Vegans, what do you eat each day?

[Slicesofquince]

I'm trying to go from vegetarian to vegan. Would you mind telling me what your daily food "diary" consists of?

I can tell you what I ate yesterday if that helps:
Breakfast - fruit and oatly yoghurt
lunch - sushi
dinner - dahl and rice

Other things on the menu this week are black bean chilli & these -
https://saharalondon.com/blogs/journal/exclusive-recipes-dinner-by-meera-sodha?srsltid=AfmBOooF-_xNT5W1yIl--66eKhsdUrHMzBEZPGz2Uw3ktc0ZV4iooMVp I'll have tofu

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/nov/13/vegan-recipe-tofu-coconut-curry-with-turmeric-thai-basil-meera-sodha-

I am a big lover of Meera Sodhu recipes and tofu :)

I went from veggie to vegan during veganuary. Today I had porridge made with soy vanilla milk and scrambled tofu on toast. I snacked on a vegan flapjack and packet of crisps. I did miss eggs initially but don’t really anymore.

There seems to be a lot of Asian food on offer for vegans which I’m not a fan of! I make a few lovely Ottolenghi salads (hard work), in the winter veg soup with lentils/beans.

I had porridge made with oat milk this morning and a peanut butter and banana smoothie. Lunch I had homemade leek and potato soup with bread. Dinner was a baked potato with homemade coleslaw and a salad containing lettuce, spring onions, baby plum tomatoes, cucumber and grated carrot.

Things I’ve eaten recently,

Breakfasts
Scrambled tofu, beans, mushrooms and tomatoes on toast.
Porridge with oat or soy milk with nuts, seeds and fruit.
Peanut butter and banana on toast.
Overnight oats with fruit and seeds.
Banana pancakes with fruit.
Weetabix/Shreddies with fruit and nuts.
Muesli with fruit.
Soya yogurt with fruit, nuts and seeds

Lunches
Various soups. I make loads and freeze them for ease.
Salads with tofu, chickpeas, edamame beans, vegan cheese.
Hummus and salad wrap/sandwich.
Chickpea, sweetcorn and mayo wrap/sandwich.
Jacket potato and beans.
Falafel and salad wrap.
Crumpets with vegan cheese, hummus and tomato.

Dinners
Lentil, sweet potato and spinach dahl with rice.
Tofu and bean chilli with rice.
Vegetable and lentil stew with jacket potato.
Bean and vegetable stir fry with rice.
Tofu and veg stir fry with quinoa.
Buddha bowl.
Lentil cottage pie with veg.
Ginger and garlic tofu with seaweed.
Mushroom and leek pasta.
Butterbean and spinach curry with rice.
Mushroom wellington with potatoes and veg.
Butternut squash and spinach lasagne with salad.

I mostly snack on fruit, soya yogurts, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, protein bars and smoothies but there are lots of vegan sweets, biscuits, crisps etc to choose from.

I add nutritional yeast to meals as it’s high in B12 and other vitamins.

Yesterday I had marmite on toast for breakfast, pesto pasta for lunch and asparagus puff pastry tart with salad for dinner. Pretty normal veggie stuff!

Today I had fried tempeh and avocado for breakfast and about to go out for pizza hut lunch.

This is a fab inspiration thread already!

today I had a bagel with peanut butter, banana protein smoothie and kettle chips for lunch and planning sweet potato and baked beans for tea. Plus Ben and jerries vegan ice cream for dessert 😋

@TofuFighters (brilliant name BTW!), I'm interested in the mushroom and leek pasta you mentioned. Is it basically a white/cheese sauce with chopped leeks, mushrooms and pasta spirals or something more exotic? I love mushrooms and leeks so it sounds like something I'd really enjoy.

I'd also be interested in hearing about the Ben and Jerry's ice cream @Gymbunny2025 , is it tasty?

Finally, I've been really struggling to find a nice vegan cheese if anyone has any recommendations? I love macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese and homemade pizzas, and the vegan cheeses I've tried, (Cathedral City and Violife) are ... OK. They're nice when cooked but the smell before and during cooking is a bit odd!

