just backup to our back ups if the more perishable items were to be spoiled. Sort of not placing all of our eggs in any one basket and I like the idea that it is pretty shelf stable just like the grains and beans. We buy in 10# bags at $22 per bag. One serving provides 22 grams of protein and there are 105 servings per bag. That is reasonably priced protein and it isn't loaded with salt like comercially canned meat products.
> 
> Even though we raise chickens we have stored 2 years worth of dehydrated eggs from Honeyville. Again--chickens die and we have a backup. Maybe because of the need to keep the protein in lieu of carbs for the diabetes we prep differently than most people.


This has been a question/wonder to me. Thanks for the idea to boost protein for a diabetic. My mother is a diabetic and we talked about what she could do to keep her proteins up.

-scrt crk


----------



## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

We use TVP in a variety of dishes (I grew up eating TVP, that's all us kids were allowed while the parents ate real meat after we went to bed) 
I'm now a Vegetarian that could go without ever eating it but my guys want 'meat' texture on Veg night, so we've learned to make it work. (I make an awesome stuffed pasta shell with cream cheese, spinach, TVP and pasta sauce, my guys love it!)

I'd never considered using TVP along with oats, interesting enough to pass on to my diabetic mom.


----------



## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

Chalk Creek, I read the linked page you shared. The way I see it consumers are in the dumps whether they eat TVP or not because if you read food labels GMO Soy is now in everything...nearly. I floors me just how many foodstuffs contain Soy these days, there are things that I wonder why soy is used period, what is it there for, are the producers just adding it to be rid of it, is it a evil plot by the gov. and pharmas? (just like HFCS...why?)


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

JanS said:


> A smilie at the end usually indicates the person was teasing.


 Didn't mean for it to sound any other way.


----------



## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Soy, MSG, gluten and HFCS are the main reasons I cook/bake nearly everything from scratch. As time goes on, I use less and less commercially prepared/processed foods.


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

cvk said:


> Heavens no, why would you feel that you have offended me? I just have my own view and opinions that I am sharing along with my reasons for them. There is no reason on earth that you should eat tvp if you don't want to eat tvp. We eat the stuff and for the reasons that I have shared.


Good! Thanks for sharing your views and experiences.


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

marinemomtatt said:


> Chalk Creek, I read the linked page you shared. The way I see it consumers are in the dumps whether they eat TVP or not because if you read food labels GMO Soy is now in everything...nearly. I floors me just how many foodstuffs contain Soy these days, there are things that I wonder why soy is used period, what is it there for, are the producers just adding it to be rid of it, is it a evil plot by the gov. and pharmas? (just like HFCS...why?)


I agree, I don't trust buying much of anything anymore. Not even organics.


----------



## cvk (Oct 30, 2006)

I couldn't understand the addition of soy to alot of products and then I remembered that the use of soy oil is rampant in our food supply. If it isn't mixed into the food it is probably fried in soy oil. That accounts for the odd places that we find soy in our food products when we can't even begin to imagine using the bean itself or a flour from soy.


----------



## Deena in GA (May 11, 2002)

cvk said:


> Just curious, Deena, when you run out do you think you would buy more? Do you think you made a good decision when you bought it for storage? A friend bought a whole 5 gallon pail of dehydrated spinach for Y2K and is still eating out of that bucket. LOL She says that next time she will just buy a smaller bucket as there are now fewer people to feed. I am a firm believer in not relying on any one thing and having alot of backups. We will always have tvp stored even though we don't intend to live on it constantly. Isn't that the key? Nothing is good for us if we eat it and nothing else. I have read all of the bad press about soy. I have also read about how horrible butter, steak, bacon, ham, milk, eggs and even cranberries are for us to mention just a few. I eat them all and enjoy them all. One day they are the worst thing on earth and the next day they are considered health foods. A person just has to use common sense.


Well, actually we have two buckets of it, and haven't even eaten half of one yet, so it's up for debate as to whether we'll ever run out, lol. If we do, then I sure will buy more. And since we may have to start using more of it, I may well run out sooner than I think. I, too, believe in not relying on any one thing and think multiple backups are good.


----------



## Shooting starz (Mar 27, 2021)

Space Cowboy said:


> Yes I do store it. Mix it with mac and cheese (ham) or in spaghetti (hamburger). does it taste great? Not so much. Textures a bit off also. It does provide excellent protein and if you had to share/stretch a meal , thats the way to do it. I did try the various types for over a year.
> 
> SC





Space Cowboy said:


> Yes I do store it. Mix it with mac and cheese (ham) or in spaghetti (hamburger). does it taste great? Not so much. Textures a bit off also. It does provide excellent protein and if you had to share/stretch a meal , thats the way to do it. I did try the various types for over a year.
> 
> SC


I LOVE TVP. I am Sri lankan, and we call it Soy meat. We flavour it with fried onions and various spices, and it's a great meat replacement. Tastes wonderful like chicken. It really depends on how long you soak it in water. Shorter time will have it chewy like mutton, and longer time will have it softer to chew. You should really try this recipe from youtube that i religiously follow to make mine. 



.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Space Cowboy left the forum over 5 years ago. As for TVP, you can have my share.


----------



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Makes good compost.


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I like it on popcorn


----------

