Cheesy alternatives

[JustJamie5]

Hello People of Mumsnet!

I need some help! Tell me about your cheesy alternatives!

I work from home and that normally means my lunch involves cheese, often melted in a crimpit toastie. I also normally have some type of cheese with my evening meal… E.g. paneer in a curry, spag Bol with a sprinkle on top, risotto etc.

I’m mostly vegetarian (I take a ‘meat is a treat’ approach). I’d really like to reduce the amount of cheese I eat because right now it’s a lot! And! I’m short (4ft 11) and I could do with loosing a couple of pounds (I’m not overweight, but my jeans are too snug)

So what I need is something to replace the glorious delicious taste of molten cheese for lunch… does anyone have any ideas? Please don’t say salad! I need something delicious because if I eat stuff like a salad I’ll end up craving bad stuff and then I’ll mindlessly graze on lidl stem ginger biscuit’s (based on my failed attempts!) Ideally I need warm lunch ideas, filling, tasty, satisfying for my soul!, which don’t include cheese/too much unhealthy fatty stuff, are veggie and don’t have too much bread (too much bread makes me a ‘bit’ gassy). Oh and it needs to be easy and fast. My inspiration has started and ended at soup, or some type of couscous thing but I just can’t get that same satisfying feeling!

Hi, it won't work for everything but if you get some Nutritional Yeast (many supermarkets have it now but every health food shop should too) you can sprinkle that on/stir in to your soups, curries, pasta dishes etc and it gives you that 'umami' taste just like cheese. It's really low calorie and usually has B12 added. I'm vegan and I use it to actually make my own cheese, with cashew nuts. I do still buy the melty stuff from shops though, you can't beat that for toasties and the like!

Cut down on the bread. Eat cheese with a strong flavour as you can get away with using less.
Add more protein to the meals.
Baked beans with a bit of melted cheese in are strangely satisfying.
Add a handful of spinach to it.

I used to be very cheese-dependent but am now broadly dairy-free with the odd sprinkle of parmesan or scoop of ice cream in the summer.

I won't lie - I moved straight from cheese to salt! I find that as long as I have a reasonable amount of salt I don't really miss the cheese. For work lunches or WFH ones, I tend to roast veg such as sweet potatoes, cauli, courgette etc with seasoning and then add some rice or maybe couscous. I buy my favourite (expensive) hummus and add a dollop of that, plus some seeds or maybe pine nuts, and then take some nice contrasting lemony/sweet dressing to add to it just before I eat. I used to do the same kind of thing but with feta, but I really find I don't miss it that much now.

Other than that, I have ham or charcuterie for lunch with salad and pitta, or maybe soup with homemade croutons. I think you have to figure out what cheese means to you (I know 🤣) e.g. salt, fat, texture etc and then try to sort of recreate that elsewhere.

Incidentally, the only OK cheese replacement I've found is the Philadelphia plant-based cream cheese - pretty much the only that's not based on bloody coconut.