Vegan to stay - help?!

Slane Resident

I have a vegan relative coming to stay for a few days. It's last minute so I don't have a lot of time to prepare, so I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has time to answer.

I'm wondering about cooking products that aren't labelled vegan. For example, Aldi red curry paste is labelled suitable for vegetarians but doesn't mention vegans, and yet the ingredient list seems fine. Does anyone know? I was hoping to cook a Thai vegetable curry with cashew nuts for one meal.

Similarly, if we have salad for lunch, is a balsamic vinegar dressing vegan or is there a special one I have to look out for (if not I can make my own).

What would you add to a salad if you were having one for lunch - beans?

Stupid question but is Stork margarine vegan-friendly? Where can I buy rice milk?

Any other hints or tips would be gratefully appreciated!

Absurdum

you can buy rice milk in many, if not most supermarkets, Rice Dream is a common brand afaik. Soya milk (such as Alpro) or coconut milk are also widely available. I'm not sure if Stork is vegan, google seems inconclusive and to be honest, if it was vegan I'd probably have heard Pure is a soya based spread that is also widely available in supermarkets and tastes good.

As for pastes and balsamic, etc., most things here aren't labeled vegan, just vegetarian even though they can be vegan, unhelpful I know....I would imagine most curry pastes would be vegan since they are just a load of spices and oil mixed up, keep an eye on the ingredients to be sure.

flikflak

Ingredients
Vegetable Oils, water, salt (2.3%), emulsifier: mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, Flavourings, Vitamin E, Colour: beta-carotene, Vitamins A & D, Citric Acid,

The above are the ingredients of Stork. I would be suspicious of the flavouring and the vit D. As above you can get vegan spread in the supermarket or the healthfood shops. Even M+S do a dairy free spread which is suitable for vegans (and my fave!!).

Balsamic vinegar dressing should be fine I cant see what would be in there that should cause any problems. Or just leave the salad undressed and put the bottle on the table and let the person make up their own mind if they want to use it. Also put oil and vinegar on the table.

There are 100`s of salad combinations - check out www.vegweb.com for some great ideas. I had one the other night with thin slices of raw corgette in a lovely dressing which was great. Another of my faves is brown rice, cranberries, apples, spring onions and a few other bits thrown in yummmm.

Rice milk you should be able to find in the supermarket in the free from section. Maybe get them some other bits too like biscuits and crisps. Suitable ones include hob nobs, fruit shortcake, most bourbons and for crisps look for the veggie symbol then check the allergens information. The m+s gammon/ham (I cant remember the exact flavour!) ones are even vegan!!!

sweetoblivion

Hi there, here are a few other things you could get:

- plain hummus (M&S is the best I've tried)
- lots of veggies
- plain dried pasta, pasta sauces (tomato based)
- fruit
- bread (double check there's no dairy and it's veggie)
- M&S spread / Pure spread
- rice
- veg thai pastes
- a few tins of chickpeas
- vegan biscuits
- Lindt 70% dark chocolate
- plain popcorn, crisps

If I go to any house and there's hummus there I'm a happy camper