Vegan-Vegan friendly MNetters- the new thread-sign in here!

[anyabanya]

Hi Vegan and vegan-friendly MNetters!

Just wanted to know if anyone was out there and wanted to form a support thread- to talk about food/ veganism, 'stuff' in general.

I am late 30s, have been an on and off vegan for about 6 years, and after a hiatus of about 9 months or so am back 'on'. I adore cooking with a passion, and love reading food blogs and vegan food blogs.

I would very much like to exchange thoughts/tips/frustrations with anyone else out there!

Hi, Vegans!
I got DS (20mo) some fabulous vegan shoes from Vivo Barefoot. ET even say vegan on the box! And they have a nice 'V' on them for Vivo, but I like to think it is for Vegan! :)

Where do you live, secretly? I am not in the UK at the moment, but happy to connect via this thread, PM or Fb! I knew a lot of vegans when I was in the UK, but we moved to Germany recently, there are two vegans at DH's work, but other than them, have not met any others.

Oops, just read my previous post from March and realised I'd already mentioned the Vivos!

And ET should just say it!

Bump! Where is everybody?!

I'm here!! supposedly veggie for nearly 15 years, but i think i ate dairy products once.. got pg with DD1 and when pg got cravings for nearly rare steak & chorizo (afterwards discovered i was anaemic for the 1st time ever...) now have DD2 as well and find myself cooking... tonight, wild rice and vegan fresh tomato, mushroom, lentil, parsley & mint curry. tomorows meal plan is stuffed red pepper with leftover wildrice and whatever else is in the fridge, with spicy harissa sauce. i love it, it is just a shame that the rest of the family dont :(

how do i get a meat orientated family to enjoy vegan food?? pls help..

Hello! I'm a life long vegetarian, as I was born into a vegetarian family and 48 hours ago I decided to become a vegan for health reasons. I've felt a bit 'icky' about mild and cheese and eggs for about a year now so I think the time is right for me. Really enjoyed reading through this thread!
I think, and I know this is typical, the biggest thing I will miss is cheese! Sprinkled on top of pasta and on top of pizzas...ive heard after 21 days you don't miss/crave it any longer. Is this true?

Mild? I meant milk!

I never liked cheese so wasn't a issue for me. I still crave crispy chicken every now and then but I know that is more to do when I am quite hungry I fancy protein, have been vegan for erm... 11 years.

11 years! Wow!
I'm on day three today and am having massive detox migraines...how quickly will they go?!!! Didn't expect the headaches!

erm don't remember those either although I was only 17 at the time and only in the last two/three years I stopped being student by which point I had DD and now have DS. It is common to switch out a few things first especially if you already have stuff in and if you have set-backs don't worry, there isn't a vegan police force or anything remembers the time I broke over a bounty bar.

I still don't feel like a full vegan, to me it seems to be a infinite journey. Dietary properly took me a couple a years to feel 99% confident. Main Toiletries took about the same, although the issue was finding ones I liked that seemed to function well, toothpaste seemed to take forever. I still don't buy fully 100% vegan shoes as I can't afford them, but obviously have non leather ones. Cleaning products that are stocked by ecover etc. yes, but I haven't looked into ones that aren't.

I did read a book that you could spend forever micro-analysing everything to see if was tainted somewhere along the line e.g. food transported in lorries with leather etc. and then you could miss the point of veganism.

I live by trying to learn a few new things, then when I've got those, learn a few more. and not feel too guilty that my proper crampon taking hiking boots are leather because there weren't good enough functioning alternatives

I don't think I will ever be a 'full' vegan, I think I will be a 'dietary' vegan if that makes sense? I don't think I could give up wearing my leather ballet pump style shoes...
My cleaning stuff in Meathod, I have no clue if that is vegan or not!

Can anyone recommend something nice to make mashed potato creamy? I used to use butter. I don't have any soya milk in the fridge as I didn't like it!

Can I say a quick hello please? I am currently veggie and have been edging towards veganism for some time. I'm concentrating on veganising my diet atm and have gone a few weeks without cheese or milk or honey - eggs is the last thing to go as I've still been having the odd bit of Quorn. I feel OK actually! i thought I would have much worse withdrawal symptoms from cheese, but so far it hasn't been too bad.

What I'm finding the most painful isn't the food so much as the clothing. My beloved cashmere sweater is going to have to go - I love it so much! and it has to go! Also i am an avid knitter and have a lot of wool in my stash that I will have to get rid of

poppyboo, would Vitalite do the job do you think? Or else, soy cream might do but probably not if you don't like the soy flavour. You could always cover it up by flavouring your mash with a bit of mustard or garlic or similar. I've heard you can get oat cream, although I haven't tried it myself

I just wanted to come on to boast! :)

i made my first ever seitan sausages at the weekend and they were really really good - I was amazed - I thought they were going to turn out rank. Really nice texture and really nice flavour.

