Hi Been veggie for years now trying being vegan help HEEEELLP!

Lou.m

Hi there all veggies and vegans:)

I have been veggie for years and recently looked in to what happens in the dairy industry and i decided to try going vegan.

I thought i would be quite easy considering i had been veggie for so long but erm...

Well i was wondering if you could tell me a few branded products that would be vegan and in supermarkets ( i know i should make more of me own but i just need to know whats there)

Also if you could let me know of some handy substitutes for vegans ie. chocolate crisps sweets (i know the bad stuff) and cheeses.

I have found some soya products.

And of course all vegan recipies would be greatly appreciated.

Also any shops you would recomend.

And any info you have or tips about veganism would be great especially health and supplement tips.

biZrb

Its great you've decided to vegan, its really not as hard as you think it is!

I went vegan after years of thinking that I should go vegan, so one day I went vegan cold turkey style, its a little extreme but two years on im still vegan so its worked for me!

The major issue I had, being a huge tea lover, was finding a nice brand of soya milk that would make tea drinkable! I buy soya milk from Aldi, it doesn't taste too strong (so I can have it with ceral) and its got added calcium too which is great.

As for branded products, i don't buy too much of these so I can't give you a huge list but I'll tell you of what I know is vegan. Linda Mc Carthy sausages are vegan. There is a company that does spicy bean burgers, that can be bought in the supermarket. They're a cheapo brand but the burgers are nice. Peanut butter and jam is nearly always vegan. You have to watch out for sauces, some of them have added lactose. Finding jared curry or pasta sause can be hard. For pasta sauce I know M&S do a tomato and vegetable one thats vegan. For curry sauce I'll add some curry paste to Alpro Soya natural yoghurt or coconut milk.
Tinned beans and spaghetti are vegan, Bachalors do canned chick peas, which are really handy for making hummous or just frying up with garlic, carrot, red pepper and onion.
Watch out for noodles, most have egg added (Aldi have nice ones with no egg). You might need to get rice noodles instead.

The Alpro Soya yoghurts are really nice, they have added omega stuff and calcium. You can buy them in the supermarkets, they're not too expensive. I love the natural yoghurt with added nuts and cocnut, museli and maple syrup...mmmm!

Thers a brand called Pure(green packet) that do dairy free/vegan butter. It tastes great and theres no hydronated oil in it. I use it for cooking too and it works really well.

Most cerals are ok, just watch out for honey in some of them. I know Coco Pops are vegan so are Cornflakes and Rice Crispies.

As for the bad stuff, crisps wise, original Hula Hoops, Walkers Ready Salted and Prawn Cocktail flavours are vegan, also Doritios Chilli flavour are vegan. These are so good with guacamole (mashed avocado and red onion).
Biscuits: Fig Rolls and Bourbon Creams are definetly vegan. As for the other types, you just have to read the packet as sometimes for example a Nice biscuit by one manufacturer will be vegan but by a another manufacturer it wont be.
Heres a list of vegan sweets by Cadburys: linky

As for cheeses, I get mine in a health food store. You can also use Yeast Flakes as a cheese alternative in sauces or in salads.
In good health food stores you can also get vegan meat such as ham for putting in sandwiches and vegan bacon. You can also get stuff like falafel mix, hummous mix, hamburger mix, soya pate and Sosmix which is a sausage mix thats really yummy and has loads of uses. You can also get flavoured vegan TVP mince that I use in Shepards Pie (Bisto is vegan).

Tofu can be bought for really cheap in an Asian Supermarket, you can also get tempeh (which I've never used before but meant to be nice). I love asian supermarkets, you can get really cheap stuff like spices, lentils, chick peas, beans, noodles, nori for sushi, rice etc.

You can get frozen soya beans from Birds Eye, great for stir frys. I eat a lot of avacados, I put them in everything, sambos (Sosmix, avacdo, tomato and onion) , sushi, salads.

Seven Seas do a vegetarian supplement thats also vegan. Boots have some as well.

There are few random receipes I've found on the web but if im cooking something I mainly use cookbooks, the best I've found are by Sarah Kramer
There is some nice receipes here

Like I said before going vegan really isn't as hard as it seems to be. For me it wasn't about finding subsitutes for non vegan food but finding different food completly. I eat food now such as sushi, tofu, soya beans and avocados that I never ate when I was vegetarian.

Tar.Aldarion

Nice post.

There area a lot of vegan substitutes, for meat substitutes, the fry range and many more, just look at the back of the box.
For baking etc use 'no egg' whereever you used egg.
There are plenty of vegan butters for you to try as well, the sunflower oil ones taste good.
Soya ones should just be used for cooking really.

Silent Partner

That was a really great post!!! Thanks so much!
I have been vegetarian for about 18 months or so now. Recently I've toyed with idea of going vegan. I've found that I still like things like eggs, honey and some small amounts of dairy though. I'm not saying it's hard to go vegan but I'd find it very hard to let go of some things and I don't have the required discipline just yet. I have massively cut down on my dairy though and I use soya milk on my cereals and I've stopped using milk in my tea/coffee.
By the by, I find Tesco Organic Sweetened Soya Milk the best. They use concentrated apple juice to sweeten the soya milk which is better than sugar no?

