DIY Vegan

The single most thing that has saved me more money than I can fathom, is making my own vegan staples. The first thing I realized I could make was seitan (for those of you who may be new to seitan, it's a meat substitute made from wheat gluten). You can find a seitan recipe almost anywhere online and practically every cookbook has their own version. I've included the first seitan recipe I used, and it's the one I still use today.

A few words on making your own seitan.
-Vital wheat gluten/wheat gluten/wheat gluten flour, it's one in the same. Wheat gluten flour is simply a wheat flour with lots of protein in it, that's what gives seitan it's meaty texture. It's one of the few things you absolutely can't substitute for something else.
-I try not to do too much shopping in health food stores as they are more expensive and I like to do all my shopping at one place, so I tend to go to the popular mega stores and places that offer great rewards and coupons, but sometimes you can't find vital wheat gluten there. I'm lucky enough that my local Fred Meyers has started carrying it in bulk (which is always the cheapest way to go) if they didn't carry it, I would have asked if I could make special orders for it which usually doesn't cost anything as long as you pick it up at the store.
-Whether your recipe calls for you to boil or steam your seitan, it will expand, and the more it expands the more porous and spong like it gets. If you first wrap your seitan in foil or cheesecloth, you'll get a denser "meat" but it will produce less volume. I choose to take the happy medium and very loosely wrap the seitan in foil, giving it room to expand, but not enough as to start getting too porous.

Bulk Seitan
From the cookbook Vegan With A Vengeance

1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 cup cold vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane grater

For the simmering broth: 
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
1/4 cup soy sauce

Fill a stock pot with the water, broth and soy sauce, cover and bring to a boil.

In the mean time, in a large bowl mix together gluten and yeast.  In a smaller bowl mix together broth, soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Pour the wet into the dry and combine with a wooden spoon until most of the moisture has absorbed and partially clumped up with the dry ingredients. Use your hands and knead for about 3 minutes, until it’s an elastic dough. Divide into 3 equal pieces with a knife and then knead those pieces in your hand just to stretch them out a bit. Let rest until the broth has come to a full boil.

Once boiling, lower the heat to a simmer. Add the gluten pieces and partially cover pot so that steam can escape. Let simmer for 45 minutes, turning occasionally. Turn the heat off and take the lid off, let sit for 15 minutes.

Remove from broth and place in a strainer until it is cool enough to handle. Slice and use as desired.

This recipe makes a ton of "meat" which I fry, bake, batter, and even toss in a food processor to make "ground beef". Once you're comfortable with making your own seitan, google more recipes. Each week my husband makes hamburgers, sausages, lunch meat, and generic meat for random recipes. Sometimes I wrap the seitan dough in foil before I boil it and it makes a denser (yet smaller) seitan if I need something like turkey slices.

Cheap: If you want to further flavor your seitan, you can buy mock chicken broth mixes and bouillon cubes.

Cheaper: Use different seasoning already in your cupboard like cumin, smoked paprika, or thyme.

Cheapest: I've found that Top Ramen oriental flavor is vegan. We use the noodles in other recipes but I save the packets and flavor seitan with it, it gives the seitan sort of a beefy flavor.