@CarrieMoonbeamsben and Jerry’s vegan ice cream is fab imho. They call it dairy free but I assume it’s vegan anyway! I love the Tony’s one, the brownie one and the cookie dough.

im also interested in recommendations for vegan cheese

Ironically I've stumbled across this thread whilst getting distracted trying to meal plan for the week - there's some good inspiration here!

My go to breakfasts are...
● Scrambled tofu on toast - I generally batch cook this a few days worth at a time and will mix things up a bit - may add mushrooms/peppers, or have with baked beans, or vegan sausages or whatever
● Porridge - current favourite is made with hot chocolate powder in the milk (because I'm an adult and can do what I like!) with banana, chopped nuts and drizzled with peanut butter
● Toast, fruit and yoghurt (the alpro protein ones are my go-to currently)

Lunches
I generally work from home which has its benefits at lunchtime.
I batch cook evening meals, portion and freeze. I always have a stash of things like frozen jacket potatoes, microwave rice, frozen steam bags of veg, packs of various things (e.g. Leon and Merchant Gourmet pouches of pulses in various sauces) for quick, decent lunches.

Dinners
Generally in my freezer I always have...
● Spag bol or lasagne
● Chilli non carne - either with rice, jacket spud or nachos (with salsa, guacamole etc.)
● Various curries
● Cottage pie base
● Sweet and sour "chicken"
● Vegan sausages

Re: cheese recommendations, I would generally recommend different things for different occasions...

Every day for cooking/general consumption:
Cathedral City although if I'm making something like a cheese sauce, most of the "cheese" flavour comes from nutritional yeast and I just chuck some grated Cathy over the top to melt (because it actually does!)

If looking for something a bit more "eat in its own right" e.g. on crackers or something, La Fauxmagerie is top tier. Sold all year round in Waitrose. There are also some more artisan type options, I like Sophies Delight cheeses which are cashew based. They aren't like a cheddar, but if you look at them as cheese alternatives rather than cheese replacements they are bloody delicious.

We are coming to the time of year where the vegan fairs/markets start happening. They are a great opportunity to try lots of samples and explore independent retailers. My recommendation is to take a credit card and a robust shopping bag 😂

For anyone in the South West/surrounding areas
https://www.facebook.com/share/16BLrPch94/

Fauxmagerie and Sophie’s Delight both look fab. Need a trip to Waitrose! I’m not fussed about cheese sauces really but do quite often have a salad for dinner, and atm the only cheese I have with it is a vegan babybel. Getting a bit bored of that now 😂

I did try Nomo chocolate this weekend which I really liked. Think I’m going to have the Easter bunnies for Easter!

I’m not but DD is so all our cooking has a vegan base - it’s all about managing protein in our household and making sure she gets enough of that
breakfast is always porridge (weetabix if rushed) baked oats or peanut butter and banana on toast

lunch - she always takes leftovers in the week but weekends are homemade soup (or bought) homemade beans on toast or scrambled tofu

dinners are either tofu or bean/chickpea based. Firm tofu coated and fried or baked (really like baking it with a sprinkling of polenta) then serving with noodles/curry
beans - make them with potatoes or a chickpea stew with couscous
mexican chilli with sweetcorn muffins or burritos with beans and rice
pasta - usually roast tomatoes and garlic and whizz up with silken tofu for a sauce with other veg and garlic bread
yesterdsy I blended spinach frozen peas silken tofu nutritional yeast (definitely need) lemon juice and seasonings as a pasta sauce

cashew nuts soaked in water make a good base for a curry sauce as well

There's a "tofeta" recipe on the Tofoo website which I am quite fond of. Makes a great salad with some quinoa or cous cous, tomatoes, olives, cucumber etc finished off with a balsamic glaze 🤤

Yesterday I ate

porridge made with soy milk and raspberries
rye toast with marmite and vegan cream cheese

cheese and pickle sandwich, celery sticks, marinated tofu

nut roast, new potatoes, sautéed Kale, corn on the cob, maple carrots and gravy .

Today's menu looks like...

Breakfast - scrambled tofu on toast
Lunch - vivera steak stir fried with some veg, teriyaki sauce, udon noodles, miso broth
Dinner - "chicken" kyiv and salad
Snacks - probably an alpro yog, maybe a trek bar. Alpro choc milkshake if my protein totals need a boost later!

