Veganuary

[Chrisp1986]

Are any of you Glastonbury lot doing it this year? I am doing it in a bid to get rid of all my belly fat alongside dry Jan and thought a support thread on here may keep us going 😀.

 

So far I have actually enjoyed it and today is the first time I have even slightly missed meat when I did a roast chicken alongside my cauliflower sausages for the wife and daughter....

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I’m a casual vegan anyway. By that I mean I obviously don’t eat meat, I don’t buy/eat eggs, cheese, milk etc, and I’ll buy vegan options wherever I can (Hellman’s vegan mayonnaise is incredible) But I don’t worry about everything. For example I won’t worry about every ingredient in everything I buy, I probably buy things like pasta sauces that aren’t vegan, a lot of quorn stuff isn’t vegan, but I don’t worry too much about that.

Some of the vegan stuff available now is incredible compared to even just a few years ago, but I think the key thing is you need to plan ahead a bit more. I think where people can struggle is if perhaps they’re hungover and want something quick and satisfying. That’s where it’s useful to have some replacement options to stop you falling off the wagon.

For what it’s worth I did veganuary two years ago and just decided to stick with it. I don’t miss meat in the slightest and enjoy my diet more know than before. 

[gherring8]

I’m not vegan but I also pick up vegan options where possible. 
If you have Instagram I would recommend following AccidentallyVeganUK. They share lots of vegan things available in all sorts of stores. Some products will take you by surprise that they are now vegan too.

[Chrisp1986]

Thanks, the way it is going I am really enjoying it. So far, I am telling myself I will be a midweek vegan and a weekend meater! I have loved cooking for years and it's forcing me to experiment with stronger flavours which usually I would avoid as the meat made up for it. Also getting used to using veg in different ways as opposed to just having them as a side dish. My favourite so far has been 5 spice tofu with a home made garlic and soy sauce. You could probably buy the sauce off shelf but I am so used to cooking from fresh due to this vegan thing that I am even making those myself and the taste difference is incredible!

[gherring8]

If you are a fan of tofu and begin to miss takeaways there are some amazing recipes out there for vegan fish and chips. Tofu wrapped in seaweed is pretty good. 
I also love shredded Jackfruit as a meat alternative. Works well as a “pulled pork” for burgers or even in stews/curries. 

[Quark]

Not a vegan as I would struggle to say no to eggs in particular, but will probably be cutting down on the dairy over the next few weeks.

Like a lot of veggie eaters I do have a lot of vegan meals as well, and don't really notice the absence of animal products when they aren't there. But it is a step beyond for me!

Mrs Q cant have lactose so a lot of our cooking ends up dairy free, so happy to share any ideas if you get stuck!

[Mr.Tease]

I've been a veggie for many a decade, honestly the food is so nice now and there's such a wide choice, it's enjoyable (if you can't manage going full vegan). I don't have much dairy outside of chocolate and eggs (have Alpo yoghurts, almond milk etc). 

One thing I did miss over the last 25 years were, bizarrely... Rowntree's fruit pastilles, until I discovered VEGAN friendly rowntrees fruit Pastilles in Tesco during the lockdown- I have been stuffing my face with them ever since- they seem exactly the same as the normal ones (only the big packs are vegan, I think the tubes still have gelatine) and are just as delicious as I remember:

https://www.rowntrees.co.uk/our-products

[Quark]

My biggest challenge on dairy would definitely be proper milk in my tea.  Soya just doesn't cut it in a cuppa!!

[Quark]

22 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

For what it’s worth I did veganuary two years ago and just decided to stick with it. I don’t miss meat in the slightest and enjoy my diet more know than before. 

That reminds me, with the exception of a couple of pigs in blankets at Christmas, I've just completed my first year as a veggie!

Although we don't specifically go in for the label as such, as we aren't evangelical about it. We just don't do meat!

We decided to have a little pack of the mini pigs with xmas dinner (which is kinda weird as we had a nut roast and vegan gravy!), and have to say that it was really disappointing! Felt like a waste of a winning streak. Safe to say that sausages and bacon won't be the things I decide to make an exception for in future.

