Beginner's Vegan Shopping List

[HotLatteontherunplease2]

After lurking for a terribly long time especially in the What I ate today for Vegans board I'm asking for advice about switches for a vegan challenge.

I already eat lots of fruit and veg. No meat no eggs. I have switched cow's milk and marg for vitalite and Alpro versions.

Please advise me of any tips, tricks or must-haves to help me in my challenge. I'm hoping the challenge turns into a proper switch to veganism so I'd like to not "miss" food as much as possible.

I think I'll struggle with -

Missing quorn products as I use these as meat substitutes.

Missing my weekly fruit and nut bar.

Wine (most aren't vegan are they!)

Can people help me with ideas, shopping list anything to help?

TiA

You can buy vegan quorn products .
Chickpeas , kidney beans ( can be made into burgers )
Lots of herbs and spices.
Oomph burgers ( best vegan burger I've ever eaten )
Lots of different nuts
Definitely recommend looking a different vegan recipe books / online recipes to give yourself some ideas.

Quorn do the chunks vegan version (I like these).
There is lots of nice vegan alternatives to the quorn strips sausages etc.
You probably need to try some out.
I found it easier than I expected to switch from vege to vegan.
The only thing I miss is haloumi, but there's probably a nice vegan version somewhere.

I think most white wine is vegan (isn't it???)

Most wines aren't vegan (or vegetarian). You can either buy online, go to a veggie shop which stocks wine or - cheapest and easiest option - go to the co-op. They're great at labelling and if you stick to own brand wines, you can just check the bottle. I think some other supermarkets might have started doing this as well, but I'm not sure. Finding vegan wine in pubs and restaurants will be much harder.

What quorn products do you use?

If it's mince for chilli etc, then switch to soya mince or lentils.

Fry's strips are good for stir fries.

Quorn do vegan ham and chicken slices - available in most supermarkets.

The cheat'n brand are also good for sliced meats. I used to buy them in Holland and Barrett but they seem to have stopped selling chilled or frozen food so I buy them online direct from the vbites website.

Loads of vegan sausages, burgers and fake bacon in most supermarkets these days.

Oreos are vegan!

In seriousness, I would say don't be afraid to try new stuff, if you liked quorn there are a tonne of vegan meat replacements now, a lot are subject to personal taste, but personally I'm a cliche and like the moving mountains burger the best. Don't bother with vegan cheese for a while, it tastes like crap but after a fair few months elapsing since having dairy cheese it tastes fine. Oatly batista for hot drink, coconut milk is nice in porridge.

Thanks for replies.
Can anyone recommend a good vegan smoothie recipe to make breakfast easier please?

Richmond vegan sausages are delicious.

There are vegan fruit and nut bars- I like various Nakd bars and eat natural do a more cereal type bar www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&productId=1287062&langId=44&istCompanyId=1e096408-041f-4238-994e-a7cf46bf9413&istFeedId=689af7a8-5842-4d88-be59-1ee5688a81b5&istItemId=watptrmpl&istBid=t&&cmpid=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=11354746074&utm_content=shopping&utm_term=%7Bsku%7D&utm_custom1=112143919915&utm_custom2=759-449-0952&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIufaX8uDx8AIVAp3VCh0sjwIuEAQYAiABEgKKWvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This site is good for saying which wines are vegan but when I drank I usually just went to co-op as they label theirs www.barnivore.com/

Shopping list I’d say depends what you like but for mostly whole foods:

Some whole grains (brown rice, oats, bulgur wheat, barley etc),
Some wholewheat bread and pasta
A few varieties of canned beans and lentils (or for more time intensive but cheaper, dried beans)
Some leafy greens (spinach, kale, broccoli, lettuce, cabbage etc)
Some other veg per your taste either fresh, canned, or frozen (mushrooms, tomatoes, beetroot, peas, squash, carrots etc)
Some fruit (apples, plums, pears etc)
Some Tofu and/ or meat alternatives
Hummus
Some vegan milk, margarine, yoghurt if you like it and maybe some vegan cheese to try
Some fruit and nut bars
Jar sauces if you don’t have time from scratch, I usually go for a chilli sauce a sweet and sour sauce and some pasta sauce. Tinned or carton soup if you don’t have time from scratch.
Some easy processed foods if you want- chips, sweet potato chips, vegan pizza, vegan ice cream, biscuits (oreos, bourbons, jammy dodgers, party rings etc), crisps etc
Tea/ coffee/ juice per preference.

Every now and then:

Some nuts, seeds herbs and spices, salt, pepper, vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, vegetable stock, oil, garlic etc
Peanut butter, jam, marmite etc by preference .

For meals various dishes like

Porridge with nuts and berries and maple syrup
Toast with marg or peanut butter or baked beans or marmite
Various Salads
Bean chilli or hummus with baked potato
Various soups
Vegetable and chickpea curry with brown rice
Sweet and sour Tofu Stir fry
Stuffed peppers or squash or aubergine
risotto with peas/ butternut squash/ mushroom etc
Spaghetti bolognese made with lentils or soya mince
Shepherd’s pie with lentils or soya mince
Moussaka with lentils or soya mince
Vegan lasagne
Tofu quiche
Butter bean casserole

Loads more I’m sure!

I normally use quorn in my chillis etc, but recently have changed to using puy lentils. You can buy the ready cooked merchant gourmet pouches for a quick meal.

Those merchant gourmet packs are very expensive compared with dried lentils but so convenient. Right now, I'm in the middle of making a potato and lentil curry using a pack of puy lentils.

Wowzers! Thanks everybody! That's alot of help to get me started. Also looking at protein powder to add to breakfast shakes but I'm overweight so need to be careful. What should I be looking for in a protein powder if I'm not trying to put weight on?

You really don't need protein powder if you have a balanced diet. There are plenty of vegan sources of protein eg beans, nuts, lentils, peanut butter, tofu, seitan, chickpeas, spelt, quinoa, chia seeds, soya milk. Some fruit and veg also contain protein.

I put nut butters in smoothies rather than protein powdered personally

Tesco and Sainsbury’s also have a big V on the back of their wine, so helpful

Also some great intro to cooking vegan cookbooks are Oh She Glows and HFW Veg books

Oh and this is the breakfast smoothie of dreams:

Cold coffee
2 soaked dates (I soak them in the coffee
A frozen banana
Spoonful of almond butter

LUSH

Many supermarkets mark their own brand vegan wine as vegan.

Marks and Spencer have a lot in their range.

Waitrose has a little book in their wine department you can refer to.

Barnivore.com is a useful little website for reference.

Co-op also do lots and Sainsbury's.

Can you tell this is my area of expertise?

Go Lean Vegan has lots of high protein recipes. Some are delicious but be warned, some are vile so it's trial and error. I found the ones with protein powders the worst so I second using but butters or chia seeds instead.

*nut butters

@HotLatteontherunplease2

Lots of wines are vegan! (I should know lol
Sainsbury's are excellent for labelling their wines.
Also check out www.barnivore.com/ to find out what alcohol is vegan whether it be wine, beer or whatever.
If you like meat alternatives, Meatless Farm is my favourite substitute and is great in chillis and spaghetti bologneses.
Tins of tomatoes and coconut milk we always have in too to make curries!

Check out Spice Pots for some tasty vegan meals - you can use the various curry spices to vary your vegan meals

www.spicepots.com

Aldi do a few good vegan wines too