Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

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

743 replies

anyabanya · 15/06/2010 10:02

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!

OP posts:
poppyboo · 28/08/2012 11:12

Onyka, do the cakes tasted 'normal'?

Onykahonie · 28/08/2012 23:19

Yes Poppy, I was impressed as I've made (and binned) quite a few vegan cakes. Taste and texture was very close to those of eggy cakes! A bit more crumbly and stuck to the cake cases more, but not bad at all!
Recipe here

MangoHedgehog · 29/08/2012 19:28

Poppyboo, I found i started really enjoying nutritional yeast once I let go of the idea that it had to taste exactly like cheese - until then I was always a bit disappointed with it - but these days I think of nutritional yeast as a really nice savoury flavour, that hits the same kind of note as cheese, if that makes sense?

Speaking of new recipes, can I quickly recommend another? i made the most fantastic tasty sausages today, and it's the first time I've managed to cook with vital wheat gluten without it being a rubbery disaster!

Here is the sausage recipe (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, my hero!) I honestly think I will never bother buying veggie sausages ever again, it was so easy and much cheaper (and I think tastier) than shop bought.

Lentil thanks for pointing out the Pure website, chocolate fudge is definitely on my must-try list

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 29/08/2012 19:49

I've made those sausages! They are so so good and surprisingly easy to make...

On the cheese front, I am now onto the Vegusto "Piquant" and OMG, it tastes like real cheese. I would (and did!) quite happily eat it on my own, DP (not vegan) thought it tasted like cheese too!

I am so chuffed, cheese has been one of my major cravings and now I can feed it without guilt...

MangoHedgehog · 29/08/2012 21:28

ooh, I can feel a Vegusto splurge coming on. you do make it sound good! it's a bit pricey though, may have to wait til pay day...

Did you get a starter kit or did you just choose what you wanted?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 29/08/2012 22:34

I got tthe cheese starter kit so I could try them all and see which I liked most - in future I will just buy the ones I really like as they are pricey.

They keep for 6months in the fridge, so I figured it was worth a splurge seeing as shipping isn't free :-)

I tried their "meat" deli slices too, they were really nice, better than Quorn but again expensive.

AGeeksWife · 30/08/2012 17:26

Just refound this thread after I lurked ages ago!

Buccaneer bars from the Vegan Store site are sooooo nice, I've used that site a lot and tried some lovely things.

The Oh She Glows butternut mac and cheese is delicious- the Dijon I used was a bit strong for it but it was so lovely still.

I totally love the Italian sausages from the ppk, so easy and handy to have in the fridge for lunches, I don't like the smokey maple ones as much.

Anyway, that was a few replies to a lot of posts! Sorry to chuck it all on together.

MangoHedgehog · 30/08/2012 21:50

Hi AGeeksWife, have you got any other recipes you can recommend? I love trying out new ones :)

I tried to make seitan again tonight and yet again it was horrible. It was all spongey. Last time it came out really rubbery and chewy. Not sure what I'm doing wrong? Maybe I will just stick to using wheat gluten as an ingredient in sausages etc rather than for seitan. Perhaps the stuff just doesn't work for me!

WhatWouldVegansDo · 31/08/2012 19:56

NoHun here with a namechange!

I buy those expensive chocolate bars (vegan Mars/Snickers etc) at Christmas to make DH a chocolate stocking (like those you get with the non-vegan original chocolate bars), so a real treat, as yes, they are mega bucks. But they are mega delicious, so worth it, to me, on special occasions. Sainsburys stock Celtic Caramel Choices, a pack of 12 little chocolates, in their FreeFrom section, and they are amaaaaaazing!

IMO, Green and Blacks, and Plamil chocolates are vile! Especially Plamil! Though their vegan mayo is nice. But I prefer the Tiger vegan mayo you can get in Sainsburys.

poppyboo, I bake a lot of cakes and it really is easy without eggs, you just have to get used to it. I have never used a specific egg replacement.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine, glad you liked the Vegusto stuff. Me too! Has Quorn become vegan? It wasn't, when I was in the UK.

What is the ppk?

Oh, and Bourbon biscuits are usually vegan too!