 

[SwedgeAntilles]

I'd say I'm about 80% vegan. Only time I stray from it is I allow myself cheese if I'm eating out/getting take away and the occasional chocolate bar. Don't eat eggs and make the switch to oat milk a while ago. I don't really miss meat at all, particularly with stuff like the Beyond Meat/Burgers etc. 

Couple of my regular go to vegan recipes that I'd recommend 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-ramen

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kadala-curry

[Mr.Tease]

3 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

I'd say I'm about 80% vegan. Only time I stray from it is I allow myself cheese if I'm eating out/getting take away and the occasional chocolate bar. Don't eat eggs and make the switch to oat milk a while ago. I don't really miss meat at all, particularly with stuff like the Beyond Meat/Burgers etc. 

Couple of my regular go to vegan recipes that I'd recommend 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-ramen

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kadala-curry

I used to like the quoin chef special burgers but they've stopped doing them- what are the best veggie/vegan fake meat burgers nowadays? I really didn't like the beyond burger I tried! the smell while it was cooking was gross!

[TheFullShaboo]

Pretty much managed to find decent replacements for everything bar one last thing - Cheese. Wasn't even aware of how much i enjoyed it until i made the switch. Been vegetarian for over a year now and had no trouble with that transition, but cheese, thats a whole new battle. 

Must have tried about 10 different varieties and not a single one has done anything for me. So please, any suggestions, please hit me up. 

[Sasperella]

57 minutes ago, Chrisp1986 said:

Are any of you Glastonbury lot doing it this year? I am doing it in a bid to get rid of all my belly fat alongside dry Jan and thought a support thread on here may keep us going 😀.

 

So far I have actually enjoyed it and today is the first time I have even slightly missed meat when I did a roast chicken alongside my cauliflower sausages for the wife and daughter....

I'm doing it! It's actually going great. I don't eat meat at home anyway, but I worried I'd miss eggs loads, but it's been fine. Had some great sweet potato hash breakfasts 🙂

It's definitely way easier to do it durig lockdown though than if I was going to restaurants or people's houses for dinner...

A few great recipes I have discovered in the last two weeks:

https://www.feastingathome.com/indian-frankie-recipe/

Thus is epic. The combo of all the things together is amazing. Make the condiments, even if it seems like an effort 

https://www.wearesovegan.com/rich-ragu-lasagne/ 

https://www.delicious.com.au/recipes/vegan-miso-mushroom-lasagne/4RlK3N1U

Merged these two together, to create something beautiful. switch the lentils up with pine nuts or something for more of a crunchy texture (Brazil nuts are too crunchy IMO)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/butternut-chilli

Vegan chili's are always good 😄

And one Veganuary fail. On New Year's Day in my delicate state, I ordered a vegan dominos. It was fucking terrible.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

22 minutes ago, Quark said:

My biggest challenge on dairy would definitely be proper milk in my tea.  Soya just doesn't cut it in a cuppa!!

How about oat milk? I find that significantly better than both soya and almond milk.

[Kalopsia]

Keep posting your recipes! As I'm planning to cook more often (preparing to move out) and cut down my meat intake I'm excited to try new healthy and fresh recipes. So I'm on the lookout for new recipes and products. Thanks all🙂

[Sasperella]

21 minutes ago, Quark said:

My biggest challenge on dairy would definitely be proper milk in my tea.  Soya just doesn't cut it in a cuppa!!

I thought this for a while too.. I wanted to stop drinking real milk cuz of the plastic (I got a bit obsessed with that for a bit in the autumn). Started buying Oatley, but thought it made the tea taste really oaty. Then, in possibly the most hipster thing I've ever done, I started to make my own oat milk. It's stupidly easy, cheaper than the £££ that Oatley charge you AND tastes basically like milk in your tea. I promise!

