Anyone else doing veganuary?

[Ozzyskye]

I'm a guilty meat eater but for the past few years have done vegetarianuary. This year I want to try veganuary, at least at home (we go to pil for dinner once a week and don't want to add pressure!). Is anyone else giving it a go? Want to share any ideas? I could also do with losing a stone but though calorie counting and veganuary might be a bit much. I'm also doing dry January so that'll help hopefully!

My usual go to food is hearty food like stews, toad in the hole, cottage pie etc...

I can make a mean Passata for pasta, and I'm thinking chunky vegetable soups, tofu stir frys etc but would welcome any ideas! Also will look into some smoothies and juices with coconut milk or overnight oats for breakfast (when I actually eat it) I drink a lot of coffee but already prefer with oat milk.

I'm not planning on continuing past January, I enjoy meat and dairy too much but am willing to commit for a month at least and maybe discover some tasty dishes to integrate into my repertoire!

Ooh I love Wagamama they are so good for vegans! I like those ribs and love the Vegatsu.

I don't much like vegetables and I don't like beans or chickpeas.... So it would be really difficult for me to have a balanced diet.
I could just about do vegetarian for a month, but I don't think I would lose any weight as I like cheese, but I'm not that keen on eggs.

What foods do you like now? Might be possible to get vegan versions. And maybe try some veg and beans in new ways, soups, pates, roasted, blended in sauces etc?

I bought tempeh for the first time today. Someone tell me what to do with it! 😅is it like tofu?

I make a mix of seasoned cornflour (herbs/spices depending on what I'm having it with), lightly coat the tofu (I use Tofoo extra firm so no faffing about pressing), and just pop in the air fryer on the rack thing and turn occasionally until crispy all round

More of a vegetarianuary. I eat eggs and cheese. Aldi has a nice tofu block for 99p

@VeganNugsNotDrugs thanks! I attempted crispy tofu in the airfryer last night. It came out pretty tasty but not crispy as I didn't use cornflour so I'll try that next time. Do you dry the tofu first?

I’m not but I’ve been veggie since childhood and I have tried veganism a couple of times in the past, my longest stretch was just over a year.

I’d say there’s never been an easier time to be vegan. When I was vegan about 10 years ago, I had to go to Holland&Barrett for a lot of the alternatives because main supermarkets just didn’t stock any but now they all do. In restaurants I could only have chips and salad a lot of the time but now there’s almost always a vegan option.

You mentioned liking foods such as stew, cottage pie and toad in the hole. All are very easy to make vegan. Vegan sausages obviously and either lentils or vegan mince for the cottage pie. Vegetable stew is lovely. There’s lots of vegan food blogs available online, Jamie Oliver has a few vegan recipes which are great.

Definitely needs the cornflour, i dont dry it but the tofoo is pretty dry anyway if that makes sense!

Makes perfect sense! I really love the Tofoo brand for that!

I bought some of the lidl basil tofu. No idea what to do with it, it looks like it needs pressing 😱

You can eat it as is or press it between two plates with a couple of cans on top. You can roll it in cornflour and fry or just fry in chunks and add to any meal. Last night I made a pasta sauce and crumbled the basil tofu in with the oil/onions/garlic to make a protein source which was really nice. You can also marinate it further to strengthen the flavour and add it raw to salads in chunks.

realfood.tesco.com/recipes/vegan-tomato-tart.html

Going to make this tonight, will feed back!

If you feel guilty eating meat can I suggest that you watch this video by Belinda Fettke. It might help you understand why you feel pressured to eat vegan/veggie.

Thanks for all the tofu tips! Hope everyone doing veganuary is enjoying it so far.

oh that’s my kind of food!

I don’t feel pressured. I am against the slaughter of billions of innocent sentient beings every year. But I think the OP wants ideas of meals and products for veganuary not a debate thread, maybe you could start your own.

I find TikTok great for recipe ideas. I’ve got loads of recipes saved in different folders.

@Unabletomitigate I felt pressured to NOT be a vegan and eat meat for many, many years! The message is absolutely everywhere, media, shops, family, friends, restaurants. Everywhere. Please start your own pro-meat / debate thread and leave us alone to share our recipes. Thats clearly what this thread is for, it hasnt been set up for pro or anti vegan debate. Can't we have one tiny corner of the internet without pro meat videos etc on it? I would never dream of popping up on the carnivore diet threads and voicing my opinion, I want to be respectful to others who choose a diet that is different from mine.

I should've become a vegan years ago but fell for all the myths and misconceptions that there are about it.

Please respect the decisions of others. Billions of animals are being treated appallingly then needlessly killed and it's contributing massively to climate change and any video that supports that in any way is likely to upset a lot of people on this thread.

Tart update (what did you call me!?)

Tasty, had with spinach cucumber and salad dressing

Have to say would have been better with parmesan to cut some of the sweetness though

Glad it was tasty! This one might be worth a try https://www.violife.com/en-us/products/dairy-free-cheese-blocks/just-like-parmesan-wedge
I’ve seen it in some supermarkets but can’t remember which, helpfully!

I’ve also been at vegan Italian restaurants where they have made a lovely one out of almond flour - looks not too hard to do https://simple-veganista.com/a-sprinkling-we-go-almond-parmesan/

Dairy free macaroni 'cheese':

Preheat oven to 180.

Get about a third of a butternut squash and peel and chop into small chunks. Boil for 20 mins.

While this is cooking get enough macaroni in a pan to feed 4 and put onto boil for 15 mins. So now u have 2 pans going.

Meanwhile do your sauce using a third pan. Melt a knob of dairy free spread in a pan then add flour and oat milk until u get a sauce. It will need constant stirring on a low heat

Drain the butternut squash but save some of the water (about a quarter). Blend the butternut squash and small amount of water until smooth then pour the whole thing into the sauce and stir until combined.

Drain the macaroni and add to a baking dish. Pour the sauce on top and add whatever you like as a topping - fake cheese, cherry tomatoes, bread crumbs, whatever.

Bake for 20-30 mins

A tip for anyone planning to eat out this month, this website lists most of the vegan and vegan friendly places in any given area:

https://www.happycow.net/

Also, if you're not doing Dry January and you like a drink, this is a list of vegan alcohol (as a lot contains milk, eggs or fish)

https://www.barnivore.com/

Ds and I are going to try vegan baking today - rocky road for home and brownies for me