Veganuary

[BillyIsMyBunny]

Hello, I’m just wondering if anybody else is planning on doing ‘veganuary’ this year? I’m a long term vegetarian but have never made the plunge to veganism before and thought now would be a good time to make the change. Interested if anybody else is doing the same?

@billyismybunny likewise, I dont find dinners a problem at all. I am pretty used to cooking vegan from scratch for my main meal. Its lunch time I find harder, when I'd usually have a quick cheese sandwich or mac n cheese. Or snacks when I fancy a bit of chocolate or a biscuit.

And sometimes, I cant be bothered to cook from scratch and just want some easy food in the fridge or freezer.

@theneverendinglaundry Google some vegan mac and cheese recipes. Surprisingly east. I make a roux with soya milk, flour and naturli butter and add a bit of mustard, nutritional yeast and fried mushrooms mixed in with breadcrumbs on top then baked in the oven. It's really nice and quick to make.

I also have cheese sandwiches for lunch but use vegan cheese. Try vegan slices with a quorn ham slice, bit of mayo or chilli jam (or sriracha vegan mayo which is great, or houmous, olives and roast veg. Quick and easy. You just need to have all the right stuff in.

Loads of nice vegan chocolate in supermarkets now like galaxy bars and things like jammie dodgers are vegan.

*surprisingly easy I mean

Can I ask where everybody is getting naturli butter? They only had Pure or Vitalite in my local Tesco and I’m not particularly keen on either. I used to like the coconut vitalite but they seem to only do the sunflower version now and Flora Buttery which I also liked isn’t vegan anymore so would be happy to find there might be an alternative in Naturli I like - just got to find somewhere to buy it!

@BillyIsMyBunny

Can I ask where everybody is getting naturli butter? They only had Pure or Vitalite in my local Tesco and I’m not particularly keen on either. I used to like the coconut vitalite but they seem to only do the sunflower version now and Flora Buttery which I also liked isn’t vegan anymore so would be happy to find there might be an alternative in Naturli I like - just got to find somewhere to buy it!

I found it in my local Sainsbury's. I use pure for cooking but I agree it's not nice on toast!

@BillyIsMyBunny also had to go to Sainsbury’s for Natruli. I’ve tasted it on some crumpets this morning and I’m not sold yet.

Thank you @Goteam ! I've got a Bosh recipe for mac and cheese which I'm going to try this week!

I've only seen Naturli in Sainsbury's. They sell the block, and a spreadable.

Thanks everyone, I will try Sainsbury’s - in terms of taste is there much difference between the block and spreadable versions?

And, as an aside, just wondering which supermarket everyone generally finds to be better for having a good range of tasty vegan products?

@Kaiken

Well this year Veganuary club seems very processed-food oriented compared to previous years. What is the point of eating a worse version of your diet, very much more unhealthy than the "original " . Please embrace the opportunity to try whole food, new vegetables you have never tried.

Try to bake your falafel, create new chickpea salad or try a new couscous with rich and colourful diced vegetables.

Are you getting paid for your self-allotted role of diet police?

I've been vegetarian for 35 years. I don't need to learn how to incorporate vegetables into my diet, but I do like a sausage occasionally!

@zarathewonderdog its fabulous isnt it! I love how it is just making vegetables taste really great and its really wholesome good food! I havent seen his other one but will def look out for it just to see!

Am not vegan but dairy intolerant and totally agree about Applewood Smoked cheddar. I also like Tofutti cream cheese/ herb version.

How is everyone getting on today?

I bought some granola today without thinking that there is honey in it. Oh well, in the cupboard until February!

I managed to have a 100% plant based day although I did eat a lot of junk - dinner was a vegan pizza, birds eye chicken free dippers, garlic bread (32p one from sainsbury's is vegan) and salad.

I admit I hadn’t even considered the fact honey isn’t vegan and have been merrily eating it this week! To be honest I’m not sure I’m going to stop eating it even now I have considered it, dairy is the main thing I want to try and give up for ethical/ environmental purposes but I don’t think I see many problems with honey on either of those accounts. Is that really bad?

Other than the honey I have been doing well with staying plant based and have managed to abstain from all the cakes, biscuits and chocolates being passed around at work. So far it feels easier than I thought it would be, although not sure if that’s because I’m still in ‘new year resolution’ mode - maybe it will be harder a few weeks in to ignore chocolate etc!