What a healthy post this is! :)

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 31/08/2012 20:17

No, quorn is still not vegan, hence why I ahd to find a replacement.

MangoHedgehog · 31/08/2012 20:51

ppk = Post Punk Kitchen here - I am hopelessly addicted to their cookbooks

WhatWouldVegansDo · 31/08/2012 20:56

Shame re Quorn, they could so easily make it vegan!

Thanks re PPK! I scanned the thread too fast!

AGeeksWife · 31/08/2012 21:47

The scalloped potatoes and eggplant bacon is so good, I think it's from PPK, it's definitely an Isa recipe anyway. More for the winter though as it's comforty carbs food. The apple pie pancakes are good too. And I'm pretty sure my signature chewy choc chip cookies are actually from there too. Not very healthy recommendations!

I meant to mention the Lazy Days Ginger truffle slices, you can get them in Sainsburys, they are far far too nice!

Mango are you using the simple seitan recipe from veganomicon/vegan with a vengeance (can't remember which it's in)? Its on my list to do but if it's rubbish I might not bother.

MangoHedgehog · 31/08/2012 22:33

Yes from Veganomicon. Firstly I tried the seitan cutlets which were baked - turned out very rubbery. So next I tried the simple recipe, but also followed advice from this blog, and it came out far too loose / spongelike. Maybe there is a happy middle ground somewhere! practice probably makes perfect I suppose.

MangoHedgehog · 31/08/2012 22:35

btw on the subject of quorn, I heard they are going to launch their vegan burger in the UK - has anyone seen it yet?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 01/09/2012 00:03

Nope - I didn't realise there was any vegan quorn stuff!

How do you all cope with being vegan out of the house. At the moment I am properly vegan when I am cooking but in other situations I feel really awkward demanding vegan food - after all it is a lifestyle choice, not an allergy or something.

Case in point, we have dinner with the ILs every week and I've not told them yet (have been vegan for a few weeks now). The problem is I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable eating non vegan foods, but even more uncomfortable demanding they make me a special meal. (everyone is pescatarian, I felt bad enough saying I wouldn't eat fish any more!)

I also find it really hard in cafes and things, I tend to have a bottle of water and a packet of crisps which isn't exactly healthy.

I really enjoy being vegan but I find it so hard when I'm eating something I don't have control over. :(

ClimbingPenguin · 01/09/2012 13:25

I'm impressed with the cooking. I like PPK but it always looks too faffy, plus I have a limited pantry atm. Pasta, spinach and pinenuts for me tonight.

itsall I did find it hard at the beginning, I felt silly for trying to tell people, especially if I ended up packing it all up in a few weeks time. For some reason I felt embarrassed. You could just explain you are trialling being a vegan.

To start can you ask for meals to have vegan parts like mash etc. but say you're happy to go without protein. For quite a while I had roasts with just the trimmings, which I was perfectly happy with. I have a lot of chips in cafe's. Now I normally pack a sandwich and generally find by saying (in a nice way) I'm vegan and you don't have anything on the menu so do you mind... If I'm with a few people who are all ordering I have never had a issue, otherwise I have just a drink. Costa do some vegan biscuits I believe. Generally though, I assume I won't eat at cafe's but places to have dinner are normally OK (especially if avoid English food pubs)

AGeeksWife · 02/09/2012 08:16

itsall as time goes on it all seems to click into place- you'll get a feel for which cafes/restaurants will cater (even if it's only baked potato and beans). When I first started I trawled the websites of all the chains and many have sections which lists what is vegan or not, I'm the only vegan in our household so it was useful asthe others don't want to eat in veggie places.

Also check out the Happy Cow website, You can put in your area and local businesses that are vegan friendly places come up.

With family I always say I'm happy with just veg, but this seems to freak my MIL, I will offer to bring a beanburger or something too that can just be thrown under the grill easily so they feel I'm actually getting a meal! My mum is a dietary vegan too so that makes things much easier on that side.

While I'm here- has anyone got or lOoked through the new Forks Over Knives cookbook? I like a lot of the recipes in the original book but wondered if the nee book was just same old, or whether it was worth getting.

