Vegan Food Cupboard Suggestions

[VeganHelp11please]

I'm hosting a couple as a favour to my sibling in December. The couple are vegan and I want to make sure I have plenty of snacks and breakfast items in for them. I've googled, but the amount of brands are overwhelming and I know not all vegan alternatives are created equal.

So far I have fruits, granolas, alpro, potato scones, rolls, butter substitute, mushrooms and tomatoes for frying on my breakfast list, and popcorn, yoghurt alternatives, vegan sweets from m&s on my cupboard list.

To supplement my plans, I'd love to hear what a dream breakfast or snack cupboard looks like for any vegans on mumsnet and what brands are great or to avoid.

I'm not vegan but you sound lovely

Ha! I'm a panic feeder!

Think of things that never contain animal products rather than substitutes, with the exception of a "milk". Whilst some vegans will eat substitutes many prefer natural foods.

My brother eats musli with fruits for breakfast, makes his own oat milk, or coconut porridge if I'm offering (oats, coconut milk, water, raisins, salt and cardamom pods). He snacks on fruit, nuts or oat bars. Dinner is vegetables, tofu, rice, etc just not meat. If you look on the ingredients list for manufactured vegan products you will understand why

@gotomomo thank you! I fully admit my head is stuck on "my diet but make it vegan" so your feedback is really useful.

I hadn't considered nuts at all, and will have a go at the coconut porridge.

Would you have time to make some vegan biscuits or muffins?

I think most brands of frozen pastry are vegan, so you perhaps make puff pastry twists with tomato or aubergine puree or tapenade instead of cheese.

I definitely will have some time to prep. That's a brilliant suggestion, thank you

Accidentally Vegan Foods | VeganFriendly.org.uk if you look up 'accidentally vegan food uk' you get a surprising amount of choice. Here is one such list, there are others.

Aren't you so kind, give yourself a big thumbs up.

This is ideal! I'm appalled i didn't think of jam myself but that website is basically what will be going in the snack cupboard. Thank you!

For dairy substitutes (non-dairy milk, yoghurt, cheese etc) there is a huge range, they vary enormously in taste, and people tend to have quite strong preferences - or not use them at all. Best to ask what they prefer rather than guessing.

For snacks, beware in particular of crisps - a lot of them have milk or whey powder in, even when its a flavour you would think entirely unrelated to milk products.

Jus-roll pastry - except the one specifically marked as all-butter - is almost all vegan. As are their croissants, cinnamon swirls and pains aux chocolate. Vegan croissants are generally a rare thing, so those are often appreciated.

A lot of the Clive's pies are vegan. They're tasty and wholesome.

Some of the lentil crisps are nice - some aren't.

There's a lot of vegan chocolate now - most, but not all dark chocolate, but also chocolate made with cocoa and oat milk that's similar to milk chocolate.

Sainsbury's do nice egg - free , wholewheat noodles . Also Asda.

Vegan dips for crudités, nachos etc can be peanut butter, tahini, guacamole if you make it yourself - just mash an avocado with a little lemon juice and salt , garlic and chilli if you prefer, salsa and olive tapenade.

Ryvita and oatcakes are usually vegan.

Nutritional yeast is nice to have in the cupboard to add to meals for a cheesy flavour

A lot of the Clive's pies are vegan. They're tasty and wholesome.

I think the whole range is vegan. Go for the puff pastry ones - the others are wholesome in a 'rock-hard 70s-wholemeal' sort of way.

guacamole if you make it yourself

Bought versions generally are, too. And hummus.

I’m vegan and pregnant right now; craving the most ‘unnatural’ foods, my snack cupboard is certainly not the healthiest! You sound like you’ve done a brilliant job already. It’s refreshing to see someone try to accommodate vegans and not treat us as a nuisance!

Most supermarkets do vegan mince pies- Asda’s’ iced ones are brilliant. I also got some Christmas cake slices from Asda recently which are lovely. Nomo chocolate is great, but expensive and supermarket vegan chocolate is also nice! Oreos and bourbon biscuits are ‘accidentally vegan’. Lots of vegans like Oatly barista milk in their tea/coffee- it’s the one in the grey carton. I’m a fan of Richmonds vegan sausages, and I’ve never met a vegan bacon I didn’t enjoy.

I would imagine coconut milk rice pudding would make a nice breakfast, you could make it sweet or savoury.

My BIL has vegan yoghurt with fruit nuts and seeds for breakfast, if that helps?

Most ready made pastry is vegan (check obviously) so a vegetable tart or pie is easy. Be aware that vegan cheese does not melt!

Can't go wrong with beans on toast imo

Be aware that vegan cheese does not melt!

Depends. Most supermarkets ones these days do (but in a sligjtly weird sricks-to-the-teeth way; best used sparingly).

OP You do indeed sound really lovely and very welcoming to your vegan guests but some - not all - vegans are very much into 'no junk foods', as well. So they would not welcome most items on the 'accidentally vegan' list.
By all means add those to your store-cupoard - I obviously don't know the tastes of your prospective guests. But just in case they are "purist" can I suggest the following, as well. Can you possibly ask them, some time before they arrive?

rice cakes or vegan oatcakes
rice, quinoa etc (you can get these ready-prepared in long-life pouches, eg by Merchant Gourmet but there are other brands). Or they are easy to cook yourself.
tinned or dried beans/chickpeas/lentils
decent olive oil
peanut butter or almond butter etc
pasta
vegan pesto and vegan olive paste and similar things
vegan mayo
lemon juice
vegan soy sauce and vegan spices/spice mixes.

For snacks, this is a low taste but I'll own up. I also like vegan snacks such as sesame sticks and ganthia noodles. (And cooked smoked almonds as well, naturally. Iresistable.) You can buy these from local health food shops and also - often more cheaply - from online suppliers such a 'BuyWholeFoodsOnline'. There are many other sellers.

Peanut butter definitely would be on my list
I would also swerve things like lentil crisps and just go for actual crisps and check the ingredients for milk powder. Regular Tyrell's sea salt or salt and vinegar are fine. There's nothing accidentally vegan about crisps and it used to really annoy me the ones that hear milk powder in.

How long are they there for, a weekend or a month?

I'm veggie but prefer to choose my own foods including brands as what someone else thinks I'd like, I actually don't.

So maybe ask them?

Marmite (I assume - I am not a vegan). Watch out for anchovy in tapenade and Lea & Perrin's. Honey isn't vegan, of course. I gather that tinned and jarred chickpeas are good not just for the chickpeas but also for aquafaba to replace egg white. Here endeth my vegan knowledge.

Thanks for all your suggestions! I ended up with lots of snacky items (nuts, fruits etc) and took some suggestions off this list. Breakfast muffins have been made! Everything I bought is food I'd happily eat as well once they go so nothing will go to waste. I'm eyeing up the granola already!

They are here for a long weekend AlisonDonut but since they have plans every lunch/evening it was really only breakfast items and snacks. I had asked them twice, but they weren't forthcoming so I preferred to just make sure I had lots of options.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I've read recently that excess honey produced by bees can be eaten by vegans, which surprised me.

OP the best advice is to provide food that is naturally vegan. I sometimes need to cater for CMPA and it's so much easier to cook something everyone can eat than do two versions. Lots of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern recipes will fit the bill.

You might want to ask your guests for suggestions of things they enjoy eating which could suit everyone?

If you wanted to do something festive, I make these for vegan relatives and just replace the egg wash with a bit of vegan milk. https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/desserts/mince-pie-marzipan-wheels

Most supermarket puff pastry, marzipan and mincemeat is vegan.