frances 21 posts Jan 29, 2009 10:01 AM	two ?'s, actually. their organic/chemical-free tvp, besides not being a whole food, do you have any misgivings about using it? i mean, i'm not going to eat it everyday or anything, but i was thinking about buying some and we'd eat more of it than we have been eating. (which is like, once/month, fall/winter, in your chili! :) i'd like to order their bulk quantity, but don't want to "waste" shipping on the sample pack, to see what "small" and "medium" bits are - do you have a ballpark estimate? like which size is closer to, say, bob's red mill tvp? thanks! ~frances (why are we showing up as "guest" on that other post?)
Bryanna Owner/Moderator 2430 posts Jan 29, 2009 12:30 PM	Don't know why that "guest" thing showed up! Weird! I'm going to ask the website server. I had a similar question on the vegsource forum yesterday. Here's part of my answer: I have no problem with it, as part of a varied diet using lots of beans, vegetables, fruits, nut, seeds, etc. Textured vegetable protein (TVP®, BTW, is the same thing, but it is a registered brand name, and is also the same thing as "textured vegetable protein" or TSP) is a low-fat, inexpensive dry product, used as a meat substitute. It is NOT the same thing as "hydrolized plant protein" or "soy isolate", and contains no MSG or other additives. It is made from de-fatted soy flour, cooked with water under pressure, then extruded through machinery to make granules, chunks, cutlets, etc.; then dehydrated. It has the advantage of being chewier and lower in fat than tofu, and can take the place of frozen tofu in many recipes. Even if you object to the use of meat alternates on a regular basis, it makes a great transitional food for people who are accustomed to eating meat and, despite the best of motives and intentions, miss those familiar flavors and, especially, textures. I have had great success in serving textured vegetable protein dishes to non-vegetarians. I don't really recall the difference in sizes. I get the small bits here is Canada. Maybe the best way to tell is to initially order the organic TVP sample pack with 1 lb. of each small and medium: http://healthy-eating.com/texturedsoy.html#Organic Sample Pack Frontier Co-op also has unflavored organic textured soy protein in three different bag sizes. http://www.frontiercoop.com/dspCmnPrd.php? p=p&cn=Soy%20Textured%20Protein&ct=dfmsf Last Edited on 29-Jan-2009 12:30 PM
frances 22 posts Jan 29, 2009 1:00 PM	i bet, even now that i reply, it'll still say "guest" - that is weird! (esp. since guests can't even post). i just ordered soy curls, btw and told Dan you introduced them to me (when he wanted to know if i'd had them before). don't know about in canada but in the usa (around DC, anyway), prices on stuff like Morningstar strips have almost doubled lately - nearly $6/8oz - that's insane. but, maybe i should get the sample pack ... it just occurred to me that 1 pound of tvp might take up a lot more space than i'm thinking, so the sample would give me an idea about bit-size as well as "how big would a 20lb box be". :)
Bryanna Owner/Moderator 2431 posts Jan 29, 2009 2:54 PM	Good thinking! Yes, I find the ready-made strips very expensive! The bulk Soy Curls are a great buy, about $3.82 Cnd per lb.-- they last us a long time! Citymax says they are fixing the problem of the names!
frances 23 posts Jan 29, 2009 6:54 PM	hey, they fixed the names - good customer service!! :) yeah, i'm a little worried about how we'll use up the soy curls ... we'll eat a lot of them (with all those yummy VF recipes of yours! :)

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