MangoHedgehog · 02/09/2012 11:24

No I haven't seen it but will definitely check it out.

Made a fantastic discovery in Sainsbury's yesterday - probably you all know about this stuff already, but to me it was a revelation to find vegan nutella in the free from section!! Vegan nutella, woohoo!! It's by Antony Worrall Thompson and it's labelled 'gluten free' rather than vegan but the ingredients seem to be vegan.

It tastes great too...

MrsHuxtable · 15/09/2012 11:29

Hello everyone,
I've been reading this thread for the last few days and am finally done and ready to post myself.

I'm not a vegan yet (I'd like to be though). DH and I have both been vegetarian for 5/6 years now and we've got a DD (7 months) who will be raised vegetarian with strong vegan tendencies. At this point, she's only had vegan food anyway. We try to do BLW but pre-load spoons for her if it's soup or porridge and sometimes help her keep the spoon straight. I don't see the need to feed her dairy as long as she gets my breastmilk (why substitute milk that's made for her with milk that's made for other animal babies?).

I've been contemplating veganism for a good few years now but feel finally ready to put it into practice. DH doessn't want to give up eggs and cheese but we never have eggs in the house anyway, they repulse me, so it's only a question of him having the odd bit of cheese.

I'd like DD to eat vegan when at home and at least vegetarian when out and about but at this point, I can't see myself from stopping her eating non-vegan things at other childrens' houses as long as it's not meat. I don't want her to worry about what she can or cannot eat when she's still little but I think the whole "nothing with a face" is easy enough to grasp for a child. When she gets older and understands more, I'd be very happy if she decided she wanted to be vegan outside the home as well. Does that make sense?

I'm fairly confident that DH will get there as well btw. I turned veggie about half a year before him and never pressured him into it or anything. In fact, during those first few months, I didn't mind at all when he was cooking his normal sausages alongside my veggie ones and then suddenly, he came home from uni one day and anounced that eating meat was wrong and he'd be a vegetarian. So I think once he's seen me be happily vegan for a while, he'll also be ready to ditch the eggs and dairy.

I could never go out with an omni anymore. So glad DH is who he is.

As for cleaning products, we've mostly been buying vegan anyway but I really want to look into making my own as I think the less chemicals I use in the house the better for DD. We've been doing her laundry with eco balls too and they work well enough.

I've also been using mostly vegan cosmetic products in the last few years as well. I quite like the Faith in Nature Stuff and Honesty Cosmetics.Lavera as well. I'm German but living in Scotland. I go to Germany a couple of times a year and the Boots equivilent there, it's called "DM" sells it's own brand organic cosmetics. The brand is called "Alverde" and is awesome. They do anything you can imagine in vegan. The only thing that's missing of course, is lipstick but then I'm a gloss-kinda-girl anyway. I'm going back in November and can't wait to hit DM.

I love Booja Booja! Their truffles and ice-cream. Shame it's so expensive. Think their products will be my new Christmas / Birthday / Easter treats.

I'd love it if this thread became a bit more active again.

WhatWouldVegansDo · 16/09/2012 00:30

Hallo und willkommen, MrsH! My husband is Scottish (I am English), and we live in Germany! :) We have found lots of great vegan stuff here, it is very easy for us. A friend here is also transitioning to vegan with her husband and 10mo son, but I wish I knew more vegan families in the area. I knew lots when I loved in London.

We also do green cleaning, and avoid all horrid stuff in toilettries like parabens/SLS etc. I like living this way.

Well done on wanting to go vegan, I hope you find the transition easy.

ClimbingUnicorns · 16/09/2012 11:16

I would like to move to simpler cleaning stuff, just haven't got round to finding a good simple source of information because I'm lazy but I'll blame having two under three

WhatWouldVegansDo · 16/09/2012 13:30

This is the book we have: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1840924195/ref=wms_ohs_product. I'm also of the school of thought that says too much cleaning is bad, and a few germs are good for us! ;)

ClimbingUnicorns · 16/09/2012 19:57

you'd love our place Grin

WhatWouldVegansDo · 16/09/2012 20:55
Grin