Whew! The last two weeks have been BRUTAL!
In case you don’t follow us on social media, let me get you up to speed. On September 30th we left Yuma, Arizona and crossed into Mexico headed for Los Barriles. And holy crap has it been hot! 100ºF+ kind of hot.
Combine that heat with driving and questionable power hook-ups and our RV refrigerator was just not having it. It was not staying cold enough. After troubleshooting everything we figured out that either there was something wrong with it or it was just too hot.
That really put a cramp in my meal plans. Heating up any burners in the RV was a bad idea. Using the Instant Pot or microwave meant we’d have to turn off the A/C. I couldn’t make anything with leftovers because they would just spoil. ARGHHHH!
So what did I do? I winged it. We had lots of almond butter sandwiches. We had veggie burgers when we were somewhere long enough to put out the grill. And I even borrowed power from nearby campsites to cook outside on my induction plate.
So any nice and organized meal plan (which, honestly, I didn’t have anyway) was out the window.
But we didn’t starve and now that we’re in place for a month and in more reasonable temperatures our fridge is working properly. Yay!
What can you find in a typical small-town grocery store here?
In our latest YouTube video, I take you through a typical market in San Felipe.
Since visiting that store, we’ve been to similar stores in Guerrero Negro, Mulegé, and Loreto. All of them had multiple non-dairy milk options, usually the shelf-stable ones. Most carried vegan soy chorizo in the refrigerator. And some had TVP chunks.
Larger towns like La Paz, San Jose del Cabo, and Cabo San Lucas have supermarkets that carry more products. Even so, we still haven’t seen tofu yet.
Knowing that tofu isn’t common here, I brought some with me but also brought other options like Butler’s Soy Curls and TVP. I also bought a bag of TVP when we saw it.
Here’s the thing: we don’t have to have tofu or even Soy Curls or TVP. Do you know what they have plenty of here? Beans! So I brought a few things but what I really want to do is embrace what’s available.
Vegan Finds in Baja
That said, we have picked up a few things on our travels so far.
Soy Chorizo
We’ve seen this brand of soy chorizo at several markets as we traveled down the Baja Peninsula. I usually make my own but for travel days having quick options like this is awesome. It’s delicious, too. And they freeze well.
Hot Sauce
I don’t know why, but we don’t keep taco sauce in the fridge. So at our first market stop in Mexico, I picked some up. And I randomly picked a good one!
TVP
We’ve seen these TVP chunks in a few markets but not all markets. So I’m glad a grabbed a bag.
These chunks are a bit larger than the TVP I normally get. It has a bit more texture to it. The package said it had some seasoning to it, but it is minimal and they will need to be seasoned.
I eyeballed it and threw in a few spices to make taco meat. It came out great!
I’ll let you know what else we find down here!
Tacos Every Day
Fresh tortillas are everywhere here so we’ll probably be eating tacos every day. And now that I know the fridge is working I can make cashew sour cream and pickled onions and pots of beans. Add fresh pico de gallo, a sprinkle of cilantro, and a squeeze of lime and there you have it!
But tacos won’t get boring (as if they could.) Switch things up! Grill up some peppers and onions. Add roasted squash or sweet potato.
Vegan taco meat is one of the easiest things you can make. Sure, you can buy those packets with the seasoning already mixed but you probably have all the spices anyway so why not make it yourself?
So I’m going to share my vegan taco meat recipe with you all. It’s in my ebook Mexico: Recipes from the Road Vol. 1. And once you try it you can start adjusting the spices to your liking.
If you can’t find TVP, try frozen crumbles like Boca or Morningstar Farms and use these seasonings as a guide. You might want to start off with smaller quantities since those products already have some seasoning added.
TVP Taco Meat
Ingredients
1 ⅔ cups TVP (textured vegetable protein)
3 cups hot water
1 cup diced onion
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 ½ teaspoon cumin
¾ teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)
3 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Instructions
Rehydrate textured vegetable protein in hot water. Set aside.
In a skillet, sauté onion over medium-high heat until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add spices through cayenne, if using, Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce, and tomato paste. Mix well and cook for about 1 minute.
Mix in rehydrated textured vegetable protein including any remaining soaking water.
Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until liquid has evaporated. Use as “meat” in tacos, on nachos, in burritos, taco salads, etc.
What about eating at restaurants?
There is still a pandemic so we aren’t looking to crowd into restaurants right now But we have been able to visit a couple of places with outdoor seating for some nice meals.
Mi Loreto
This little spot in Loreto had a few vegan options according to Happy Cow. And when we arrived at Mi Loreto, we found the owner happy to explain what he had and in English.
For starters, we had mushroom ceviche and guacamole with chips.
For mains, I had the mushroom fajitas with a side of steamed veggies.
Kevin got the plantain stuffed chili relleno with the salad. It sounds weird but was really good! Actually, everything was!
Mango Blues
While in La Paz, we had to visit Mango Blues. It’s a little taqueria that’s 100% vegan. She usually has 5-6 protein options for the tacos. There’s an agua fresca of the day - jamaica (hibiscus) when we were there.
And desserts! Chocolate cake and tapioca.
Sadly, Capuchino, another place we like in La Paz, was closed. We hope it’s temporary!
That’s about it for now. If you’d like to see more vegan options in Baja, check out our mega-post from our last trip down here where we show you how we find places to eat, what we ate, and more! And I’ll have more to share as we get settled in here.
Stay safe until next time!