The only real downside is having to deal with the embarrassment of admitting to people that you make your own oat milk. 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

7 minutes ago, TheFullShaboo said:

Pretty much managed to find decent replacements for everything bar one last thing - Cheese. Wasn't even aware of how much i enjoyed it until i made the switch. Been vegetarian for over a year now and had no trouble with that transition, but cheese, thats a whole new battle. 

Must have tried about 10 different varieties and not a single one has done anything for me. So please, any suggestions, please hit me up. 

I found this at Xmas and I have to say it was pretty decent on some crackers:

 

[Mr.Tease]

For many years veggie/vegan sausages were pretty bad, but they've cracked it lately- the Richmond vegan/veggie sausages are absolutely delicious! I thought I'd accidentally bought meat ones by mistake and had to check!

https://richmondsausages.co.uk/our-products/8-meat-free-sausages/

[TheFullShaboo]

5 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

I found this at Xmas and I have to say it was pretty decent on some crackers:

 

Will give it a go! I think they do a feta cheese that i've tried? Must admit i was never the biggest fan of Feta cheese in the first place so probably not best to judge them from that 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

13 minutes ago, Mr.Tease said:

For many years veggie/vegan sausages were pretty bad, but they've cracked it lately- the Richmond vegan/veggie sausages are absolutely delicious! I thought I'd accidentally bought meat ones by mistake and had to check!

https://richmondsausages.co.uk/our-products/8-meat-free-sausages/

I’ll have to give them a go, I’d always assumed they wouldn’t be very nice as my overriding memory of normal Richmond sausages were that they were incredibly greasy and horrible, so assumed their vegan ones wouldn’t be much cop.

These are the ones I like best out of those I’ve tried:

https://groceries.asda.com/product/vegetarian/cauldron-6-vegetarian-lincolnshire-sausages/910000273258?&cmpid=ppc-_-ghs-_--_-google-_--_-dskwid-s92700058773586276_dm&s_kwcid=AL!11432!3!459891151416!!!g!324165950314!&ds_rl=1254319&gclid=Cj0KCQiA3Y-ABhCnARIsAKYDH7vYPf-OtEE1R6ZMydq4MgOIxxV7HX9fJa_JhSo1PvRVHH0KCH8r6R4aAkDBEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 

They’re my go to easy meal, some of those cut up with some pasta and a bit of sauce. 

Edited January 17, 2021 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

Not vegan (although they do vegan ones now, but they’re not as tasty) but I defy anyone to tell the difference between a quorn chicken nugget and a normal one.

Always have a bag of them in the freezer for emergencies (bad hangover).

[Chrisp1986]

1 minute ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Not vegan (although they do vegan ones now, but they’re not as tasty) but I defy anyone to tell the difference between a quorn chicken nugget and a normal one.

Always have a bag of them in the freezer for emergencies (bad hangover).

This was my lunch yesterday

 Lidl have then for 1.25 for decent size bag atm and they are amazing! 

[Mr.Tease]

16 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Not vegan (although they do vegan ones now, but they’re not as tasty) but I defy anyone to tell the difference between a quorn chicken nugget and a normal one.

Always have a bag of them in the freezer for emergencies (bad hangover).

These variants are also nice:

https://www.quorn.co.uk/products/sweet-and-smoky-strips

[gigpusher]

Not vegan but been veggie for over 30 years and would say I probably have a fair few vegan meals naturally. I try to have less dairy and so often buy some plant milks. I never really used to bother with too many meat replacement things but my husband got a high cholesterol test about 2 years ago so he decided to go mostly veggie at home and only eat meat when he ate out so I did try a few more of them and some of them are very good according to him. I can barely remember the taste so couldn't say. 

Chinese food etc is very good for vegans as they don't really have dairy much anyway. I have even experimented with making my own seitan bacon when I have time and it's pretty decent. If I had the time I'd quite like to experiment more with making seitan. If you are on Facebook there are some groups that help with hints and tips. 

 

[gigpusher]

51 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

How about oat milk? I find that significantly better than both soya and almond milk.

Especially if you get the slightly more expensive barista brand @Quark