(My nutritional targets are 130g protein per day and 3000 calories. Best diet ever 😂)

Not vegan but I do cook for vegan friends.

Vegan 'icecream' - peel a banana or two and freeze, once frozen blitz in a mini food processor.

Tomato and aubergine casserole.

Things on toast, so beans or avocado, also in baked potatoes.

Soups, potato and leek is a favourite.

Curries, I sometimes use a pack of frozen mixed veg.

Stir fries with noodles.

Root root veg - use left overs to make soup.

Unusual but works as a starter, spaghetti with just lemon juice and lemon zest.

Today I had peanut butter bagel for breakfast. Hula hoops and alpro yoghurt for lunch. Dinner I think will be carby as going on a long run tomorrow. Although I have a Bol soup that is looking at me from the fridge (and super easy!)

No breakfast, but maybe a homemade ginger shot and cup of black coffee before exercise. Weekends maybe a bowl of cornflakes with soya milk.

Lunch- generally a variation on a sandwich or rolls- sometimes stuff like vegan ham/chicken, with tomatoes, onion, cucumber, lettuce, kimchi or humous. Sometimes make a pate- say, broad bean, olive and mint- big batch so lasts a fair few days. Then some mixed nuts and raisins or banana and apple.

Tea- this is my main meal. Homemade soup- I make at least 4 portions and freeze the rest. Say, Mexican black bean, or thai, roasted cauliflower, pea and mint, lentil, paprika- so many possibilities! Then something like lentil dhal, chickpea curry, chilli, or a "meat" dish using vegan mince/chunks- like steak and ale pie, bacon and mushroom carbonara, or Thai green curry. Served with a tonne of veg- a bit of everything- eat the rainbow (Splicers won't do, 1980's sweet fans!).
Follow that with some fresh pineapple and blueberries (maybe raspberries or strawberries if in season).

Cooking has really opened up my options- never really used to do much but found I enjoy it. I appreciate it can be hard finding time/energy for a lot of folk though. But boy does it taste better, is healthier, and is cheaper. Win win win. I always batch cook and freeze the rest, so after a while there is a good selection in the freezer.

Good luck, and feel free to ask for any recipes!

Today:
B: marmite on sourdough (Flora's plant butter is OK, or just with Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
L: Tofu and Kimchi stirfry, using up some veg and rice in the fridge. Very quick and yummy.
D: will be Meera Sodha's white bean, leek and artichoke stew.

I snack on almonds covered in dark chocolate, fruit, crackers, sugar snap peas, peanut butter out of the jar ....

The thing I haven't solved yet is a replacement for dairy butter. EVOO is yummy and healthy but just too savoury to put on a hot cross bun!

Today I have eaten...

Breakfast - Scrambled tofu on sunflower and pumpkin seed toast, with a couple of sausages
Lunch - "chicken" casserole left over from yesterday
Dinner - meat free meat balls, some sort of pasta and a selection of roasted vegetables and a bit of balsamic vinegar all chucked together.
Snacks - alpro yoghurt and a glass of the high protein alpro choc milkshake stuff 🤤

There may be something additional, I still have 300 calories left for today, but I doubt it will have any nutritional benefit at all!

How are you getting on with it, OP? @Slicesofquince

I'm attempting the same op and finding this thread useful for ideas. I may have to give scrambled tofu another try - it seems very popular. Are people buying the ready scrambled stuff or making their own? I didn't like the ready made tofoo stuff...

Today for breakfast I've had alpro coconut yoghurt with peanut butter and some 'jam' I made with strawberries and chia seeds. I also sprinkled on some dark choc chips.
Lunch was a quick roasting tin recipe of green veg, orzo and pine nuts. I also added butter beans for more protein.
Dinner was a vegan sausage tray brake.

I am not a vegan though my daughter was for a while. On the whole I found vegan substitutes that I tried a bit odd, but the Swedish glace vegan ice cream was excellent. Recently I've enjoyed the Magnum Blueberry vegan ice cream.

A vegan recipe I enjoy is Jamie Olivers Allotment pie. It includes a little milk and butter but these are merely to make mashed potato so are easily substituted. I make a big batch, chop it into portions and freeze. The porcini mushrooms give a lovely flavour.
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables/allotment-cottage-pie/