If anyone is looking for wheat gluten Low Carb Megastore do it way cheaper than anywhere else, even when you factor in shipping.

Ooh, lots of new vegans! Yippee!

For great vegan cheese, I highly recommend Vegusto. It is soooo delicious, especially the cheese sauce. www.vegusto.co.uk/shop/.

poppyboo, I'd say being a dietary vegan is an amazing start, and you may well find that you naturally veer towards going the whole hog (ahem) in time. It is so easy now to find vegan shoes - www.bboheme.com/ are currently revamping but may be ready in time when you need to replace your current ballet pumps!

Ooh, thanks for the cheese hint, it is one thing I really crave, I'll have to give that brand a try. Does it melt?

Oooooh...

I just look at the Vegusto site and they don't just do cheese. And the delivery is not too ridiculous. I may be about to spend rather too much...

co-op do cheap toiletries and cleaning products, it is their own brand stuff.

another thing with shoes is that I have wide flat feet so like to try them on.

I have some oat cream but haven't tried yet. DD is soy free so we're saving it for her to try, but we don't have desserts often.

Well done on the seitan making. I have been wanting to try seitan for DD, but the only wholefoods store we have is (i) small and (ii) their seitan has egg in it.

mango a lot of people run down their animal containing products, i.e. use it to it's natural end. Logic being to make sure the animal didn't die in vain. Alternatively you could sell them to raise funds to buy vegan alternatives or charity shop them so they get a second life.

climbingpenguin try making your own, these sausages were really really easy...

www.theppk.com/2012/01/vegan_sausage/

These arent quite the flavour I made, but it'd be easy to swap stuff in and out.

what would you recommend for swapping the soy sauce for?

Oops, I didn't notice the whole no soy thing! I need to learn to read posts properly.

I would try subbing with an unpleasantly strong and salty veg stock? (just trying to think what soy sauce tastes like). Or maybe a vegan worcestshire sauce if there is such a thing?

Re soy sauce, I got an amino acid type spray once, I can't remember where from, but it has a bit of a soy sauce vibe about it!
There is indeed vegan Worcester sauce. I think health food stores have it, and probably bigger Sainsburys/Waitroses.

Enjoy your Vegusto splurge! The faux meats are fabulous! I didn't find their cheeses as melty as Cheezly, but good enough for my liking. But the sauce, oh wow, the sauce, it is just divine. Hello Cauliflower cheese, Macaroni cheese, lasagne. And for those who don't/can't do soy, it's all soy free too! (I don't work for Vegusto! :))

I didn't get the cheese sauce this time it's the only cheese I didn't get I will give it a try though if I like the cheese.

Got some of the deli slices to try to, I miss my quorn since being vegan.

NoHun thanks for the tip about the shoes and for being so welcoming (and everyone else) and for the cheese suggestion and website link? Do you know is cheezly super melting any good do you know! I'm looking for something to top my pizza and tomato and pasta bakes! Also does anyone know of a vegan style parmisan for sprinkling on top of pasta dishes which tastes good?

Have people here tried sosmix? It's vegan and gorgeous with puff pastry as sausage rolls or in a vegan pastry pie with mash and gravy. Quite high in fat but gorgeous! I grew up on it and love it. Makes nice 'meat balls' too!

Getting my exclamation marks and question marks mixed up there LOL

I'm trying tofu for the first time ever tonight with a chili and pepper stir fry by the way!

Its, I think the sauce is better than the blocks, it is really outstanding, so if you don't like the blocks, I'd still recommend trying the sauce.

poppyboo, pleasure, the more vegans the better, I think! :)
I found the Cheezly Super Melting good enough, yes. And I like the Tofutti cheese slices, and their cream cheese. Delicious! (I am not in the UK now so can't get it where I am, but can get Vegusto delivered, so doing ok!)
Not really found a great Parmesan cheese, but there are a few brands to try. Really, it's all personal preference, someone much like it enough or they wouldn't keep selling it. :)

Tofu with chilli and pepper stirfry sounds delicious! Enjoy!

And for a bit of junk, can I recommend Choices Caramels, yummy chocolates, oh they are too good! I found them in Sainsburys. £2.50, in the FreeFrom aisle.
And Swedish Glace ice cream is supreme! Mmmmmmm!