Vegan food doesn’t always satisfy our expectations, if we’re accustomed to eating food made with animal products. To that end, here’s some advice on feeling better about eating plant-based foods, even if the majority of your diet isn’t plant-based. A lot of people can benefit from a Meatless Monday.

The first, and probably most important thing, is…

Manage Your Expectations

Nothing–not a single thing–can perfectly replicate what animal products do.
Yeah. I said it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, because they are lying, or they haven’t had animal products in so long that they’ve lost perspective.

You can never totally replace any of these with a vegan substitute. You can only come close. It’s better to enjoy plant-based foods by appreciating them for what they are.

To be fair to vegan food, you can sometimes get close enough to be satisfied, which is the goal here.

Understand How Animal Products Work (So You Can Substitute)

Vegan substitutes should be picked based on the main function of an animal-derived ingredient that they’re trying to replace. For example, aquafaba (bean water, either from the can, or what’s left after cooking) whips like egg whites, and you can use it for spongecakes, or really convincing vegan french toast.

But you can’t crack open a chickpea and fry it.

Though you can mash cooked chick peas, add a bunch of nutritional yeast, a little black salt if you have it, plenty of onion and garlic, and get yourself a good vegan scramble.

Similarly, a lot of dairy substitutes don’t quite behave like dairy, and while many of them come really close, you may ultimately have to pick one particular dairy substitute based on a specific property. Soy milk isn’t as fatty as coconut milk, and isn’t always the best choice for sweet treats. Conversely, coconut milk won’t whip quite like soy milk, because fat interferes in the formation of all those tiny bubbles. You need protein to keep it together.

If you know the primary purpose that an animal-derived ingredient serves in a recipe, you will be more able to find a satisfactory vegan substitute. Is the egg a binder, a leavener, moisture, or a protein? Knowing this matters when you’re swapping out eggs.

Add Fats

If something is “flavorful,” that tends to mean that the dish has a higher amount of fat. Beef and pork are more flavorful than chicken, bacon is considered more flavorful than almost any other cut of pork–and the difference is how much fat is in it.

Fat is not the healthiest thing to eat, but it has an important place in good cooking and there’s nothing wrong with us for liking it. It’s calorically dense, it has a pleasant texture, and it’s filling. We are designed to enjoy eating fats.

But plant-derived foods tend to be very low in fat. And I suspect this is a big part of why a meatless dinner might not feel quite as filling as one with meat in it. But this is true of meat-based dinners, as well. Chrismas ham will fill you up faster than Thanksgiving turkey.

So, you will have to add fat in some way. Are you making a vegetarian stir fry? Serve it with peanut noodles, because peanut butter adds fat. (And a little extra protein, though you probably need less than you think unless you’re a weightlifter.) Use a saturated, plant-based fat like coconut oil for frying your vegan french toast. Make a nice olive oil and lemon sauce for a bean and pasta salad.

Some people eat more plants so that they eat less fat. Naturally, this tip won’t apply to them. But for those of us who usually eat meat and want to cut back, or who are making plant-based food for someone who tends to eat meat, fat is a really important factor to consider.

Bend the Rules, Stretch Your Animal Products

Unless I am cooking beans for something light, like salads or falafel, I cook them in stock. The majority of the stocks I make are from bones left after eating meat.

That is neither vegan, nor vegetarian, but it means I get an extra meal or two out of a meat purchase. If your goal is to save money, it means having to buy meat less frequently, while still enjoying the taste. On top of that, bone-in meat tends to be cheaper, so you are getting far more value out of your meat this way. If you’re reducing your meat intake because you want to reduce suffering (an honorable goal!), stretching your meat purchases like this also means eating fewer animals.

I can get about two or three meals out of the meat from a roasted chicken. If I turn the bones into stock, I can cook a big batch of beans and get a few more meals out of her. That can be almost a week of food from one bird, if you play your cards right. I took my Christmas ham even further, turning it into stock, then soup, then scrapple and hoppin’ John.

You can do this with more than just stock. Saving bacon grease to use later not only saves perfectly good ingredients from being wasted, but will also enhance anything you cook in it. You can also save beef fat, or pan-fry chicken skin to make chicken cracklings and Schmaltz. You are still saving money, and you are still eating fewer animals.