Great post Bizrb, but I don't know you can digest those soya beans. I'm really easygoing about food, but I couldn't stomach them.

biZrb

Moonbaby wrote: »

Great post Bizrb,

Thanks!

Moonbaby wrote: »

but I don't know you can digest those soya beans. I'm really easygoing about food, but I couldn't stomach them.

Thats weird, I have no problem with them, I have a rubbish digestive system and I have to be careful about what I eat sometimes.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Rice milk could be easy enough to get used to. Don't know about with tea but could probably work well in cereals

sweet-rasmus

i try to avoid drinking soya milk and find that oat milk is a little nicer than rice milk, though the texture/taste isn't on the level as soya milk. tea is dire with rice milk; trust me.

one plus about soya milk is that you can buy fortified packs. after a year of being vegan and not drinking soya i found that i had to take a vegan supplement (available form the vegan society) to make up for whatever i was missing.

also: udo's oil would be great to add to your meal to make sure you are getting plenty of omega oils. otherwise you can take supplements from veretesse which are in vegan capsules (available in boots).

Lou.m

Thanks guys great posts


Thanks to everyone :):)

You're so knowledgeable:):)

Tar.Aldarion

Need any info, just ask.

biZrb

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Rice milk could be easy enough to get used to. Don't know about with tea but could probably work well in cereals

Tried rice milk in tea the other day - not a good idea it sort of seperated and floated to the top in little blobs, I actually tasted it to see if it was alright to drink, but it wasn't, so best stick with soya milk

Tar.Aldarion

Soya milk, or for the hardcore, oat milk. :P

Parnassia

Good replies from everyone!

I would recommend taking a supplement that has B12 and D, as these are pretty difficult to get in a vegan diet (and when they are in things like soymilk etc., they have been supplemented anyway).

One thing I didn't even check for 'veganicity' for a long time was stock cubes, but a lot of the veggie ones have lactose in them. Now I buy Marigold brand organic or low salt in a tub.

Some vegan chocolates you can get include Green and Black, Ritter Sport, After Eights (but boo! Nestle!) - just check the packs. Also, be aware of some of the dark chocolates, some manufacterers put whey or butter or something in them (i.e. Bournville).

Tar.Aldarion

Get nice stock cubes from any health store. Veretesse are vegan supplements for B12, if you want them.

eth0_

I think veganism is extreme and tbh, weird.
Why don't you just buy organic milk and organic, free range eggs if you have issues with how dairy animals are treated...?

Tar.Aldarion

Eh, because they don't believe they should be kept captive at all. Milk cows will also be killed usually yes?

Parnassia

eth0_ wrote: »

I think veganism is extreme and tbh, weird.
Why don't you just buy organic milk and organic, free range eggs if you have issues with how dairy animals are treated...?

Aw thanks, you're lovely too.

I don't buy milk or eggs because animals are killed to produce them. Male calves and chicks are killed because they are not valuable enough (i.e. don't produce milk or eggs - in the case of calves, they will be killed for veal) and the female cows and chickens are killed when their productivity declines.

I don't need milk or eggs, therefore I see this killing as unnecessary.

Environmental reasons are also important to me, but this is the main one.

eth0_

It wasn't meant as a personal attack on you.

As a matter of interest, how do vegans stand on using animals for work (e.g. horses in riding schools)? And also on testing drugs on animals?

Tar.Aldarion

Against it.

eth0_

Would you go so far as to refuse medical treatment if you knew the drug had been tested on animals?

Parnassia

Yep, sorry, I guess from other points of view it could be extreme and probably weird.

I think the whole working animals/drugs testing is more of an individual choice.

Personally, I think there are a lot of grey areas. I think working animals, if treated well, can have a good life. But many of them aren't.

Drugs testing - I'm not sure if all the tests that are carried out are completely translatable to human reactions to drugs/diseases, but I fully accept that _some_ testing could be necessary.

But these are just personal opinions. I don't use shampoo/soaps etc. that contain animal ingredients or have been tested on animals, but I do use drugs (when necessary!) that are probably not vegan.

eth0_

I am of the same opinion as you when it comes to animal testing. I would never use products that have been tested on animals, but I would use necessary medical drugs that have been tested.

Actually, last week I visited a university neuroscience lab where they were use rats to test drugs for conditions like Parkinsons, alzheimers, depression etc. I was shocked at how happy and well cared for the rats were. The Phd student who showed me around was affectionate to the rats and said they make a point of handling them.

Tar.Aldarion

eth0_ wrote: »

Would you go so far as to refuse medical treatment if you knew the drug had been tested on animals?

That probably depends on the individual, no point in dying for it when you can life. It won't unkill the animals.

biZrb

I think its impossible to be 100% vegan, so there is a few areas where you might have to go against what you believe.

But vegans do the best they can. I know I do!

ladyA

eth0_ wrote: »

I think veganism is extreme and tbh, weird.
Why don't you just buy organic milk and organic, free range eggs if you have issues with how dairy animals are treated...?

I have stopped buying milk purely for health reasons. We are the only species on the planet who continue to drink milk past infancy. Why don't we drink camel milk? I think we only drink it because that is in the interests of the government. Cows milk is designed to nourish a calf, not humans. Since I have stopped buying milk I feel much better, although I haven't cut it out completely because it is in so many products but I am definetely getting there and would recommend it to anyone.