Health food shop Galway centre

Rasmus

Anyone know where there's a really good health food store in the city? Something that would carry a wide range of vegetarian products...
cheers

inisboffin

Evergreen on Mainguard/High St or Healthwise on Abbeygate St.

Rasmus

inisboffin wrote: »

Evergreen on Mainguard/High St or Healthwise on Abbeygate St.

Thank you

ArtyC

Evergreen is overpriced I think. Health wise- although smaller is cheaper and have a good range.

inisboffin

ArtyC wrote: »

Evergreen is overpriced I think. Health wise- although smaller is cheaper and have a good range.

I find myself going to both. There is a vast difference on some items in *both* shops tbh, and not in favour of either specifically. I'd 'window shop' what you usually buy first if I were you OP

ben.schlomo

Holland and Barrett on Shop St.

inisboffin

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Holland and Barrett on Shop St.

Do they do veggie meals? I thought it was mostly nuts and grains. Have they a frozen/fridge section

ben.schlomo

inisboffin wrote: »

Do they do veggie meals? I thought it was mostly nuts and grains. Have they a frozen/fridge section

OP asked for Veggie products and a health food store, didnt notice anything specifying frozen/chilled ready meals, M&S if thats what they are after.

inisboffin

ben.schlomo wrote: »

OP asked for Veggie products and a health food store, didnt notice anything specifying frozen/chilled ready meals, M&S if thats what they are after.

So that's a no then? I was asking as I thought they might have expanded what they have. I found their range of health food/Veggie pretty limited, and OP asked for a 'wide range' (but that was a couple of years ago when I was last in). M and S is a good suggestion for some general prepared meals.

Sappa

inisboffin wrote: »

So that's a no then? I was asking as I thought they might have expanded what they have. I found their range of health food/Veggie pretty limited, and OP asked for a 'wide range' (but that was a couple of years ago when I was last in). M and S is a good suggestion for some general prepared meals.

Google harri Krishna food op,tonnes of ideas and recipes.
The Harri guy at the Market has some cooking books on veggie food.
The Asian shop opposite CPs has plenty of stock needed to cook some of these dishes as does the Bangladeshi store in Terryland or Westside.
It might cost you 25 euro initially but the ingredients last a long time.
I find the ready meals generally crap,high salt content and emulsifiers.
Cook your own,evergreen and holland and Barrett are both overpriced with limited real veggie ingredients.

inisboffin

Sappa wrote: »

Google harri Krishna food op,tonnes of ideas and recipes.
The Harri guy at the Market has some cooking books on veggie food.
The Asian shop opposite CPs has plenty of stock needed to cook some of these dishes as does the Bangladeshi store in Terryland or Westside.
It might cost you 25 euro initially but the ingredients last a long time.
I find the ready meals generally crap,high salt content and emulsifiers.
Cook your own,evergreen and holland and Barrett are both overpriced with limited real veggie ingredients.

Cooking is always preferable IMO
Have had lots of delicious Hari food over the years but by no means is it all 'health' food! Lol! Deep fried dough with icing sugar, paneer in ghee - yum!
However not everyone is a confident cook, and sometimes people who are not used to it,stress about what to give veggie visitors! I've seen the staff in both health foods be very helpful with advice. If people are new veggies or have to change diet for health reasons. I totally agree with you Sappa about the extra junk in packaged veggie food - same as the meaty stuff. There are healthy and wholesome options though, it's just a question of reading labels and choosing well

bodhrandude

Eurasian Foods in 3 Market Street next to Finnegans restaurant, this has many ethnic foods, health foods and vegan food. http://www.goldenpages.ie/eurasian-foods-galway-city/

Mrs OBumble

I really don't see why anyone needs a "health" food shop to get veggie food: what exactly do they have that mainstream supermarkets don't have?

inisboffin

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I really don't see why anyone needs a "health" food shop to get veggie food: what exactly do they have that mainstream supermarkets don't have?

More vegan stuff I'd say than supermarkets.
There was a time not a million years ago when veggie sausages only came in a packet from the hf shop that you'd add water! Now you can get one type at least in most places. Most supermarket veg saussies are have either dairy, wheat or both in though.
Gluten free veggie is harder to get but now you'll see the odd thing pop up. The biggest difference is *choice* of veggie products, and generally brands with less additives can only be found in hf shops.
Dry TVP (yuk!) which a lot of veggies use.
Things like quinoa and red quinoa.

The one thing is would think is that there is a bigger choice under one roof in general in a hf than a supermarket. You could find dolmas for example in a Middle Eastern shop, but not veggie cutlets necessarily.
It's supply and demand though, I noticed Gluten Free Pizza in Dunnes Westside! What a change.

thesandeman

I miss BurgaMix and SosMix (even though both were the same thing in different packaging). They were lovely when you threw in your own extras like onions, garlic etc.
It was the only way you could have a vegetarian meal in the late 70s-early 80s.

inisboffin

thesandeman wrote: »

I miss BurgaMix and SosMix (even though both were the same thing in different packaging). They were lovely when you threw in your own extras like onions, garlic etc.
It was the only way you could have a vegetarian meal in the late 70s-early 80s.

I know! I think burgamix had an extra tablespoon of the dark sawdust though as sosmix was pinker and tastier to me - could have all been in my head tho!
And those mad little snakes of pure fat that melted as you fried them, leaving delicious oily pockets. (eek and yum) memories!

Rasmus

inisboffin wrote: »

Do they do veggie meals? I thought it was mostly nuts and grains. Have they a frozen/fridge section

That was actually a question I had that I meant to include.

I assume that 'health' food stores in Galway or whatever one wants to call them are the same as in Dublin, stocking refrigerated items like marinated tofu, quorn products or vegetarian kievs/hot dogs etc.
That's actually what I'm looking for as smaller shops only stock the basic grains, vegan milks or what have you.

Lately, supermarkets have started limiting their stock of veggie products and a lot of the stuff they do have are 'ready-meals' rather than simpler meat alternatives to use as part of a meal.

I would have posted this in the veggie forum (in fact I did a while back) but figured I'd get better answers from Galway natives.

game123

I think that is a great place also

HelenT

Evergreen in Terrryland is the best stocked health food store in Galway for vegetarians. They also have a shop at the end of shop street but I find the range is greater in Terryland. Tescos in Terryland also do a good range. I usually go there first and then head to Evergreen to top up purchases. They have Quorn, Frys, L Mc C, and lots of other brands. HTH.