If you are going to eat honey, then buy local honey produced by someone who loves and cares for their bees. Industrial honey production is cruel and kills many bees.

I've been doing okay, my only downfall so far has been chocolate. Currently eating breadsticks with home made hummus

I think I’ve been fully vegan so far except the cup of tea with real milk in that we had after BoJo’s lockdown announcement. DH made it without thinking and I wasn’t in the mood to do anything about it.

I have a couple of vegan pizzas in the freezer for Friday night @theneverendinglaundry, one goodfellas and one Chicago town I think. Was it any good?

@basinhaircut I think it was the Chicago town one I had - the Jack fruit one with a stuffed crust. I really like it!

My local Sainsburys no longer seem to stock the Alpro My Cuppa for tea, so I have no idea what I'll have in my tea once I run out..... I'm sure I read somewhere that the alpro toddler milk is nice in tea!! So I might try that!!!

Going to have toad in the hole Bosh! style for dinner tonight. Linda McCartney sausages and puff pastry, with loads of veggies. And maybe some mash.

Hello everyone,
Glad I found this thread, I am doing vegananury (came into it a couple of days late, due to personal reasons) and would love somewhere to talk about it!

I did vegananury last year too, and some of the swaps stuck (am i the only person who loves almond milk in tea?!) But having a very heavily carnivorous DP meant meat snuck back in, I am more determined to make a change this time.

So, my vegananury looks like this:

We have hens - I am consuming eggs, but only from my own free range backyard hens, currently we have one hen, laying roughly one egg a day.

Christmas/NY food - Fair game on leftover food that won't keep (trifle for example) wasting or throwing food away is just as bad and harmful for the environment as anything else, so if it needs to be eaten, and won't save until Feb, it has been. Happily, most of the food has been consumed by now anyway.

So yes, my vegananury isn't perfect, but as PP have said, any changes are better than none.

I am using Miguel's £1 meal vegan cookbook, as the meals are simple and cheap, in portion sizes for one (my DP will not be converted)
With lockdown we have plenty of time to cook, so my fridge is full of veggies and fruits, unfortunately I made a dish from the £1 cookbook and it was just absolutely awful and tasteless.
It really put me off.

Anyone with some lovely vegan recipes to share? I would really appreciate it.

Also my go to sandwich filler is cheese or egg, with only eating hen eggs from my own hens, its not enough to make sandwich filler. We are meant to be going on a long walk tommorow, please can someone give me ideas for tasty vegan sandwich fillers - I really am stuck!

I am not vegan (I eat fish and eggs) but I don't eat any animal dairy. I absolutely love almond milk, but I don't drink much tea and only Earl Grey, so not an issue. I really like Sainsburys Cheddar style cheese with onion. I make my own sandwich filling by grating this and mixing with almond milk and mayo. I find vivera veggie bacon pieces very useful as facon - in sauces and soups etc. And nutritional yeast flakes are good for use in cheese sauces/dishes.
When veganising cakes I find flaxseed eggs work well, but always use apple sauce to give body alongside. The latest Nigella (vegan) gingerbread is absolutely lovely by the way.

I'm another vegetarian doing Veganuary. I did it last year and am doing it again.
I have stuck with almond milk (not a fan of dairy milk anyway) my go to is the Alpro unsweetened one but noticed Sainsbury's do their own version-has anyone tried it?
I hate coconut and soya based yoghurts/spreads. I like the raspberry Nush yoghurt. I have been using the Pure olive spread. I did find an avocado one last yea, bought it but never saw it ever again!
I discovered a "cheese" in Waitrose called "This is not grated cheese". It's cashew based and pretty good sprinkled on pasta dishes.
For beers, a lot of the new craft breweries are good for vegan beers.
I had a lovely vegan doughnut yesterday from a local place, it was huge but I needed it.

Yes, I always use the Sainsbury's own brand almond milk - cheaper and I prefer it.

Thanks Wittgen, I'll get that next time. I didn't like the Innocent one as it separated in my coffee!

@ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings may I just thank you for saving my vegan bacon...vegan for almost 2 years (30 vegetarian) & the unveganising of Flora Buttery completely passed me by! No idea how I missed that. Just changed my online shop due in the morning to regular Flora with 28 mins to spare!